Sylvester Rattray (fl. 1650–1666) was a Scottish medical writer.

Biography

Rattray was a native of

Angus, Scotland Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agr ...

. He was descended from Sir Sylvester Rattray, of

Rattray Castle The Castle of Rattray was a medieval Scottish castle, with multiple variations on its structure over approximately six centuries. Originally built as a ''"late 12th- or early 13th century defensive motte"'' it provided protection for Starny K ...

, Perthshire, who was in 1463 one of the ambassadors sent to London to treat with

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

, and exerted great influence at the Scottish court. Sylvester may have been son of a later Sylvester Rattray who had two sons, David and Sylvester. The latter is said to have been ‘bred to the church.’ On the title-page of the second book mentioned below he is, however, credited with a theological degree as well as with that of M.D. He was author of ‘Aditus novus ad occultas Sympathiæ et Antipathiæ causas inveniendas, per principia philosophiæ naturalis, ex fermentorum artificiosa anatomia hausta, patefactus’ (Glasgow, 1658), dedicated to Johannes Scotus. The ‘Aditus novus’ was reprinted in ‘Theatrum Sympatheticum variorum Authorum de Pulvere Sympathetico’ (Nuremberg, 1662). Rattray's second book, ‘Prognosis medica ad usum Praxeos facili methodo digesta,’ was dedicated to Dr. John Wedderburn (Glasgow, 1666). In May 1652 Rattray married at Cupar, Fifeshire, ‘Ingells, King-gask's daughter’ (Lamont, Diary, 1810, p. 51). He had a son Sylvester, a student of medicine at Glasgow in 1680.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattay, Sylvester Year of birth missing Year of death missing 17th-century Scottish people Scottish medical writers People from Angus, Scotland