Thomas Moffet
Thomas Moffet, also spelled Muffet, was a notable 16th-century English physician and entomologist born in 1553 in London. He was educated at Merchant Taylor's School and later at Cambridge, where he initially studied at Trinity College and then at Gonville Hall, earning his B.A. in 1573 and his M.D. in 1579 from the University of Basel. Moffet was influenced by the Paracelsian school of medicine, which emphasized chemical cures and experimental approaches, a stance that led to conflicts with the traditional Galenist medical community. After establishing a medical practice in Frankfurt, he developed a keen interest in entomology, particularly silkworms, and engaged with prominent figures such as Tycho Brahe and Sir Philip Sidney.
Moffet's career included significant contributions to medicine and literature; he published works defending chemical medicine and wrote a biographical memoir of Sir Philip Sidney. After marrying twice and experiencing the loss of his first wife, he continued his work until his death in 1604. His legacy includes a posthumous treatise on health improvement and a connection to the nursery rhyme character Little Miss Muffet, stemming from his daughter's name and his studies on invertebrates.
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Thomas Moffet
Nonfiction Writer and Poet
- Born: 1553
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: June 5, 1604
- Place of death: Bulbridge Farm, England
Biography
Thomas Moffet, or Muffet, was born in 1553 in London, the second of three sons of a similarly named haberdasher and Alice, née Ashley. He went to Merchant Taylor’s School before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1569, but subsequently moved to Gonville Hall in 1572, obtaining his B.A. there in 1573, before being controversially expelled for obtaining his M.A. from Trinity in 1576. He studied at Cambridge under John Caius, a future president of the Royal College of Physicians, and then went to the University of Basel, from which he obtained his M.D. in 1579. Basel was a center of a new school of “Paracelsian” medicine favoring chemical cures and further experimental studies over traditional and dogmatic Galenist methods, but Moffet’s doctoral thesis was such a strident championship of Paracelsian methods that it had to be toned down before acceptance.
Moffet established a medical practice in Frankfurt but continued to travel extensively; he studied silkworms during a visit to Italy in 1580 and conceived a strong interest in entomology. After returning to England, he married Jane Wheeler on December 23, 1580. He came into conflict with the Galenist College of Physicians, which refused to recognize his M.D. until 1582, but established a laboratory and built up a practice. In December, 1582, he accompanied Lord Willoughby of Eresby on a diplomatic expedition to Denmark, where he met Tycho Brahe, and Frederick II’s Paracelsian physician, Peder Sorensen, also known as Pedrus Severinus. He dedicated his combative dialogue De iure et praestantia chymicorum medicamentorum dialogus apologeticus, published in Frankfurt, to Severinus.
After considerable opposition, Moffet was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1588, the year in which he published Nosomatica Hippocratea 1588. He was consulted by various notable individuals, including Sir Philip Sidney, of whom he wrote a biographical memoir, and the Earl of Essex, whom he served as a military physician in Normandy in 1591-1592. He also knew Walter Raleigh, who shared his interest in chemistry, and Henry Percy, the “Wizard Earl” of Northumberland.
Moffet worked on a major study in entomology from 1590 onwards, but it was not published in is lifetime, eventually appearing in Latin in 1634, although he did managed to publish a Virgilian Georgic poem on the subject of silkworms in 1599. The latter was dedicated to Philip Sidney’s sister Mary, the Countess of Pembroke, who had become Moffet’s chief patron. He lived on her husband’s Wiltshire estate during his latter years, becoming minister of parliament for Wilton in 1597. When his first wife died in 1600, Moffet married a local widow, Catherine Brown, who bore him a daughter, Patience, before he died at Bulbridge Farm on June 5, 1604. The alternative spelling of his name and his interest in invertebrates gave rise to the opinion that Patience was the original Little Miss Muffet. His other significant posthumous work was a treatise on the improvement of health, whose principal emphasis was on dietary factors.