​ CHEYNE, chā′nē̇, George (1671-1743). An English physician. He was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire, studied in Edinburgh, and in 1702 went to London, where he was elected fellow of the Royal Society. He became enormously corpulent, and having secured relief by a milk and vegetable diet, recommended this treatment in all his subsequent treatises. His works, eminently argumentative in tone, were widely popular, and were translated into foreign languages. They include: Essay on Health and Long Life (1724; seventh edition, 1726); The English Malady (1733; sixth edition, 1739); and Essay on Regimen (1740). His correspondence with Richardson, the novelist, appeared in 1817, as Original Letters, edited by Rebecca Warner.