introduction to physic and surgery, containing I. Medicinal institutionts, or physiology, hygieine, patholoy, semeiotice, and therapeutice. II. A compedious system of anatomy. III. A general account of wounds, ulcers, tumors, operations, and dressings; as also, the medicines used in surgery. IV. Botany and the materia medica. V. Pharmacy, as well chemical as Galenical. VI. A dispensatory, containing a great variety of the most efficacious officinal compositions, and extemporaneous prescriptions. VII. A syllabus of the symptoms of all the diseases incident to the human body. VIII. An index of diseases and their remedies. IX. A posologic table, containing the doses of all the simples and compounds. X. An explanation of the terms of art, accented as they are to be pronounced

Although little is known of his life, from his own writings we know that Richard Brookes once practiced medicine in rural Surrey (see his Dedication in Art of Angling) and that sometime before 1762, he travelled to America and Africa (see his Preface in Natural History). Brookes also made some translations, most notably The Natural History of Chocolate (1724) from the French, Histoire Naturelle du Cacao et du Sucre (1719). His work went through several reprints. As late as 1834, Brookes' books were listed in James Atkinson's Medical Bibliography. Atkinson wrote that Brookes had "been a most industrious and intelligent practical author." His were "books of considerable research and labour."