Among the anomalies of the mind of Francis Mercury Van Helmont none is more striking than the deviation from contemporary medical theory which led him to formulate his ‘anatomy of pain’. Van Helmont's theory of the nature of pain is outlined in the British Museum MS. Sloane 530, variously referred to as ‘Observations’ and ‘Autobiographical Memoires'. A fuller statement and application of his theory appears in a Latin poem found among the papers of John Locke, a poem of special interest to students of the Cambridge Platonists because of its dedication to Lady Anne, Viscountess Conway, friend and correspondent of Henry More. The manuscript, now in the Bodleian Library, hsted as MS. Locke c. 32, fol. 47, contains 135 lines which are clearly legible, seven lines being illegible because of abrasion of the paper.

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