Richard Morton, 1637-1698 Limner of Anorexia Nervosa: His Life and Times

Abstract

IN 1689, Richard Morton,1a fellow of the College of Physicians, published his magnum opus,Phthisiologia, seu Exercitationes de Phthisi. In this seminal volume, translated into English five years later and subtitledA Treatise of Consumptions,2he outlined in painstaking detail the many disease processes that cause wasting of body tissues. All of the material was based on his own clinical observations, with little reference to books. The text, which is richly descriptive, is best known for his comments on tuberculosis. A specialist in the treatment of this disease, he was the first physician to state that tubercles are always present in the pulmonary form.3,4 Morton is best known today as the author of the first medical account of anorexia nervosa,5a condition that he referred to as "a Nervous Consumption" caused by "Sadness and Anxious Cares." The clinical description, printed in its entirety, is as

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