author

John Smith

b. 1647

A little-known London writer from the late 17th century, he moved between practical trades and religious controversy. He is remembered as a self-styled “philomath” whose work became caught up in the fierce theological arguments of his day.

1 Audiobook

The virtues of common water : or, The advantages thereof, in preventing and curing many distempers : gathered from the writings of several eminent physicians, and also from more than forty years experience

The virtues of common water : or, The advantages thereof, in preventing and curing many distempers : gathered from the writings of several eminent physicians, and also from more than forty years experience

by John Smith

About the author

Born in 1647 or 1648, this John Smith is generally identified as an English craftsman and writer based in St. Augustine’s, London. Sources describe him as a "philomath"—someone devoted to learning—and note that he wrote during a period when religious debate could carry real personal risk.

He is especially associated with Unitarian writing and with the Socinian controversy of the 1690s. According to the sources available here, he was pressured into recanting his views, which suggests how tense and dangerous those disputes could be.

Very little biographical detail appears to be firmly documented beyond those outlines, and even his death date is uncertain, usually given as 1727 with a question mark. That uncertainty is part of what makes him an unusual historical figure: a writer who can still be glimpsed through the controversies he entered, even when much of his personal story remains shadowy.