Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clarke, Edward Goodman

by George Thomas Bettany

CLARKE, EDWARD GOODMAN (fl. 1812), physician, was born in London. He was a pupil of Mr. Cline, sen., at the same period with Astley Cooper, but on his fathers death he bought a commission in the 1st foot. Going to the West Indies, he married Miss Duncan, his colonel's daughter, but relapsed into intemperate habits, and took to writing as a refuge from starvation. He was admitted M.D. at Aberdeen on 24 Oct. 1791, and licentiate of the London College of Physicians in 1792. He was appointed a physician to the army by the influence of Cline and Astley Cooper, but did not mend his habits, and finally died of diseased liver. He wrote:

1. 'Medicinæ Praxeos Compendium,' 1799.
2. 'The Modern Practice of Physic,' 1805.
3. 'Conspectus of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Pharmacopœia,' 1810.
4. 'The New London Practice of Physic,' British Museum copy marked seventh edition, 1811 (a much enlarged edition of 2). In it he manifests very little knowledge of disease; he still advocates inoculation as the best remedy for small-pox, and mentions vaccination slightingly.

[Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1878, ii. 420; Clarke's Works; Life of Sir Astley Cooper, 1843, i. 146-8.]

G. T. B.