Samuel Garth, clever and fashionable physician in London, left no medical manuscripts, but his doggerel verse attests to literary accomplishments which justified his membership in the Kit-Kat Club. The scanty information regarding his professional and private life was brought up to date by Harvey Cushing early in this century.1 It is known that Garth lived in Covent Garden, London, was in demand as a practicing physician, typified the upper-class man of his day, and grew rich in practice. Under George I he was knighted and became physician-in-ordinary to the king and physician-general to the army.
Garth was born in the West Riding of York-shire, was schooled at Ingleton, and entered Peter-house in Cambridge where he graduated BA in 1679 and MA in 1684. After studying medicine at Leyden he received the MD degree from Cambridge in 1691 and then settled in London. Two years later he was elected a