A very empty essay on the causes of gout is intercalated, with no discoverable reason but that the Duke of Beaufort, to whom the whole work is dedicated, was threatened with attacks of that disorder.
While in Holland he published at Amsterdam (1698) ‘De morbis acutis Infantum,’ a work which acquired a reputation beyond its merits, was translated into English (1742), French (1730), and German (1713), and was not supplanted by any other work in England till the publication in 1784 of the much more valuable treatise of Michael Underwood.
When Harris asked Sydenham for advice as to his medical studies, the great physician is said to have told him to read ‘Don Quixote,’ meaning that he should learn from Cervantes how accurate a knowledge of man may be gained by observation.
In 1707 he printed his Harveian oration, and in 1720 published in London ‘De morbis aliquot gravioribus Observationes,’ of which the most interesting part is his account of Queen Mary's illness and death.
‘De Peste Dissertatio,’ London, 1721, and ‘Dissertationes Medicæ et Chirurgicæ habitæ in amphitheatro collegii regalis medicorum Londiniensium,’ 1725, are his remaining medical works.
In 1727 he published a short theological treatise, ‘The Works of God.’ He died on 1 August 1732 at his house in Red Lion Square, London.