Text of 13 Hover Notes for Roses digital edition of “The Original of a Polypus Discover’d, by Mr. Giles, Sworn Surgeon at St. Come, Being Translated from the Progres de la Medecine of Monsieur Brunet, Art. III. Journal. III.” (1697)

#1 (of 13)

noli me tangere — In English, touch me not. This named “Any of various conditions causing persistent, spreading ulceration of the skin and underlying tissue, esp. of the face; an instance or case of such a condition. Also fig. Now hist.  ¶  Many cases of noli-me-tangere were probably caused by basal cell carcinoma (rodent ulcer) or squamous cell carcinoma.” (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#2 (of 13)

a “most pious cultivator of the Triune God” — This phrase was inscribed on the memorial for Hariot, contributed by Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland. Hariot’s body was interred in London’s St. Christopher’s Church (a site later taken over by the Bank of England), where a monument was erected for Hariot with a Latin inscription which translates: “Stop traveller, tread lightly / just here lies what was mortal / of the celebrated man / Thomas Hariot. / He was that most learned Harriot / of Syon near the river Thames, / By birth and education / an Oxonian. / He was versed in all sciences. / He excelled in all things. / Mathematics, Philosophy, Theology, / The most studious explorer of Truth / The most pious cultivator of the Triune God. / A sexagenarian or thereabouts, / he bid farewell to mortality; not to life, In the year of our Lord, 1621, on the 2d July.” (qtd. in Alexander Brown, The Genesis of the United States, 2 vols., 1890, 2.910–11) ::

#3 (of 13)

his death from cancer was recast by the establishment — F.R.S. John Aubrey (1626–1697) captured the tone of the times quite well, locating Hariot at the nexus of a new and troubling politics of cancer: “The bishop of Sarum (Seth Ward) told me that one Mr. Haggar (a countryman of his), a gentleman and good mathematician, was well acquainted with Mr. Thomas Hariot, and was wont to say, that he did not like (or valued not) the old storie of the Creation of the World. He could not beleeve the old position; he would say ex nihilo nihil fit [nothing comes of nothing]. But sayd Mr. Haggar, a nihilum killed him at last: for in the top of his nose came a little red speck (exceeding small), which grew bigger and bigger, and at last killed him. I suppose it was that which the chirurgians call a noli me tangere [touch me not].... [Hariot] made a philosophicall theologie, wherin he cast-off the Old Testament, and then the New one would (consequently) have no foundation. He was a Deist. His doctrine he taught to Sir Walter Raleigh, Henry, earle of Northumberland, and some others. The divines of those times look’t on his manner of death as a judgement upon him for nullifying the Scripture.” (J. Aubrey, Brief Lives, ed. A. Clark, 2 vols., 1898, 1.286–7) ::

#4 (of 13)

Sloane and/or Brunet? — I have not seen the original French printing of Giles’ relation in Le Progrès de la Médecine, Contenant un Recueil de Aout ce qui s’Observe d’Utile à la Pratique (Paris: L. d’Houry, 1697), and thus, don’t know if the 2-paragraph editorial comment which concludes “The Original of a Polypus Discover’d, by Mr. Giles ...” was new with Sloane, or is a translation from the French of Claude Brunet. ::

#5 (of 13)

a Polypus in the right Nostril — I.e., a polyp.
  As used in medicine, a polypus originally meant “a fleshy growth within the nasal passages. In later use: a mass arising from an epithelial (esp. mucosal) surface, having either a stalk or a broad base, and of inflammatory, hyperplastic, hamartomatous, or neoplastic origin.” (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#6 (of 13)

the Processus Pterygoides — I.e., pterygoid process, “designating a long process which descends from the inferior surface of the sphenoid bone at the junction of its body and greater wing on each side, and which consists of two thin laminae or plates joined anteriorly.” (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#7 (of 13)

Caustick Waters — Solutions which burn and destroy living tissue when brought in contact with it. Quicklime was known to be a powerful caustic. Other common caustics include caustic alkali (a name given to the hydrates of potassium and sodium, called caustic potash [KHO] and caustic soda [NaHO] respectively) and caustic volatile alkali or caustic ammonia (ammonia as a gas or in solution). ::

#8 (of 13)

as Schenkius says — I.e., John Andreas Schenckius of Graffenberg, Doctor of Physick, aka Johannes Schenck von Grafenberg (1530–1598). Schenck studied at Tübingen, and was later a physician to the city of Freiburg im Breisgau.
  Schenck’s 1584 treatise, Observationes Medicae de Capite Humano, is considered a pioneering work in neurolinguistics, and his early text of pathology, Observationum Medicarum Rariorum, Libri VII (1586–95), set new standards for the genre with its clarity of author reference and indexing, and the range of pathological discovery quoted. ::

#9 (of 13)

Quick-Lime — Quicklime is lime which has not yet been slaked; aka calcium oxide, CaO. (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#10 (of 13)

the Carnosity — “A morbid fleshy growth, a caruncle.” (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#11 (of 13)

the Escharr — Refers to “A brown or black dry slough, resulting from the destruction of a living part, either by gangrene, by burn, or by caustics.” It was common surgical practice to “cause the eschare to fal awaye” after a malignity “is taken awaye” using caustics. (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#12 (of 13)

Sublimate — Short for sublimate of mercury. “Mercuric chloride, a toxic crystalline powder formerly used medicinally, esp. as an antiseptic or disinfectant. Also fig., and in extended use: poison. Now chiefly hist.  ¶  Also called corrosive sublimate, mercury sublimate.” (Oxford English Dictionary) ::

#13 (of 13)

q. s. — Abbreviation for quantum sufficit (in English, “as much as suffices”), meaning that amount which is sufficient or appropriate. ::