1588, Muffet published his Nosomantica Hippocratea, advocating support for the work and writings of Hippocrates. Nine years later, in October 1597, Muffet was elected as a Member of Parliament for Wilton. Three years later, in 1600, Muffet's wife, Jane, died. He married widow Catherine Brown that same year. Thomas Muffet died at the Bulbridge Farm, in Wilton, Wiltshire on 5 June 1604. Scientific contributions Insects Thomas Muffet first studied silkworms while working in Italy, beginning his continued fascination with arthropods in general, particularly spiders. He iedited and expanded on the work Insectorum sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrum (Theatre of Insects), an illustrated guide to the classification and lives of insects. Although he is popularly believed to have authored it, he merely inherited and furthered its progress toward publication, which would not occur until thirty years after his death. The book contained significant contributions by three other scientists, the Swiss Conrad Gesner alongside Edward Wotton and Thomas Penny. It appears that it was ready for the press in 1589 or 1590. The original title page (unused) is dated 1589. Muffet's negotiations with printers in The Hague failed in 1590. After his death his papers were sold to Theodore de Mayerne, one of the physicians who attended James I and Charles I. Mayerne edited the work for publication in 1634, adding an introduction. Muffet's original manuscript (along with Mayerne's own papers) was acquired by Hans Sloane and is now among the Sloane manuscripts in the British Library. The prime reason the book was published posthumously was that the English market for books on natural science was weak at the time. The original illustrations were given up as too expensive and replaced with woodcuts. Good health and nutrition Muffet's work in nutrition was collected in his book Health's Improvement which was designed more for the layman than for contemporary medical professionals. It contains the first list of British wildfowl, recognizing for the first time the migratory habits of many of them. This book was published even later than Theatrum Insectorum, not until 1655, in an edition edited by Christopher Bennet. Nursery rhyme connection It has been suggested that Muffet is the subject of the nursery rhyme 'Little Miss Muffet', which, it is argued refers to an incident with one of his stepchildren. Although the name and subject fit the verse, there is no clear evidence of a connection and the verse was only printed