Reviewed by Mohamad Kebbewar
Sir Thomas Browne:
The Opium of Time
By Gavin Francis
Oxford University Press UK
October 2026, Paperback, 176 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0198994909
Reading Gavin Francis’ account of the life of Sir Thomas Browne was an eye opening experience. To look through the life of an English doctor/alchemist, his journey through religion, human suffering, and war is a learning experience. The table of content included the following chapters: Ambiguity, Curiosity, Vitality, Piety, Humility, Misogyny, Mobility, and Mortality.
Alchemy (from the Arabic word al-kīmīā, الكیمیاء) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe.
Francis sketched out how the history of Medicine went through so much transformation. He points out that Browne learned from the scientific and intellectual Arab learners who were pioneers throughout the middle Ages. Browne struggled with God, and the industrial and scientific revolutions that changed the way medicine was being practiced,
“Browne arrived in Italy directly from Montpellier—a seat of medical education so ancient its curriculum was still largely inspired by Arab learning…”
To a layperson medicine is a sure and accurate science but on his chapter of ambiguity, Francis points out that ambiguity is part of science and you can never be a hundred percent positive in your diagnoses at least in Browne’s time and maybe in our time too.
On the chapter of humility, Francis shows how the responsibility of a doctor before the complexity of the human body and the hope of relieving human suffering can only leave us with the feeling of humility.
Mixing the personal with the historical, three hundred years difference, Francis turns to his own experience as a medical student in Scotland and in East Africa. He draws similarities and differences between his life and Browne’s life delivering to us The Opium of Time,
“We were encouraged to be creative, to build connections with hospitals and universities anywhere in the world. Fiji, Barbados, Chicago, Sydney, Paris, Montreal, Beirut, and Johannesburg…”
Like Browne and Francis I believe in the power of travelling to open our eyes to the nuances of other culture beyond the sparkling images of the internet. Francis concludes his manuscript with the subject of mortality. We are all too familiar with the images of war, epidemic, and earthquake.
Like Browne I lived through a civil war and tried to make sense of it through writing. Browne never wrote about the war in his country but his study of Arab learners leave me hopeful that the passing of knowledge from aging to youthful civilization will be the light at the end of the tunnel. This light will unite cultures no matter the differences for the betterment of humanity.
Francis impeccable prose style takes us into the cinematic tour de force of the time and ideas of Sir Thomas Browne that make us appreciate the world we live in with specialized medicine and technological advances. At the same time make us weary of the future by ending on the subject of mortality.
About the reviewer: Mohamad Kebbewar was born and raised in Aleppo. Immigrating to Canada at age 19, Kebbewar earned a degree in history from Concordia University before becoming a graphic designer. Recent poetry chapbooks include The Soap of Aleppo, Evacuate, and Children of War. He is putting the final touches on his novel The Bones of Aleppo.