Tobias Venner

Tobias Venner

Tobias Venner (1577–1660) was an English physician and medical writer born near North Petherton. He was known for his books aimed at the general public and his promotion of thermal bathing in the city of Bath.

Biography

Venner completed his Bachelor of Arts and his Master of Arts degrees respectively in 1595 and 1603 at Oxford's Alban's Hall and went to establish his practice in Bridgwater. He then received a Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine degree at Oxford in 1613 in enigmatic circumstances.^[1] After marrying Agnes Jeffrye (died 1634) - with whom he had 4 children, he settled in Bath and by 1630 he enjoyed a rather comfortable life there : the sales of his books and his medical practice flourished and his three sons went to study medicine at Oxford University, although one died before graduating. He died at Bath on 27 March 1660 at the age of 83, outliving all of his children and both wives. He was buried in Bath Abbey, where for many years a monument bore his name.^[2]

Work

In 1620 he published Via Recta ad Vitam Longam in which he gave advice regarding hygiene and health. Placing himself in the tradition of Galen's theory of humorism,^[3] he explains how working on six "non-naturals" factors (namely environment, diet, sleep, exercise, excretion, and the passions of the mind) could affect the balance of the four humours, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile, and thus enhancing one's quality of life and longevity.^[4] In regards to his views on obesity, he is credited with being one of the first to refer to the term as a societal disease in a published English language book.^[5]

In A briefe and accurate treatise concerning the taking of the fume of tobacco (1621), Venner considers tobacco smoking, that was rising in popularity at that time,^[6] as a mean of improving digestion and offsetting the detrimental effects of cold if taken with moderation, although he recommended it should not be taken for pleasure alone.^[7][8]

Bibliography

• Via Recta ad Vitam Longam (1620)
• A briefe and accurate treatise concerning the taking of the fume of tobacco (1621)
• The baths of Bathe (1628)

References

1. Pollard, Albert Frederick (1899).  Venner, Tobias (DNB00). Wikisource. 
2. Rolls, Roger (2004). Venner, Tobias (1577–1660). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
3. Bates, Don (1995). Knowledge and the Scholarly Medical Traditions. Cambridge University Press. pp. 156–157. ISBN 0511621663.
4. Rolls, 2004
5. Gilman, Sander L (2004). Fat Boys: A Slim Book. University of Nebraska Press. p. 18.
6. Burns, Eric (2006). The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco. Temple University Press. p. 36.
7. Rolls, 2004
8. "Smokescreen: the Victorian Vogue for Tobacco". University of Liverpool. 2002.