Christopher Packe (1686–1749) was an English physician and geologist. His 1743 work ''A New Philosophico-chorographical Chart of East Kent'' was the first geological map of

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

Life

Packe was born at

St. Albans, Hertfordshire St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, on 6 March 1686. He was probably the son of Christopher Packe the chemist. Packe was admitted to Merchant Taylors' School on 11 September 1695. He was created M.D. at Cambridge in 1717, and was admitted a candidate of the

College of Physicians A college of physicians is a national or provincial organisation concerned with the practice of medicine. {{Expand list, date=February 2011 Such institutions include: * American College of Physicians * Ceylon College of Physicians * College of Phy ...

on 25 June 1723. At the request of Robert Romney, the then vicar, he gave an organ to the Church of St Peter, St. Albans, the organ being inaugurated on 16 January 1726. About 1726 Packe settled at Canterbury. He practiced as a physician, with a good reputation, for nearly a quarter of a century. He died on 15 November 1749, and was buried in St. Mary Magdalene, Canterbury.

Bibliography

Packe had a heated controversy with Dr. John Gray of Canterbury respecting the treatment of Robert Worger of Hinxhill, Kent, who died of concussion of the brain, caused by a fall from his horse. The relatives, not satisfied with Packe's treatment, called in Gray and two surgeons, who, Packe alleged in letters in the "Canterbury News-Letter" of 8 and 15 October 1726, killed the patient by excessive bleeding and

trepanning Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb ''trepan'' derives from Old French from Medieval Latin from Greek , literally "borer, auger"), is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drill ...

. He further defended himself in ''A Reply to Dr. Gray's three Answers to a written Paper, entitled Mr. Worger's Case'',

4to Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

, Canterbury, 1727.Goodwin, p. 31. Packe wrote also: * ''A Dissertation upon the Surface of the Earth, as delineated in a specimen of a Philosophico-Chorographical Chart of East Kent,'' 4to, London, 1737. The essay had been read before the Royal Society on 25 November 1736, and the specimen chart submitted to them. * ''ANKOΓΡAΦIA (sic), sive Convallium Descriptio,'' an explanation of a new philosophico-chorographical chart of East Kent, 4to, Canterbury, 1743. The chart itself, containing a "graphical delineation of the country fifteen or sixteen miles round Canterbury," was published by a guinea subscription in 1743. This is the world's first geomorphological map: to make it Packe measured heights above sea level with a sophisticated barometer, as well as using an adapted theodolite mounted on top of the main tower of Canterbury Cathedral. * His letters to Sir

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

, extending from 1737 to 1741, are in the British Museum, Additional (Sloane) MS. 4055.

Family

Packe married Mary Randolph, of the Precincts, Canterbury, on 30 July 1726 at

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

.Goodwin, p. 31. Cites: ''Reg.'' Harl. Soc. p. 77. Their son Christopher graduated M.B. in 1751 as a member of

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, practised as a physician at Canterbury, and published ''An Explanation of ... Boerhaave's Aphorisms . . . of Phthisis Pulmonalis'' in 1754. He died on 21 October 1800, aged 72, and was buried by the side of his father.

Notes

References

* **Munk's ''College of Physicians'' 1878 **

John Russell Smith John Russell Smith (1810–1894), known as Russell Smith, was an English bookseller and bibliographer. He is best known for his "Library of Old Authors" reprint series. Life He was born at Sevenoaks, Kent, and was apprenticed to John Bryant of W ...

, ''Biblioteca Cantiana'' **Gough's ''British Topography'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Packe, Christopher 1686 births 1749 deaths British geologists Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge