DR. BENJAMIN ALLEN, OF BRAINTREE. 157
done before I left Cambridge and so before I enter'd on practise); neither had I a
prospect of an opportunity to perfect. And all my thoughts I offer no otherwise
than with submission to better judgment to correct.
A very poor apology, surely, for publishing a book written in so
slovenly a manner !
It was, no doubt, because Allen recognized the imperfections
of his book that, twelve years later, in 1711, he brought out a
second edition of it, entitled :—
The / Natural History / of the / Mineral-Waters / of / Great Britain ; / to which
are added some / Observations / of the / Cicindela or Glow-Worm. / By /
Benjamin Allen, Med. Bac. / London: / Printed for the Author and Sold by
William Innys, / at the Prince's Arms, in St. Paul's Church - / Yard. 1711.
This book was not a mere second edition of the first. It was,
indeed, practically a new work, completely re-written and
re-arranged. Consequently, it was, as a book, far superior to
its author's first very-muddled effort. It was, however, of some-
what less local interest, inasmuch as it describes only five Essex
mineral springs. Allen's observations upon the glow-worm, so
inconsequently thrown in at the end of the book, were inserted,
he says,1 "as discharge of a promise made" to Ray. This
book also was dedicated to the Earl of Manchester, though it
contained a long "Epistle Dedicatory," addressed to Dr. Martin
Lister (Physician to the Queen) and Dr. Tancred Robinson,
each of whom wrote Allen a brief commendatory letter, which he
prints.
Of the middle period of Allen's life, from about 1700 to about
1720, we know singularly little. We have seen that, in 1711, he
published the work above mentioned ; but this appears to have
been his only contribution to the literature of science during the
period in question, for his contributions to the Philosophical Trans-
actions had ceased for the time. Probably, during these years,
professional cares absorbed the whole of his energies, leaving
him neither time nor opportunity for the making and recording
of observations in Natural Science. Later, however, as he
approached old age (and had, perhaps, allowed his professional
duties to pass, to some extent, into the hands of an assistant),
he commenced, as will be seen, to devote more and more of his
time and thoughts to scientific observations.
This brings us, then, to the year 1723, in which apparently
1 Mineral Waters, p. 102. The observations themselves have been noticed already
(see ante, pp. 150-151).