Culpeper

Culpeper, NICHOLAS, was born in London in 1616, and after studies at Cambridge and elsewhere, started in 1640 to practise astrology and physic in Spitalfields. In 1649 he published an English translation of the College of Physicians' Pharmacopœcia under the title A Physical Directory, or a Translation of the London Dispensatory, renamed in 1654 as Pharmacopœcia Londinensis, or the London Dispensatory. This infringement upon a close monopoly, together with his sturdy and uncompromising support of Puritanism and the parliament, brought Culpeper many enemies and much obloquy. In 1653 he published The English Physician Enlarged. Both books had an enormous sale, and both are included in Dr Gordon's collective edition of his Works (4 vols. 1802). Culpeper wrote numerous other books, many of which were left unprinted, and died worn out before his time, 10th January 1654.