A set of sunspot drawings from the early nineteenth century were discovered in the journals of the Reverend Jonathan Fisher. These drawings were made during a time when abnormally cold weather caused crops in New England to fail due to intermittent frost throughout the summer months of 1816, normally referred to as the “year without a summer.” Global changes in weather patterns were the result of the Mount Tambora volcano eruption. Since this association was unknown at the time, there was speculation that the Sun was the cause inspiring the Reverend Fisher to monitor changes in sunspots during the summer of 1816 and continuing into 1817. These sunspot drawings for the summer of 1816 overlap the solar observations of Sir William Hershel.
We should not assume that medieval physicians did not take pains to found their practice upon evidence. Academic physicians at Montpellier ca. 1300 were cautious about accepting textbook claims for the powers of drugs, and tried to verify each drug's physiological effects before using it; yet they were also flexible, ready to believe that powerful new medicines might be discovered empirically that were unknown to their authorities or superficially inconsistent with existing knowledge. Likewise, physicians were careful to observe their patients closely and to try to identify the condition from which each was suffering, and when they were unsure of the nature of an illness, they feared to administer medicines lest their known effects might be harmful to the patient. Anticipating today's "evidence-based medicine," the physician's practice involved the conscientious use of current best evidence.
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