summoned January 1658–9, and, though unsuccessful, he was, on 14 July 1659, appointed to the office of ‘comptroller of the pipe’ (Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, supr. cit. ii. 433; Green, Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1659, 14 July).
It was possibly on the strength of this appointment that Sydenham determined to prosecute his medical studies at Montpellier. The fact is recorded by Desault, a French surgeon of the eighteenth century, who states that a friend of his, a M. Emeric, knew Sydenham well at Montpellier (Desault, Dissertation sur les Maladies Veneriennes, &c., Bordeaux, 1733, p. 359). It may have been as early as 1655, but more likely in 1659; for on 28 July 1659 a pass was issued from the council of state for Mr. Sydenham and Mr. Briggs to travel beyond seas (Cal. State Papers, 1659–60, p. 561), which probably refers to the physician, though no christian name is given in the original document. It may be conjectured that his travelling companion was a patient; possibly a brother of Dr. William Briggs [q. v.] (Ward, Lives of Gresham Professors, manuscript additions in Brit. Mus. copy, p. 258). Additional probability is given to this date by the fact that Sydenham is stated to have been a pupil of Barbeyrac, a popular teacher at Montpellier; and this physician, who was five years younger than Sydenham, did not become noted before 1658 (Picard, Sydenham, pp. 19, 21). A distinct advance in his medical knowledge is perceptible in 1661, from which year he dates his observations of the epidemic diseases of London. He began to practise in King Street, Westminster, but moved in 1664 to Pall Mall.
In 1663 Sydenham obtained the license of the Royal College of Physicians. He passed the three obligatory examinations on 24 April, 8 May, 5 June, and on 25 June was admitted licentiate of the college. Legally, Sydenham ought not to have practised without this license; but the laws against unlicensed practitioners were not strictly enforced until about 1663. Sir Edward Alston, president of the college, took great pains to bring all physicians practising in London within the collegiate fold. Sydenham never obtained any higher rank in the college than that of licentiate. No one could be elected a fellow unless he were full doctor of medicine, and Sydenham did not take this degree till 1676. As an Oxford M.B. he was admitted member of Pembroke College, Cambridge, on 17 May 1676, and took the M.D. degree at the same time. The reason for his selecting this college was probably that his eldest son had been for two years a pensioner there. No definite explanation is given of his not taking this degree at Oxford, but it was probably on political grounds. After 1676 he was eligible for the fellowship of the College of Physicians, yet, having an assured position and being in delicate health, he probably did not value the honour sufficiently to undergo the necessary candidature and examination. He certainly never applied for the fellowship, but Dr. Munk has shown that when he was mentioned officially by the college, it was always with marked cordiality (Munk, Coll. of Phys. 1878, i. 311).
Sydenham seems gradually to have made his way in the profession by force of character and success in the treatment of disease. In 1665, the year of the great plague, he, like many London physicians, left town with his family, as he says, at the urgent entreaties of his friends. For this he has been blamed, but, considering his character and antecedents, it is unlikely that want of courage could be laid to his charge. The practice of a physician in those days lay little among the poor, the chief sufferers from the pestilence, unless he were connected with a hospital, which Sydenham was not. The bulk of the wealthy classes, among whom were his patients, sought safety in flight. Hence his own practice must have vanished away. He left about June, before the epidemic had reached its height, and did not return till the autumn, when it was beginning to decline. Then, though a young physician (as he modestly says), he was often employed in the absence of his seniors. But his observations on this disease are less valuable than they might have been had he remained to study and treat it.
Sydenham made good use of his enforced leisure, for early in the next year he brought out his first book, ‘Methodus Curandi Febres,’ a small octavo of 156 pages, dedicated to Robert Boyle. This was afterwards expanded into the ‘Observationes Medicæ’ (1676), a work regarded as of great importance in the history of medicine. The success of this little book was considerable. It was favourably noticed in the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ and reprinted at Amsterdam in the same year. It rapidly spread the reputation of the author through Europe.
The remainder of Sydenham's life was uneventful, though troubled owing to much ill-health. He began to suffer from gout and calculus in 1649, and on several occasions was laid up with one or other of these diseases. His personal experience enabled him to write his celebrated description of gout, which is still regarded as unsurpassed in its kind; and he has left an interesting
