In England they were not generally accepted till adopted with some modifications by Thomas Willis the great anatomist (1621-1675), who is the chief English representative of the chemical school.
But some parts of Willis's works, such as his descriptions of nervous diseases, and his account (the earliest) of diabetes, are classical contributions to scientific medicine.
In the application of chemistry to the examination of secretions Willis made some important steps.
We thus see that, while the great anatomists, physicists and chemists - men of the type of Willis, Borelli and Boyle - were laying foundations which were later on built up into the fabric of scientific medicine, little good was done by the premature application of their half-understood principles to practice.
P. Willis was one of the editors of the New York Mirror (1823-1842).
