Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cadogan, William (1711-1797)
CADOGAN, WILLIAM (1711–1797), physician, was born in London in 1711 and graduated B.A. at Oriel College, Oxford, in 1731. He then studied at Leyden, where he took the degree of M.D. in 1737, and was soon after appointed a physician to the army. He began private practice in Bristol, and while resident there was elected in 1752 F.R.S., but a little later settled in London, was made physician to the Foundling Hospital in 1754, and soon attained success. He took the degrees of M.A., M.B., and M.D. at Oxford June 1755, became a fellow of the College of Physicians in 1758, was four times a censor, and twice delivered the Harveian oration. He lived in George Street, Hanover Square, died there 26 Feb. 1797, and was buried at Fulham, where he had a villa. Cadogan's works are his graduation thesis, ‘De nutritione, incremento, et decremento corporis,’ Leyden, 1737; his two Harveian orations, 1764 and 1792; ‘An Essay on the Nursing and Management of Children,’ London, 1750; and ‘A Dissertation on the Gout and on all Chronic Diseases,’ London, 1771. His thesis is a statement of the current physiological opinions, and contains no original observation, and his Harveian orations are mere rhetorical exercises. His book on nursing is his best work, and went through nine editions in twenty years. He thinks children have, in general, too many clothes and too much food. Looser clothing and a simpler diet are recommended, with sensible directions on the management of children. Cadogan's book on the gout was widely read, and was attacked by several of his medical contemporaries, among others by Sir William Browne [q. v.] It reached a tenth edition within two years, but is not a work of any depth. Gout is, in his opinion, not hereditary, and, in common with most chronic diseases, arises from indolence, intemperance, and vexation. The writer assumes a tone of superiority towards his contemporaries, which was probably engendered by his pecuniary success, but is not justified by the knowledge displayed in the book. His treatment of gout is sound as far as it goes, for he advises spare diet and as much exercise as possible. Dr. Cadogan's portrait, by R. E. Pine, is at the College of Physicians.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1878, ii. 222; Cadogan's Works; Nichols's Anecd. iii. 329; Gent. Mag. 1797, p. 352.]