2. The Letters

151: Singer to Sigerist, London, 19 September 1924

My dear Sigerist,

Many thanks for the cheque for £ 3.0.0 which arrived safely this morning.

Isent off the final proofs of the Syphilis tractates about four days ago and yesterday I sent off also the “Prospekt”.¹

Ihope the photographs are what you wanted.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

152: Singer to Sigerist, London, 10 January 1925

My dear Sigerist,

Many thanks for your letter of January 8th. I heard two days ago that you have been appointed “titular” Professor. It is a very great pleasure to hear. I wish it had not been “titular” but perhaps that will be altered later. ¹

Ireally have had a dreadfully busy term and everyone is pressing me for writing.² I am very sorry for the delay in the proofs but most unfortunately the Registered Post between England and Germany is extremely slow. For instance, on the 5th January Kurt Wolff sent me a postcard saying that “gleichzeitig”³ he had sent me the last proofs of “The Fasciculo”.⁴ Nevertheless these proofs have not even yet reached me. I think part of the delay is also due to Kurt Wolff being just a little meticulous. Thus, in the case of the “Zehn Schriften” I wrote to him that I was quite content that he should make two or three small corrections without sending me proofs again.⁵ Nevertheless he insisted on sending them, thus delaying matters some weeks. I have no doubt that when I do get the Fasciculo proofs I shall approve of them right away and will telegraph to that effect to Kurt Wolff.

Last week I sent off a small volume to the printer entitled “The Childhood of Anatomy”.⁶ It is a history of Anatomy and Physiology to Harvey⁷ and is being printed at once. It is the substance of my Fitzpatrick lectures.

Irather think the publishers are coming round a little about the Monumenta medica. I called last week on Benn Brothers⁸ who are quite keen on the Fasciculo and have written to Hardt direct with the result that the Oxford University Press is also coming round. I am not at all sure, however, that my suggestion to Hardt to employ a lady as his own agent in London would after all not have been best and more profitable for him.

To give you an idea how my time is occupied I will give you a list of my actual commitments [sic] during the next six months. Quite apart from academic work I am committed to an article in a volume for which Lord Balfour is writing an introduction, on “Science and Religion”. I am doing the historical section.⁹ I am also committed to a volume for Lier as you know; to a volume on the history of Science for the Clarendon Press; an article on Mediaeval Science in the “Legacy of Israel”¹⁰ as companion volume to Greece and Rome; to a colleague at University College for a translation of Celsus¹¹ and to the Oxford University Press for a composite volume of Three Centuries of Science.

When I called the Benn Brothers they discussed various projects for publication. One of them was a volume which would include all the illustrations that had been produced by Vesalius. What do you think of the idea? It would not be necessary to reproduce the text but only explanations of the figures. Are you going on with your idea of the Epitome? If so, this Vesalius idea had better be dropped but if not I think Benn Brothers would do it very well.

If Hardt is looking round for a short and cheap volume has he considered Gaspari Aselli “De lactibus”?¹² It is extremely interesting from the point of view of the history of printing. As you know it is the first specimen of real colour printing. It would be quite a small book to do.

Please forgive me for having been so very remiss in corresponding but it has been due to pressure of work.

It was delightful having Senn.¹³

Many thanks for the photographs which arrived safely.

With best wishes for the New Year to you all from us all

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

I had a letter from De Lint asking me to meet him & Sudhoff in Holland. I said I would fall in with their schemes but I could not come over to Holland.

153: Singer to Sigerist, London, 15 January 1925

My dear Sigerist,

Ireceived the proofs of the Fasciculo¹ the day before yesterday late at night and despatched them in the morning to Wolff. There were two necessary corrections in the entire book. In my letter which went off by Air Mail I begged Wolff not to return the proofs to me. I said I was perfectly content for them to make the corrections and to issue the book at once.

This is a matter in which Wolff are rather troublesome. They insist, however often I make this remark, on returning the proofs to me. At present the Parcel Post between England and Germany takes at least ten days. If they insist on returning these proofs to me it will take three weeks since the proofs have to go back again. Would you instruct them therefore to take me at my word and not return them to me?²

Italked to the Clarendon Press yesterday and again with Benn’s. I think I am going to advise Lier finally to employ a private agent in this country.³ There is a competent lady living close be [sic] here who is capable of undertaking the work and employing her would be a fraction of the expense of the Clarendon Press. She would also have the advantage of instruction from me as to whom to send circulars to. The profits of Lier for each copy would thus be much larger.

Iam sorry to have taken so long over the book but it is as you know a big bit of work.

Best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Singer

154: Singer to Sigerist, London, 27 March 1925

My dear Sigerist,

It was only the day before yesterday that I learned from a letter from Klebb [sic]¹ that you had been appointed at Leipzig.² In a note from your wife some little time ago she said that you were leaving for Leipzig but we merely thought it was on a visit and did not connect it with this appointment.

Please accept our very heartiest and warmest congratulations on this event. We hope it may bring you every happiness and feel sure that you have a full and useful career in front of you. You know that any help that eI ther my wife or I can give you at any time is at your disposal.

Imyself have been laid up with a rather bad attack of influenza which extended over three weeks and it is only this last week that I have been able to attend to my correspondence which has thus fallen a good deal in arrears. I still am not fit as I could wish. I cannot yet do much work. I have however finished & in proof my “History of Anatomy”[.]³

You will be glad to hear that my own position at University College has been greatly improved and I am now receiving a satisfactory rate of payment.

Itake it that you will not attend the Congress at Geneva?⁴ I do not propose to go there and so am not anxious that it should be known that I am in Switzerland at the time.

Please give our kind regards to Professor Sudhoff.

With very best regards to your wife and yourself and again all good wishes or [sic] the future.

Believe me,

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

155: Singer to Sigerist, London, 2 April 1925¹

My dear Sigerist,

I have today written off to von Hardt a letter of which I enclose a copy. I believe that on the lines I indicate a venture might be made not unprofitable. I know a very large proportion of the buyers in England and America and I could circulate them, or rather Mrs. Stanton could circulate them direct, of course under my direction. This will not prevent Von Hardt selling direct from Italy and gaining the complete profits. I hope you will fall in with this idea.

Iam hard at work illustrating my “History of Anatomy”.²

Have you any schemes for a Journal? What is Sudhoff saying about the International Scheme?

With my best regards,

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

P.S. I suppose you have got my letter congratulating you on your appointment?

156: Singer to Sigerist, London, 8 April 1925

My dear Sigerist,

Many thanks for your letter. I am so glad you are not leaving Switzerland yet. This being so, we shall then have an opportunity of meeting. We leave London on June 2nd and go straight through to Thun, where we put up the nurse and child for the night. Then Mrs. Singer and I are going on to find a place that we like. We think of trying Lake Lungern. As soon as we have a place, we shall go back – probably the next day – for the child and nurse and settle in our holiday quarters.

We shall remain in Switzerland until the 27th July, when we return to England. I shall not be going to the meeting at Geneva.¹ Doubtless, during these two months we can arrange to meet.

Iam so glad to hear that you have finished “Apuleius” and are hard at work on “Sextus Placidas”[sic].² I wonder if you know the “De animalibus” of Constantine, in the edition published by Petrus of Basel in 1541.³ It is in a collection entitled “Methodus Medendi Certa” consisting of Albucasis⁴ and Constantine for the most part. If you do not know it or have not access to it, I can lend it to you.

As regards your questions about manuscripts, I know all those to which you refer and will gladly have them photographed for you. The Rawlinson Manuscripts are at Oxford.⁵

Let me know whether you would like all in rotograph or in photograph, or only a few pages from each, or whether you would like me to use my discretion.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

157: Singer to Sigerist, London, 15 April 1925

My dear Sigerist,

I have had a rather confused letter from Sudhoff in which he says that so far as the Journal is concerned, he would fall in with our wishes.

Does this mean he is going to drop the Archiv and wants[?] to start a new International Journal? If so, what would be your general wishes in the matter? Doubtless we could discuss this when we meet in June or July. Of course he would be “honorary editor”.

Do you or he mean to go on with the Mitteilungen[?]¹ I suggest that for your own sake it would be better to amalgamate with Sarton. Sarton loves bibliography. Although his principle of selection is a little too drastic there is a good deal in it.

I have had a letter from some Rhenish Association speaking of an Exhibition of Art illustrating the History of the Rhineland. They ask me for the use of my “Hildegard” paintings and I replied I would gladly lend them.² I wrote to them also that if they liked they could reprint my article on Hildegard in Volume I of the Studies.³

It has occurred to me that Lier might like to do this and he could do so without any great expense. The Clarendon Press are prepared to lend the clichées without charge; the article to be printed as originally written with merely the alteration or correction of two or three sentences. This would give Lier an opportunity of producing a well illustrated piece of work without any great expense to himself, and I feel we owe him something of that sort.

If you think well of this, by all means suggest it to him and I will act accordingly. He has in his possession a copy of a first volume of the Studies which I lent him.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

158: Singer to Sigerist, London, 17 April 1925

My dear Sigerist,

I have received the enclosed letter from Haberling.¹ By “illustrierte und nicht illustrierte” he means of course “Coloured and non-coloured.” I send you this in case you are considering anything in connection with “Hildegard” and Lier.

Iwill order the “Sextus Placitus” Photographs for you at once. I wonder if you know the very interesting manuscript, Bodley 153 (early 12th Century) which contains text closely allied to “Sextus Placitus”.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

159: Singer to Sigerist, London, 24 April 1925

My dear Sigerist,

I have been through the British Museum Manuscripts of which you spoke and have been in correspondence with the librarian of the Bodleian Library concerning Rawlinson’s Manuscripts. I have ordered rotographs of all of them for you. I am having them sent to me, as I get a rebate of 10% off the London Manuscripts.

There are the following remarks to be made :-

1. Harleian 1585. This is a very beautiful manuscript, some figures of which are reproduced in Figure 2 of Studies.¹ I think you will probably agree that it is of about the year 1200. I have ordered for you folio 59 recto to 62 verso inclusive. It contains only the table of contents of Sextus Placitus with part of the first chapter.

2. Sloane 1975 is another very beautiful manuscript, fairly closely similar to the Bodleian manuscript, Ashmole 1462. Sloane 1975 I think of the early 13th century. It has been paginated several times and I have ordered for you the red pagination 74 recto to 77 recto. This contains the table of contents of Sextus Placitus with the beginning of the chapter on Cervus.

3. Additional 8928 is an extremely interesting manuscript of the 11th century, in parts I should think of about the year 1000, though the section of Placitus is a little later. Unfortunately your section, I think you will find, is a little faded. I have ordered for you folios 50 verso to 53 recto. This contains Table of contents and the chapter on Cervus. The entire text ends on folio 62 verso. I should think it would be an important text for your purpose, and you might do worse than have the whole photographed.

4. Harleian 5294 is – it seems to me – an exceptionally interesting manuscript. I should be disposed to date it at about 1100 to 1150. I believe that it is unquestionably connected with a South Italian Manuscript written in Beneventan script² and figures in it are closely similar to those in the destroyed Turin manuscript KIV 3 (see my Studies, volume 2, page 71). The pages of the Turin are reproduced in Giacosa. I think it might be worth while enquiring of Giacosa if there exist any other photographs of this lost manuscript besides those reproduced in his “Magestio [sic] Salernitani.”³ The manuscript Harleian 5294 contains many Anglo-Saxon glosses and is one of the so-called “reserved” manuscripts by the British Museum, i.e. manuscripts kept in a special safe which can only be examined by special readers. I should add perhaps that I have much closer parallels than that reproduced in page 71 of Volume 2 of my Studies.

Of Harleian 5294 I have ordered you folio 60 recto to 62 recto. That is all that the Manuscript contains of Sextus Placitus and it is imperfect – a mere fragment. This manuscript omits a number of page[s] of anti-dotary material. These pages and the pages of Sextus Placitus are in an early handwriting, but one different from the Herbarium, earlier in the book containing glosses by Anglo-Saxon glossists.

5. The Rawlinson MS to which you refer in your letter is not Rawlinson C 128 but Rawlinson C 328. The text of Sextus Placitus begins at folio 120 verso and ends at folio 125 verso. As this is so condensed, I have ordered the entire text for you.

This MS contains drawings in the margins of beasts and birds. Some of the drawings in the outer margins have been partly pared off by the binder. The size of the leaves is 9 1/2 x 7 inches.

Ihope these notes will be of use.

With best regards

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

160: Singer to Sigerist, London, 7 May 1925

My dear Sigerist,

Herewith rotographs of Rawlinson 358. Those in the British Museum will follow. I have written again to hurry them up.

Yours ever,

Chas Singer

161: Singer to Sigerist, London, 11 May 1925

My dear Sigerist,

I have today forwarded the rotographs of the British Museum Manuscripts. They are beautifully done, especially Additional 8928, which is a great deal easier to read in the rotograph than in the original.

The total bill comes to £1.11.0 I am paying it and will send you the receipt.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

162: Singer to Sigerist, London, 16 May 1925

My dear Sigerist,

I have just had a Notice of the Meeting of the Swiss Society, from which I see that you will be in Berne until May 31st.

We leave London on June 2nd and arrive at Thun on the morning of June 3rd. We have already taken our tickets and have booked rooms at the Belle Vue Hotel at Thun. It had been our purpose to leave the nurse and child at Thun for two or three days while we went on at once to find rooms near Lake Lungern. Could not you join us at Thun? If so, we would stay there or near there a few days before going on. It would be delightful if you could manage this.

My niece, Mary Singer, is marrying from this house on May 30th so that my movements are controlled by that.

I have received the last proofs of my History of Anatomy.¹

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

163: Singer to Sigerist, Thun, Switzerland, 3 June 1925

My dear Sigerist,

We arrived here this morning with nurse and the little girl. The latter bore the journey particularly well & slept right through the night.

We are going to stay here for a few days before we go higher. I have slight sciatica & if it is not better during the next few days I think we shall go to Locarno for a week to get really warm. Warm always cures it. Then we can get up to the Alps. So that our movements are just a little uncertain. But anyhow our letters will be forwarded.

Of course we must manage to meet. I have ordered a copy of my History of Anatomy to be sent to you but you will not get it for a week or two.¹ What about my Mundinus? Is it published yet?²

I have written to Klebs to let him know that we are here. I gather that you are at the moment in Leipzig.

Apart from wanting to see you we should much like you and your wife to make the aquaintance of our little girl who flourishes exceedingly.

Let us have a line from you.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

164: Singer to Sigerist, Ringgenberg, Switzerland, 8 June 1925¹

My dear Sigerist,

My sciatica has quite disappeared – so much so that yesterday and the day before we went on foot from Sachseln to the Melcher See [sic]² & back.

We have come on here where we shall remain for a week or two. It is the next station but one on the boat to Interlaken. Let us know definitely by post or wire when you will come & we shall look forward to you being our guest. Do bring your wife with you. It is quite simple here but very comfortable & a most beautiful view.

In about a fortnight’s time we shall be moving into the mountains.

Ilong for us to meet.

Best regards from us both

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

165: Singer to Sigerist, Ringgenberg, 14 June 1925

My dear Sigerist,

We are settled in this comfortable but very simple hotel until June 27 when we move, I think, to Rosenlauibad. Let us know when, & how many of you, will come & you will be most welcome.

You might bring with you a copy of my Fasciculo which I have not yet seen in its final form.¹ I should like to have just a look at it though doubtless there is a copy waiting for me at home.

Have you by any chance Walter Scott’s Hermetica?² It has just appeared at the Oxf. Univ. Press. I have the first volume which I have been reading with much interest but have left vol. II in London. If you have vol II you might perhaps lend it to me. If there is anything very special that has recently appeared in German or Italian & you find room for it in your luggage I should be duly grateful.

This hotel is actually on the lake & the most comfortable way to get here is by boat from Brienz. The hotel is on the landing stage. The railway station is almost 10 minutes walk.

Stay with us as long as you can. We are much looking forward to seeing you both [....].

Yours ever

Charles Singer

Klebs is coming over one day. I had a fairly sane letter from him. He says he wants to talk over Congress matters with me. Have you read Capparoni’s latest? Poor old thing.

166: Singer to Sigerist, Ringgenberg, 20 June 1925 (postcard)

A line to say that on June 29 we move to

Hotel Victoria

Reuti Hasliberg

(Station Brünig)

Yours ever

Charles Singer

167: Singer to Sigerist, Ringgenberg, 25 June 1925

My dear Sigerist,

Many thanks for your letter of June 20. On Monday June 29 we move to

Hotel Victoria

Reut I

Hasliberg,

where you & yours will be most welcome. There is a postwagon that comes from Brünig station.

The most convenient week end for us would be from July 3. On the following week end we – i.e. my wife & I– had preferred to go for a few days walking tour. In any event you will be our guests & we hope that you will stay as long as you can. On Sunday next we expect a visit here (in Ringgenberg) from Klebs.

Let us know which day & by what train and how many of you will come. I shall hope to meet you.

It is very pleasant here & I get through a fair amount of work.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

168: Singer to Sigerist, Reuti-Hasliberg, Switzerland, 29 June 1925

My dear Sigerist,

We arrived in this place this morning & find it quite unusually comfortable.

This letter is just to say that Klebs is coming to see us one day in the near future. Of course I don’t know how he regards you at the moment! Knowing how mad he is, and seeing that he has not employed Lier for his reproductions of pestilence plates, & considering that you are now a professor, I think it not unlikely that he is very angry with you! But I really have no other ground for this hypothesis except that he has not mentioned you in his letters. Anyhow I shall persuade him not to come on July 4.¹

Do try & persuade your wife to come. We should love to have you both with us as our guests & it is really unusually comfortable at this hotel.

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

169: Singer to Sigerist, Reuti-Hasliberg, 1 July 1925 (postcard)

All right. We have put Klebs off & told him not to come till next week. We expect you then by the 10:44 Brünig on July 4.

Many thanks for reprints just received.

Charles Singer

170: Singer to Sigerist, Reuti-Hasliberg, 2 July 1925

A line to say that I shall be in Meiringen on the morning of July 4. If I am not at the station at 10:44 when you arrive I shall be coming up from Meiringen by the train arriving Brünig at 11:00 so please wait for me. We are so looking forward to seeing you. Have put off Klebs.

Yours

Charles Singer

171: Singer to Sigerist, Reuti-Hasliberg, 15 July 1925

My dear Sigerist,

Iam afraid Sarton won’t come after all. He wrote me a day or two ago. I have mislaid his letter at the moment but will come on it presently! He is going straight to the Pyrenees & says he cannot afford the travel more. It is a pity to have nursed him.

Very many thanks for the cigars which are excellent. You very wrongly do not enclose the bill. I assume that they are 40 centimes. You also left about 15 other cigars so I enclose a cheque for 46 francs. Do please let me know if this is not right.

If all goes well we hope to come to Zürich for a day or two on July 29 or 30 if that will be quite convenient to you. Let us have a line if it will not be convenient. We should go straight home from Zürich.

I have had a long & stupid letter from Klebs & I still don’t know whether he will come or not.

We have had some splendid walks from here sleeping out several nights. We are going to have another long excursion of three days beginning tomorrow if the weather is good. We have both become remarkably fit. Nancy flourishes.¹

With best regards from all to all,

Yours ever,

Charles Singer

172: Sigerist to Singer, Leipzig?, 1 October 1925¹

Mein lieber Singer,

Ich bin nun glücklich in Leipzig eingetroffen und möchte nicht versäumen, Ihren Brief vom 25. Juli zu beantworten. Es war mir eine grosse Enttäuschung, dass Sie damals nicht mehr nach Zürich kommen konnten, und ich habe mich umso mehr gefreut, dass ich ein paar schöne Tage mit Ihnen verbringen konnte.

Wann mein Apuleius² erscheint, kann ich Ihnen noch nicht mit Bestimmtheit sagen. Es wird wohl Frühling werden. Vor allem möchte ich Ihnen herzlich danken für Ihre Geschichte der Anatomie,³ die mich natürlich ganz ausserordentlich interessiert. Ich habe angefangen, sie eingehend zu studieren, und ich werde Ihnen nochmals darüber schreiben, wenn ich das Buch fertig gelesen habe.

Wann reisen Sie nach Amerika? Wann kommen Sie zu uns nach Leipzig?

Mit herzlichen Grüssen, auch an Ihre verehrte Frau, bin ich

Ihr ergebener

[Henry E. Sigerist]

Summary: Sigerist has settled in Leipzig. On his Apuleius and Singer’s The evolution of anatomy.

173: Sigerist to Singer, Leipzig?, 18 January 1926

Mein lieber Singer,

Nehmen Sie vielen herzlichen Dank für Ihren Brief vom 16. Dezember und entschuldigen Sie, dass ich ihn erst heute beantworte. Ihre Geschichte der Anatomie¹ und Ihren Beitrag zu dem Buch ‘Science, Religion and Reality’² habe ich gut erhalten und danke Ihnen bestens dafür. Ich habe beides mit grossem Interesse gelesen und werde die Arbeiten in den ‘Mitteilungen’ besprechen.³

Es hat mich sehr interessiert und sehr gefreut, dass Sie ein zweites Kind adoptiert haben. Meine besten Wünsche für ein glückliches Gedeihen der beiden Kinder.

Den Brief von Krumbhaar habe ich mit Interesse gelesen. Wir sind natürlich grundsätzlich gern bereit, die internationalen Beziehungen wieder aufzunehmen. Allein es muss eine Form gefunden werden, die das Empfinden der deutschen Kollegen nicht verletzt. Sie müssen nicht vergessen, dass der jahrelange Ausschluss von den internationalen Veranstaltungen eine Beleidigung gewesen ist, und Sie können nicht von uns verlangen, dass wir jetzt um Aufnahme bitten. Dass ich persönlich in der Sache nichts tun kann, wissen Sie ja, denn ich war ja Mitglied der internationalen Gesellschaft. Man hat mich aber aus der Gesellschaft, wahrscheinlich aus politischen Gründen, ausgestossen, ohne dass man die Höflichkeit gehabt hätte, mir dies mitzuteilen.

Ich hoffe, dass Sie gute Ferien verbracht haben, und mit herzlichen Grüssen, auch an Ihre Frau, verbleibe ich

Ihr sehr ergebener

[Henry E. Sigerist]

(173) Summary: The Singers have adopted a second child. The German standpoint regarding the resumption of cultural relations. Sigerist’s exclusion from the International Society of the History of Medicine for political reasons.

174: Sigerist to Singer, Leipzig?, 24 February 1926

Lieber Singer,

Herzlichen Dank für Ihren Brief vom 19. Februar. Ich wäre Ihnen ausserordentlich dankbar, wenn Sie mir den Apuleius, Bodley 130 möglichst bald zuschicken könnten. Ich würde ihn nur 2 – 3 Tage behalten. Die Einleitung zu meiner Ausgabe muss nämlich in den nächsten Tagen in Druck gehen, und es wäre mir sehr wertvoll, wenn ich diese Neupublikation vorher einsehen könnte.

Mit hezlichen Grüssen und vielem Dank zum voraus bin ich

Ihr ergebener

[Henry E. Sigerist]

Summary: Request of an Oxford manuscript.

175: Sigerist to Singer, Leipzig?, 25 February 1926

Lieber Singer,

Herzlichen Dank für Ihren Brief vom 23. Februar. Ihre Arbeit über die ‘Fünf-Bilder-Serie’ des Caius College wird mir für das ‘Archiv’ sehr willkommen sein.¹ Wenn Sie mir das Manuskript bald schicken, kann ich es gleich im 2. Heft dieses Jahres herausbringen.

Mit herzlichen Grüssen bin ich

Ihr ergebener

[Henry E. Sigerist]