He was the son of the rector ofShepton Mallet inSomerset, where he was born 2 February 1619. He received his early education from his father, and when sixteen enteredMagdalen Hall, Oxford, under the tuition ofJohn Wilkins. At the early age of 22 (1641) he received the degree of M.D. and in the same year was appointed physician toCharles I, who was then atOxford. In 1650 Charleton settled in London, and was on 8 April admitted a candidate of theCollege of Physicians. A royalist, he was appointed physician to the exiled king Charles II but remained in London writing, in Russell Street,Covent Garden.[3]
He was continued in his office of physician at theRestoration, and was one of the first electedfellows of the Royal Society in 1663; on 23 January 1676 he was admitted afellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He gave the first lectures delivered in the Cutlerian Theatre in Warwick Lane, in 1680 delivered theHarveian oration, and was president in 1689 and 1691. After his last year of presidency at the College of Physicians, Charleton left London and a dwindling medical practice. He retired toNantwich; but returned to London, and was senior censor in the College of Physicians from 1698 to 1706, and delivered Harveian orations in 1680, 1702 and 1706, when he was also appointed Harveian librarian. He died 24 April 1707.[3]
He was a copious writer also ontheology,natural history, andantiquities, and publishedChorea Gigantum (1663) to prove thatStonehenge was built by theDanes. Charleton claimed it was used by them as a place of assembly, and of the inauguration of kings. The only argument is that similar stone works exist in Denmark, a fact supplied to Charleton by the Danish antiquary,Wormius, with whom he had corresponded on the book ofInigo Jones in which Stonehenge is said to be a Roman temple. TheChorea Gigantum had a poem byJohn Dryden written in its praise, theEpistle to Dr. Charleton, prefixed to the presentation copy given to the king.[3]
The Darknes ofAtheism Dispelled by the Light of Nature: a physico-theologicall treatise (1652)
Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charletoniana, or a Fabrick of Science Natural, upon the Hypothesis ofAtoms (1654; largely based onPierre Gassendi'sAnimadversiones, 1649)
Epicurus's Morals (1656)
The immortality of the human soul demonstrated by the light of nature, London 1657.
Dissertatio epistolica de ortu animae humanae, Lugd[uni] Batav[orum] 1658.
Oeconomia Animalis (1659)
Natural history of nutrition, life, and voluntary motion, London: Henry Herringman 1659.
The Ephesian and Cimmerian Matrons, 1659.
Chorea Gigantum (1663)
Natural History of the Passions (1674; previously believed to be based onJean-François Senault'sDe l'usage des passions, 1641)
Two Discourses: 1. Concerning the Different Wits of Men, 2. Of the Mysterie of Vintners, London: William Whitwood 1669.
Enquiries into human nature, London 1680.
The Harmony of Natural and Divine Laws (1682)
Three anatomic lectures, London: Walter Kettilby 1683.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Charleton, Walter".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Cousin, John William (1910).A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – viaWikisource.
