"Apert syndrome", consisting of a triad of disorders: craniosynostosis, syndactyly and maxillary underdevelopment. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

The first comprehensive text on forensic dentistry, dedicated by Amoëdo to his teacher, Brouardel. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

While Agassiz often wrote in general terms regarding his virulent opposition to Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, he provided his scientific rationale for that opposition only in an appendix to the French translation of his Essay on classification: Part 3, Chapter 7: Le Darwinisme. - Classification de Haeckel. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. See Morris, P.J., "Louis Agassiz's additions to the French translation of his Essay on Classification," Journal of the History of Biology, 30 (1997) 121-134 . Morris's English translation is available from athro.com at this link.

Belon’s book on birds is well illustrated, including plates of the skeletons of man and bird side by side and in the same posture, to compare them bone for bone. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Translated and significantly revised and enlarged as Vaccination: A history from Lady Montagu to genetic engineering (Montrouge: John Libbey Eurotext: 2011).

This, Belon’s first biological work, is regarded as the earliest modern scientific work in the field of comparative anatomy. Finely illustrated with woodcuts. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

One of the earliest works on cannibalism, and probably the first work to combine a discussion of homicide and cannibalism from the medical viewpoint. The author, who was very widely read on these subjects, searched for cures for both phenomena.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Sedillot, a surgeon, first used the word "microbe" on p. 634, third paragraph, of this paper. He coined the term after consulting with lexicographer Émile Littré, to ascertain etymological appropriateness. Shortly thereafter Pasteur used the term in a paper with Chamberland and Joubert in the same journal (pp. 1037-1043).

Digital facsimile from BnF.gallica at this link.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Translated into English as On hysteria: The invention of a medical category between 1670 and 1820 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015).

Primarily a summary of research on the subject to date. Worthington was an American from Cincinnati who received his M.D. in Paris in 1876, and practiced there until 1879, when he returned to the U.S.A. A geneological study of the Worthington family states that he changed his name to Lewis Nicholas Worthington in 1882. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link. 

In his graduation thesis, Lucien Corvisart, nephew of the more famous Baron Corvisart (No. 2737), introduced the term “tétanie”. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

In this work, a revised second edition of Gardanne's Avis aux femmes qui entrent dans l'age critique (1816), Gardanne coined the term menopause. Digital facsimile of the 1816 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

In his thesis Malassez provided the initial description of the hemocytometer, which he invented, but which was named by Gowers, who modified it in 1877.  The trade issue of the thesis was published in Paris by Adrien Delahaye. See also Malassez's "Nouvelle méthode de numération des globules rouges et des globules blancs du sang", Arch. Physiol. norm. path., 2 sér., 1, (1874) 32-52. Digital facsimile of the 1873 trade edition from BnF Gallica at this link.

Proust performed the first radical perineal prostatectomy. He was the younger brother of the writer Marcel Proust. Digital facsimile from BnFgallica at this link.

Third edition, revised, 1884.

The first book on the animal, vegetable and mineral medicines indigenous to Sri Lanka. Grim was a physician in the service of the VOC (the East India Company). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Skin-test antigen. With C. F. Barwell, E. J. King, and L. W. J. Bishop.

Van Gieson’s acid fuchsin and picric acid stain for nerve tissue.

Chapter 1: Historical Foundations by J. Russell Lindsey.

Laboratory medicine developed in the nineteenth century, principally in Germany, France, Britain, and the United States. While a number of scholars have studied various aspects of laboratory medicine in the nineteenth century, no attempts have hitherto been made to synthesise such work and to present a view of the whole subject. 

“An important and elaborate work designed to give the anatomy of the labyrinth, or inside of the ears of vertebrates, with the exception of fishes” (Casey Wood). Illustrated with stereoscopic photographs.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Contains Bartholin’s discovery of the thoracic duct. English translation, 1653.

Records the discovery of the lacteal vessels. While performing vivisection on a dog that had recently fed, Aselli noticed a network of vessels in the mesentery and along the peritoneal surface of the intestine. The vessels released a whitish fluid similar to milk when incised, so Aselli called them lacteas, sive albas venas. He made a systematic study of these vessels in different species of animals, noting the chronological relationship between their engorgement and the animal's last meal, and erroneously conjectured that the vessels led to the liver; it was not until Jean Pecquet's discovery of the thoracic duct and its continuity with the lacteal vessels that the process of absorption was clearly established.

De lactibus sive lacteis venis was posthumously published in Milan at the press of Giambattista Bidelli through the efforts of Nicolas Fabry de Peiresc. The work contains a beautiful engraved title page and a portrait of Aselli by the Milanese painter and engraver Cesare Bassano. The four folding chiaroscuro woodcuts in this work, printed in black, red and two shades of brown, were the first color-printed illustrations in a medical or anatomical work. They are unsigned and authorship of these has not been established.

Explanation of the production of lactic acid in normal muscular contraction.

In spite of the verbose title, the Table of Contents of this work indicates that roughly the first half of the book concerns home remedies for the widest range of complaints and illnesses, and medical properties of plants. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Documents manuscripts by Laennec preserved in the Archives de l'Académie des Sciences, and Musée Laennec de la Bibliothèque Universitaire de Nantes, Section médecine-pharmacie.

First description, tinea imbricata. Turner described the disease while serving as a medical missionary in Samoa.

Supplement to No. 424.

Forbes was the first to apply ecological principles to limnology. He emphasized population regulation and the dynamic nature of the community.

History and biographical sketches, plus reprints of key papers.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Marianus Sanctus Barolitanus popularized the operation of lithotomy introduced by the father of Giovanni Vigo of Rapallo. This method passed on to Giovanni di Romani and from him to Marianus. It became known as the “Marian operation” and was the forerunner of the more modern lateral lithotomy. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Folk medicine of the Sami people.

Discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole. In December 2016 the full text of the paper was available from ciesin.org at this link.

Bruns claimed to have been the first to remove a tumor from the larynx with the aid of the laryngoscope.

Though several researchers developed the procedures for using an excimer laser to perform in situ karatomileusis (LASIK), "Pallikaris also independently conceived of a hinged flap using a microkeratome he had specifically designed for rabbit studies and performed the ablation with an excimer laser on the exposed bed followed by replacement of the flap without sutures. The term LASIK was first used to describe this procedure in his 1990 paper. Pallikaris treated his first patients in October 1990 and published his results on 10 high myopic human eyes with one year-follow-up in 1994" (Reinstein, Archer, Gobbe, "Birth of Lasik" IN: Goes (ed.) The eye in history [2013] 436).

An arenovirus infection first noted in Lassa, N. E. Nigeria, in 1969. With J. M. Baldwin, D. J. Gocke, and J. M. Troup.

Preliminary note in Nature (Lond.), 1970, 227, 174. Lassa Hemorrhagic Fever is endemic to the West African countries of Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

An account of Napoleon's final illness and the medical care that Napoleon received while emprisoned on the island of Saint Helena, by his physician. English and French language versions of this work were published in 1825. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This work "offers a thorough description and analysis of the terrible plague epidemic that ravaged the Baltic region in the years between 1709 and 1713? at the same time when the region was razed by the Great Northern War (1700-?21). Sweden under Carolus XII had lost its supremacy, and Russia under Peter the Great emerged as the new major power in the region. With the marching armies came the plague and its effects, which were particularly devastating, since it hit a population already weakened by famines and desolation caused by the war. Drawing on substantial documentation in city and state archives, the study addresses a range of important discussions touching on the far-reaching consequences of the plague across the region: including mortality rates, symptoms of the disease, treatments, how the disease spread, why some parishes, villages, houses and families were particularly hard hit, the measures taken by the authorities to confine the epidemic and the reactions of people to these measures" (publisher).

Digital facsimile from JSTOR at this link.

Carrel’s experiments showed that it was possible to preserve portions of blood vessels in cold storage for long periods before using them in transplantation. For an appreciation of Carrel, see Garrison’s History, p. 733.

Noeggerath was the first to point out the late effects of gonorrhoea in women, particularly its role in the production of sterility.

Second revised edition, 2012, with extensive discussion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

."...explores the origin and develpment of the Christian church's sex law and the systems of belief upon which that law rested. Focusing on the Church's own legal system of canon law, James A. Brundage offers a comprehensive history of legal doctrines–covering the millennium from A.D. 500 to 1500–concerning a wide variety of sexual behavior, including marital sex, adultery, homosexuality, concubinage, prostitution, masturbation, and incest. His survey makes strikingly clear how the system of sexual control in a world we have half-forgotten has shaped the world in which we live today. The regulation of marriage and divorce as we know it today, together with the outlawing of bigamy and polygamy and the imposition of criminal sanctions on such activities as sodomy, fellatio, cunnilingus, and bestiality, are all based in large measure upon ideas and beliefs about sexual morality that became law in Christian Europe in the Middle Ages" (publisher).

Blackwell's first book, a volume about the physical and mental development of girls, emphasizing the value of exercise, intended to help prepare young women for motherhood. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Includes some references to early expert testimony and related in France.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

How medical knowledge and experience gained during the U.S. Civil War advanced the development of American medicine after the war ended.

By developing a new infographics style of illustration in which physiological processes and other technical medical and biological concepts were often depicted as, or compared to machines, Kahn made medical and biological information more widely accessible to the general public. Includes the famous large folding color graphic poster, Der Mensch als Industriepalast (98 x 49 cms). Also includes a pair of 3D glasses for viewing 3D images reproduced in the 5th volume.

Contains short biographies and an excellent bibliography.

Guyon was Professor of genitourinary surgery at Paris, and a great teacher (see also No. 4177).

Guyon was the outstanding French urologist of his day, an operator of great skill and a brilliant lithotomist.

An elaboration of his lectures on the subject at the Collège de France.

Claude Bernard made strenuous efforts to introduce experimental methods into physiology. The above includes his classic work on the function of the liver, pancreas, and gastric glands. Vol. 1, p. 126: Catheterization of the heart of a dog (in some editions, p. 119). See also No. 634.

In this, his last work, Bernard showed himself “the unapproachable master in the technique of experimental procedure” (Garrison).

Cuvier played a leading part in the development of paleontology and stimulated the study of comparative anatomy. He ranks with von Baer as one of the founders of modern morphology. Vols. 1-2 ed. by C. Duméril, and vols. 3-5 ed. by G.L. Duvernoy, but Cuvier took full responsibility for the contents of this work. The posthumous second edition, revised and expanded by Georges Cuvier's younger brother, Georges-Frédéric Cuvier  to 8 vols., appeared from 1835-1846.

Pp. 455-61: Dupuytren was the first to treat wry neck by subcutaneous section of the sternomastoid muscle. This he did on 16 Jan, 1822. The operation was first reported in C. Averill: Short treatise on operative surgery, London, 1823, 61-64. See No. 5590.

Dupuytren was born in poverty and died a millionaire. He became the best surgeon of his time in France. He was a “shrewd diagnostician, an operator of unrivaled aplomb, a wonderful clinical teacher, and a good experimental physiologist and pathologist” (Garrison); his greatest contributions were in the field of surgical pathology. Vol. 1, p. 424 contains Dupuytren's classification of burns. English translation by A. S. Doane, Boston, 1833.

Metchnikoff delivered his classic lectures on inflammation in French at the Pasteur Institute. They were translated into Russian as Lektsii o sravnitelnoi patologii vospaleniy, and published in St. Petersburg by K. L. Rikker in 1892. The lectures were translated into English from the French by F.A. Starling and E. H. Starling as Lectures on the comparative pathology of inflammation, and published in London in 1893, Digital facsimile of the original French edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Digital facsimile of the English translation from the Internet Archive at this link.

Erythema induratum scrophulosorum (“Bazin’s disease”) first described.

Bernard showed that in diabetes there is primarily glycemia followed by glycosuria.

As early as 1864 Bernard discovered that chloroform anesthesia could be prolonged and intensified by the injection of morphine. J. N. von Nussbaum also observed this. English translation by B. Fink, Park Ridge, 1989.

Bernard included a summary of his experiments with curare in the Leçons to establish his priority in researching its effects. He demonstrated in these experiments the susceptibility of the nerve-muscle preparation to a chemical (pharmacological) effect.

François-Franck’s studies on the excitability of the cerebral cortex and the localization of function followed work in collaboration with Pitres; Charcot wrote the preface. See also No. 1423.

Charcot is especially notable for his important study of the localization of functions in diseases of the brain. Volume two is entitled Leçons sur les localisations dans les maladies du cerveau et de la moëlle épinière… English translation (New Sydenham Society), 1883.

Cazenave was among the first to classify skin diseases on an anatomical basis. He founded the first journal devoted entirely to dermatology (Annales des maladies de la peau et de la syphilis). This large folio atlas is the most visually impressive of all his books. From publication in fascicules, 1845-56.

Charcot inaugurated a course of study of geriatrics, at the Salpêtrière, in 1866; his lectures are embodied in the above work. English translation, 1881.

Charcot defined “scarlatinous nephritis” and “amyloid kidney” as distinct pathological entities. English translation, New York, 1878.

An excellent idea of Charcot’s work is gained by perusal of his Leçons, dealing with his teaching on nervous disorders. In the second volume, pp. 1-72, is a classic account of the anomalies of tabes dorsalis. Charcot became one of the greatest of all neurologists. English translation, 1877-89.

Charcot’s pioneering research on the application of hypnosis to the psychoneuroses brought this subject to the attention of the scientific community.

Magendie, pioneer experimental physiologist, regarded pathology as only a modification of physiology, “medicine the physiology of the sick man”. By him clinical medicine was reconstructed on physiological lines.

Bernard was the first to describe an effect of the renal nerves on urine flow.

Classic description of pelvic hematocele.

Includes his description of the “nodes of Ranvier”, interruptions of the medullary nerve sheaths.

Coiter, a pupil of Fallopius and Eustachius, became town physician of Nuremberg. His book on comparative osteology, contained in his edition of the lectures of Fallopius, extended his studies begun in his work of 1572-73, (No. 1539). Coiter’s study of the skeleton of the fetus and of a child six months old was the first study of developmental osteology and showed where ossification begins. The copperplate engravings are after drawings by Coiter. Biography and English translation by B. T. W. Nuyens and A. Schierbeck, Haarlem, 1956.

Henderson’s important investigations on the physiology of respiration included his demonstration of the relation of acapnia to anesthesia and the recommendation that carbon dioxide inhalation be used to overcome collapse due to anesthesia.

“Brodie’s tumor”. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1938, 2, 941-54.

Vaso-vagal syncope.

Page 361 contains the first description of intermittent claudication in man. This was first reported (in the horse) by “Boullay” [?J. Bouley] in Arch. gén. Méd.,1831, 27, 425.  P. 186: Brodie's test for insufficiency of the valves in varicose veins, later associated with the name of Trendelenburg.

"This monograph, based on seven lectures Osler delivered at Johns Hopkins, is his longest publication dealing with heart disease. He discusses the history of the recognition of angina, the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease, various types of angina, the epidemiology of angina and what would come to be called cardiac risk factors, angina's various clinical presentations, associated conditions, theories regarding angina, and the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of angina" (W. Bruce Fye).

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Johnson showed that fatty infiltrations of the renal tubules are reflected by the presence of fatty casts and droplets in the urine, thus introducing the concept of lipoid nephrosis associated with nephrotic syndrome.

On p. 298 is the first description of hydradenitis destruens suppurativa, later named “Pollitzer’s disease” from the latter’s important description of it in J. cutan. gen.-urin. Dis., 1892, 10, 9-24.

Home plagiarized this large work from the manuscripts of John Hunter, his late father-in-law, and, as a result, of immense importance for publication of Hunter’s researches, and for aspects of Hunter's collection on which his "museum" was based. After he corrected the page proofs Home destroyed the original manuscripts by Hunter, on which this work was based. See Qvist, John Hunter (1981). Digital facsimiles from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Besides his important work on digestion, Pavlov is remembered for his investigations upon conditioned reflexes. He is one of the greatest physiologists of all time. An English translation of another work by Pavlov, entitled Conditioned reflexes appeared in 1927. See No. 1022.

Erasmus Wilson gave the original descriptions of several cutaneous diseases, and made a fine collection of dermatological preparations. He classified skin diseases on an anatomical basis. The above book consists of his lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons, at which institution he founded a chair of dermatology.

“Brodie’s pile”. Reprinted in Medical Classics, 1938, 2, 929-40.

English translation of this commentary on Galen's De sectis (On sects) given by the iatrosophist and commentator on medical texts, Agnellus, circa 600 CE.

See Nos. 4344 & 4344.1.

Before emigrating to America, Bauer studied under Stromeyer. Hugh Owen Thomas considered him “the first exponent of American orthopaedics”. This is the first comprehensive American textbook of orthopedics. First published in Phila. med. surg. Rep., 1862.

This work set forth Lawrence's then radical and remarkably advanced ideas concerning evolution and heredity. Arguing that theology and metaphysics had no place in science, Lawrence relied instead on empirical evidence in his examination of variation in animals and man, and the dissemination of variation through inheritance. On the question of cause, Lawrence disagreed with those who ascribed variation to external factors such as climate, and rejected the Lamarckian notion of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. His understanding of the mechanics of heredity was well ahead of his time: he stated that "offspring inherit only [their parents'] connate qualities and not any of the acquired qualities," and that the "signal diversities which constitute differences of race in animals . . . can only be explained by two principles . . . namely, the occasional production of an offspring with different characters from those of the parents, as a native or congenital variety; and the propagation of such varieties by generation" (p. 510). While Lawrence did not grasp the role that natural selection plays in the origination of new species, he recognized that "selections and exclusions," including geographical separation, were the means of change and adaptation in all animals, including humans. He noted that men as well as animals can be improved by selective breeding, and pointed out that sexual selection was responsible for enhancing the beauty of the aristocracy:

"The great and noble have generally had it more in their power than others to select the beauty of nations in marriage; and thus . . . they have distinguished their order, as much by elegant proportions of person, as by its prerogatives in society" (p. 454) Lawrence investigated the human races in detail, and insisted that the proper approach to this study was a zoological one, since the question of variation in mankind "cannot be settled from the Jewish Scriptures; nor from other historical records" (p. 243). The Natural History of Man came under fire from conservatives and clergy for its materialist approach to human life, and Lawrence was accused of atheism for having dared to challenge the relevance of Scripture to science. In 1822 the Court of Chancery ruled the Natural History blasphemous, thus revoking the work's copyright. Lawrence was forced to withdraw the book; however, it continued to be republished in unauthorized editiions. Darwin , who owned one of the unauthorized editions, cited Lawrence's book five times in The Descent of Man (1871)

Includes (vol. 2, pp. 373-79) a classic description of coronary thrombosis, although not using the term. The patient was Thomas Arnold, the educationist, and the report was signed by Joseph Hodgson and by S. Bucknill, Arnold’s physician.

Pp. 244-49: Magendie showed that secondary or subsequent injections of egg/albumin caused death in rabbits who had tolerated an initial injection. This was the first experiment in anaphylaxis, though Jenner in 1798 had observed the phenomenon in various inoculations. These lectures were delivered at the Collège de France in 1837-38.

First published in English in the London Lancet, between the 29th of September, 1838, and the 16th of March, 1839. This is the first edition in book form.

"Lecture IX includes Magendie's description of cateterizing the right atrium as part of an experiment. This precedes his protegé Claude Bernard's use of the technique, has has been described by historians. Magendie explained, 'I now tie the lower end of the vessel, and proceed to make the same experiment; by way of comparison, on the venous system. The jugular has been laid bare. We must, in the case of this vessel, take some precautions that would have been useless when we acted on an artery....I have, therefore, selected a tube for the present experiment sufficiently long to reach into the thorax, as far as the vena cava superior, or even as the right auricle; while introducing it I heard a slight sibilus; my assistant also detects a strange sound in the chest; it is probably that a little air entered into the tube during inspriation, aslo reached the right cavities of the heart. This accident will, probably, not interfere materially with the progress of the experiment. The mercury marks, as before 65-75 mill. I fill the syringe, but with much greater difficulty than from the carotid; I am obliged to raise the piston forcibily in order to get the blood into the body of the instrument, whereas, in the former experiment, the impulse of the heart was sufficient to produce that effect.' This quotation from p. 85 documets Magendie's pioneering attempt to place a catheter in the right atrium. Claude Bernard would extend this technique under Magendie's supervision in 1844. Bernard's work culminated in a detailed description of the techniques to cathererize both sides of the heart in animals. See R. E. Siegel, 'Vascular catheterization during the 19th century: Claude Bernard's studies in animal heat,' Surgery, 55 (1964) 595-601" (W. Bruce Fye).

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

This 165-page "monograph, based on lectures delivered to the postgraduate class at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1893, includes 67 case reports and 43 illustrations, some of which are photographs that depict patients or autopsy findings. Osler delivered separate lectures on tumors of the stomach, liver, gall bladder, intestines, and kidney. Harvey Cushing explained that these 'carefully prepared lectures on 'The Diagnosis of Abdominal Tumors', [were] subsequently collected and published (1895) in book form....It was evidently his intent to compare, so far as possible, the provisional clinical diagnoses of the cases with the subsequent findings at autopsy or at operation.' Cushing 1:391. It is important to appreciate that Osler's monograph was published before the discovery of X-rays. Maude Abbott claimed, 'These lectures are based on post‑mortem findings with histological studies of the specimens, and thus will always have a permanent value for the clinico‑pathologist.' Abbott (1939) 65." (W. Bruce Fye). 

Digital facsimile from U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

In its day this was the best English work on the subject, and was translated into several languages. West was one of the founders of the Hospital for Sick Children, Gt. Ormond Street, London.

Dobell was the first physician to propose periodic health examinations. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Reprinted 1924 and (Dover Pubs.), 1970.

"Fifty copies of this collection of papers have beem printed for private circulation." Half title and cover title of the volume: Mannerism and Medical Illustration.

Important work which stimulated the study of tissue pathology in England. Hodgkin was the first in England to give a regular lecture course in morbid anatomy, which he began at Guy’s in 1827. Vol. 2, pt. 2 was never published.

Guthrie founded the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, London, in 1816. He was the earliest teacher of the subject in the British Isles. The above includes important work on the artificial pupil.

Bowman did more than any other man to advance ophthalmic surgery in England. The above work is the first to include a sound description of the microscopical anatomy of the eye and the ciliary (“Bowman’s”) muscle. The book consists of several lectures given at the London Ophthalmic Hospital and published in the Lond. med. Gaz. in 1847. Part of it is reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 292-336.

First published in the Medical Times & Gazette, 1840-42, Watson’s famous lectures appeared in book form and formed the most important treatise of medicine for a quarter-century. Watson wrote in a fine style, and his book was reorganized as a sound guide to clinical medicine. Watson suggested (vol. 2, p. 349) rubber gloves for antisepsis; he also instructed his students to wash their hands in a solution of chloride of lime before assisting at deliveries.

The Reverend Sylvester Graham was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread.

"Around 1829, Graham invented the Graham diet, which consisted mainly of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat and high fiber foods, and excluded meat and spices altogether (see vegetarianism). Very fresh milk, cheese, and eggs were permitted in moderation, and butter was to be used "very sparingly".^[8]

"Graham believed that adhering to the diet would prevent people from having impure thoughts and in turn would stop masturbation (thought by Graham to be a catalyst for blindness and early death^[9]:16) among other things. He was a prolific writer and speaker for his cause, which was sternly opposed to "bad habits" of the body and mind. During the 1830s, the diet had a moderate response, mostly from the puritanical faction of the American public. At one point it was strictly imposed on students of Oberlin College by David Campbell (a disciple of Graham's). During the period in which it was enforced, some rebellious students ate off-campus, and at one point a professor was fired for refusing to stop bringing his own pepper for use with his meals. The diet was eventually dropped by the college in 1841 following a public outcry.

"Grahamites, as Graham's followers were called, accepted the teaching of their mentor with regard to all aspects of lifestyle.^[7] As such, they practiced abstinence from alcohol, frequent bathing, daily brushing of teeth, vegetarianism, and a generally sparse lifestyle. Graham also was an advocate of sexual abstinence, especially from masturbation, which he regarded as an evil that inevitably led to insanity. He felt that all excitement was unhealthful, and spices were among the prohibited ingredients in his diet. As a result, his dietary recommendations were inevitably bland, which led to the Grahamites consuming large quantities of graham crackers, a concept inspired by Graham's teachings. White bread was strongly condemned by Graham and his followers, however, as being essentially devoid of nutrition, a claim echoed by dietitians ever since. Some Grahamites lost faith when their mentor died at the age of fifty-seven. Other than the crackers, the Grahamites' major contribution to American culture was probably their insistence on frequent bathing. However, Graham's doctrines found later followers in the persons of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg. Their invention of corn flakes was a logical extension of the Grahamite approach to nutrition.

"Grahamism was influential in the vegan movement. Sylvester Graham focused on meat and milk, which he believed to be the cause of sexual urges. In fact, he claimed animal byproducts produced lust; Grahamism thus rejected meat, animal byproducts, and alcohol in order to develop a purer mind and body" (Wikipedia article on Sylvester Graham, accessed 03-2017).

Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

A series of lectures given at the London Hahnemann Hospital between 1852 and 1853, presenting an early account of Hahnemann’s life and the development of homeopathy. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Thomsen's work established the "Three-Age system," according to which artifacts were first made of stone, then bronze, and then iron. This basic chronology underpins the archaeology of most of the "Old World.”  

Published in the "Animal" series. Seemingly a definitive work on the natural history and medical application of leeches.

This set contains many texts relating to medieval English medicine and the Anglo-Saxon language. It contains the Herbal of Apuleius in Anglo-Saxon and modern English, the Leechbook of Bald, the text of Sextus Placitus, etc., etc. Some of its scholarship has been superceded. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

"... features 800 of Cushing's surgical drawings and photographs of patients and tumor specimens. Preserved untouched for sixty years in the Yale University Library, the images provide the earliest catalog of neurological and neuropathological disease and reveal the techniques employed by the founder of modern neurosurgery. The editors have carefully integrated these high-quality photographs and illustrations into a compelling narrative constructed from patients' hospital records and Cushing's meticulous notes at preoperative and postoperative stages of management. Discharge notes, letters from the family of patients, photographs of patients years after surgery, and death reports further humanize each clinical case and speak to Cushing's lasting dedication to his patients" (publisher).

Digital facsimile from cmr.asm.org at this link.

First major scientific account. With 11 co-authors. Legionnaire's disease acquired its name after an outbreak of a then-unknown "mystery disease" sickened 221 persons, causing 34 deaths. The people affected were attending a convention of the American Legion.

Order of authorship in the original publication: McDade, Shepard, Fraser.... See also p. 1218.

An outstanding textbook which today remains of value to pathologists. Ziegler was Professor of Pathology at Freiburg, and founded the Beiträge zur pathologischen Anatomie (“Ziegler’s Beiträge”).

Hyrtl’s Lehrbuch passed through 22 editions and was translated into the principal modern languages.

Exhaustive bibliography. 2nd ed., 1928.

Buchheim created the first pharmacological institute in the world at the University of Dorpat.

Feuchtersleben introduced the terms psychosis, psychiatrics, and psychopathology. The book includes a short history of psychiatry. English translation, Sydenham Society, 1847.

Fuchs’s textbook was an outstanding contribution to the literature, and was translated into many languages. The last English edition appeared in 1933.

An important German work on the subject. Hofmann’s book went through many editions and was translated into several European languages.

As an historian, Haeser was eclipsed only by his fellow-countryman Sudhoff. A third edition, in three volumes, appeared in 1875-82 and was reprinted, Hildesheim, G.Olms, 1971.

Heubner was professor of pediatrics at Berlin. With Rubner he determined the caloric requirement of infants and did other important work on infant feeding.

Nitze introduced the cystoscope in 1877 (see No. 4175) and in 1889 published his important monograph on cystoscopy.

Romberg inaugurated the modern era in the study of diseases of the nervous system. His Lehrbuch is the first formal treatise in this field. On p. 795 is to be found the original description of “Romberg’s sign”, pathognomonic of tabes dorsalis. English translation, 1853.

The best edition is the English translation of the 5th German edn., 2 vols., London, 1911.

Politzer was one of the greatest of all otologists. He was the first Professor of Otology in Vienna and his textbook was for many years the standard authority on the subject. English translation, 1883.

Hoffa, a leading German orthopedist, made important contributions to the subject and founded the Zeitschrift für orthopädische Chirurgie.

The most comprehensive treatise on malformations of domesticated animals, as well as an important contribution to general teratology. The superb atlas illustrates many rare animal terata. See also his Uber thierische Missgeburten, ein Beitrag zur pathologischen Anatomie und Entwicklungsgeschichte. Berlin, A. Hirschwald, 1877. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

English translation, Philadelphia, 1905.

Sommer introduced new methods in psychopathological investigation.

Strümpell gave an excellent description of ankylosing spondylitis (“Strümpell’s disease”, the “spondylose rhizomélique” of Pierre Marie, No. 4368) on p. 152 of his Lehrbuch. See No. 2229. He published an important paper on the subject in Dtsch. Z. Nervenheilk., 1897, 11, 338-42, which was translated into English in Bick, Classics of orthopaedics, 345-47. More than 30 editions of this book appeared, many translated into other languages. English translation in 1887.

Heinroth drew his psychology from the Bible and maintained that mental health was maintained only by piety and that sin engendered madness; for him treatment was by repentance and a return to the fold. English translation, 2 vols., Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1975.

English translation, London, 1886. Digital facsimile of the 1883 edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Vol. 2 was published in 1846; Vol. 1 in 1848. Digital facsimiles of both vols. from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. Siebold was the author of  Vol. 1, on invertebrates; he introduced the taxa Arthropoda and Rhizopoda, and defined the taxon Protozoa specifically for single-celled organisms. Vol. 1 was translated into English and edited with notes and additions by Waldo I. Burnet as Comparative anatomy (London: Trubner & Co.; Boston: Gould and Lincoln, 1854). Digital facsimile of the English translation from Google Books at this link.

“Vogt syndrome”, disease of the corpora striata.

A classic contribution to the literature of sympathetic ophthalmia.

Hering’s law: that the corresponding muscles of the two eyes are always equally innervated. The book includes classic experiments and observations on eye movement control. English translation by B. Bridgeman and L. Stark (New York: Plenum, 1977).

Kussmaul explained diabetic coma as being due to acetonemia. He described the air-hunger (“Kussmaul’s respiration”) present in this condition. Partial English translation in No. 2241.

Hering’s theory of color sense. First edition in book form (Vienna, 1878). Hering expanded this work in Grundzüge der Lehre vom Lichtsinn (1905-11; 1920) English translation of that expanded work by Leo M. Hurvich and Dorothea Jameson as Outlines of a theory of the light sense (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1964).

Beer is remembered for his textbook; the doctrines in it dominated practice for many years. He described the symptoms of glaucoma and noted the luminosity of the fundus in aniridia. He also presented for the first time the general principles of treating post-traumatic inflammations, including penetrating and perforating injuries as well as injuries to the orbit. He describes the first use of the loupe for the examination of the living eye. The plates in this work were both hand-colored and signed by Beer. He was a distinguished iridectomist. Many of his pupils became famous ophthalmic surgeons. Beer opened the first known eye hospital, in 1786, in Vienna. English translation, Glasgow, 1821.

“With this book the microscopical epoch in the evolution of the knowledge of cancer may be said to have been brought to a close” (Haagensen).

Grünwald was the first to attempt the surgical treatment of nasal suppuration and disease involving the ethmoid and sphenoid bones. English translation, 1900.

Nothnagel described the vasomotor type of acroparaesthesia, sometimes called after him.

The standard work on the history of the doctrine of “the healing power of Nature”. English translation, New York, 1932.

Exhaustive and accurate review of all the then-available information on cancer. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

English translation of vol. 1 as The science of cancerous disease from the earliest times to the present. With a new introduction by Saul Jarcho. Canton, MNA: Science History Publications, 1989.

“Erb’s sign”.

Important observations on gastric tetany were made by Kussmaul. He called attention to the convulsions sometimes accompanying dilatation of the stomach. He first mentioned “gastric tetany” in 1869 in his paper on gastric lavage (No. 3463).

Helmholtz’s theory of hearing, upon which all modern theories of resonance are based. This exhaustive study of acoustics ranks as one of the greatest books on the subject and shows that Helmholtz was, besides being a great physicist and physician, an accomplished musician. English translation of 3rd edition, London, 1875.

Demonstration of organ-specific antigens, in this case in the proteins of the lens of the eye.

Stein studied the functions of separate parts of the labyrinth. This is a translation from the Russian.

Translated into English by Jane Dewhurst as Wellbeing: A cultural history of healthy living (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008).

Flechsig mapped out the motor and sensory areas of the cerebral cortex, and named the “pyramidal tract”. See Clarke & O'Malley, The human brain and spinal cord, p. 857, and pp. 277-81.
Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Pavlov made perhaps the greatest contribution to our knowledge of the physiology of digestion. Especially notable was his method of producing gastric and pancreatic fistulae for the purpose of his experiments. The second published edition was a German translation by A. Walther, Wiesbaden, J.F. Bergmann, 1898. The work was translated into English in 1902, with a second edition appearing in 1910. A translation of Pavlov’s description of the stomach pouch devised by him is in J. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd ed., 1966, pp. 192-93. Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1904. See also No. 1445.

Glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis) was first described by Filatov under the name of idiopathic adenitis (“Filatov’s disease”). A German translation of his book appeared in 1895-97.

On p. 113 is Filatov’s account of a form of rubella with a scarlatiniform rash. To this he gave the name “rubeola scarlatinosa”. (See also No. 5505.)

First critical edition of the sole extant copy of the Middle English herbal written in 1373 by John Lelamour, a Herefordian schoolmaster, who is otherwise unknown.

Includes 215 plates.

The scientific study of the mechanics of flight begins with Leonardo’s investigations on birds, undertaken during his attempts to build a flying machine. At the time of publication Sabachnikoff owned the manuscript. After publishing this facsimile he donated the original to Umberto I, who turned it over to the Royal Library of Torino. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Leonardo, “the greatest artist and scientist of the Italian Renaissance, was the founder of iconographic and physiologic anatomy” (Garrison). He made over 750 sketches of all the principal organs of the body, drawings which were adequately reproduced only in recent times. His notes accompanying the drawings are in mirror-writing. Text in Italian, English, and German.

For more about Leonardo's anatomical work see a short essay I wrote on HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Murine leprosy described.

A handsome folio volume of some seven hundred pages, well printed on fine paper and beautifully illustrated, the book is a tribute to the printer's art as well as to the scientist's efforts. Of special interest is the excellent historical introduction, as well as the section on prophylaxis and leprosaria, with its many illustrations. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

"An interdisciplinary study of why a disease that is so difficult to catch has caused such alarm. It examines how the fear of leprosy was part of nineteenth-century imperial expansion, as colonial officials and missionaries were thought exposed to the risk of infection, which might be carried back to Britain" (publisher)

 The first quantitative study of leprosy in India. Leprosy first appeared in India at least 2,000 years ago and continued to exist throughout the subcontinent over the succeeding centuries. Upon the establishment of the Indian Raj in 1858, the colonial authorities began to assume a more professional and scientific attitude towards public health. The severity and geographic distribution of leprosy in India was unknown until it was surveyed in the British Indian Census of 1872, the statistics of which prominently feature in this report. Includes two chromolithographed disease maps. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Clinical use of solapsone (sulphetrone).

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

First reported cases of human infection with L. canicola. With A. Klarenbeek, W. A. P. Schüffner, and J. Voet.

Gellédescribed a test for determination of ossicular fixation.

Osgood was the first to draw attention to a condition of the tibial tuberosity; this is now referred to as “Osgood–Schlatter disease” (see also No. 4374).

Le Baron attempted diagnosis and predicted etiology on thousands of bones collected at the Musée Broca, the Musée Dupuytren, and the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle.. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Jurin was an enthusiastic supporter of inoculation against smallpox, and proved statistically that the fatality of inoculated smallpox is very much less than the fatality of natural smallpox. This is one of the earliest applications of statistics to a particular socio-medical problem. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The letter published in this 12-page pamphlet was dated March 10th, 1873. It outlined financier and philanthropist Johns Hopkins' planned bequest and general plans for the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Hopkins died in December 1873. The Johns Hopkins Hospital was opened in 1889. This and the Johns Hopkins school of medicine are considered the founding institutions of modern American medicine, and the birthplace of numerous medical traditions including rounds, residents and house staff.

Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

Banting, a prominent English undertaker, and formerly obese, was the first to popularize a weight loss diet based on limiting intake of refined and easily digestible carbohydrates. He changed his diet at the suggestion of Dr. William Harvey, who in turn had learned about this diet in the context of diabetes management from lectures in Paris by Claude Bernard. Banting accounted all of his unsuccessful fasts, diets, spa and exercise regimes in his past; he then described the dietary change which finally had worked for him. His own diet was four meals per day, consisting of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter. The diet that Banting promoted became known as “Bantingism” or the “Banting diet”. The first 3 editions sold 63,000 copies in England, and the book was translated and sold heavily in France, Germany and the U.S. The expanded 4th Edition (1869) included letters of testimony from a selection of at least 1800 readers who wrote to Banting supporting his assertions and praising his diet. Banting's book is probably the first of the endless stream of best-selling books on how to lose weight. Digital facsimile of the third edition, 1864, from the Internet Archive at this link.

Hickman was the first to prove that the pain of surgical operations could be abolished by the inhalation of a gas. He rendered animals unconscious, first through partial asphyxiation by the exclusion of air, then by inhalation of carbon dioxide. He amputated limbs without pain and with good surgical results. His work, the first in the field of surgical anesthesia, was received with apathy, and no use was made of it. His “Letter” was reissued in the Hickman centenary volume, published by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London, 1930.

One of the most eloquent and learned discussions of death. Full annotated text from penelope.uchicago.edu at this link.

The first book on mental deficiency. Thelwall recognized that sensory deprivation could be a cause of apparent mental defect through his work with handicapped children. He established criteria for distinguishing between intellectual capability and performance. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

This work, illustrated with 5 plates, contains several clear and minute descriptions of dislocation of the hip joint. In the course of the monograph Warrenproved the possibility of a type of dislocation that was denied by Astley Cooper, yet observed by several distinguished surgeons. Warren went to the trouble of publishing this monograph, not to disprove Astley Cooper, but to present his professional opinion in a malpractice case. 

"After realizing that his hip would never be right again, Charles Lowell decided to sue his local physicians (disregarding multiple doctors’ pleas to reconsider). He accused Hawkes of neglect and failing to initially reduce the dislocation, while he brought Faxon up on charges for having tried to manipulate the dislocation without the necessary medical training. Prior to 1987, defendants were not permitted to testify on their own behalf, and if Faxon had not been likewise accused, Hawkes could have easily put him on the stand to protect him as he was the only other medical practitioner present at the time of the incident (Harvey 1991, 175). The court case Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes was brought to trial on three occasions, and no concrete verdict was ever returned. The first trial, held in June of 1822 at the Superior Court for Washington County, Maine under Justice David Perham ruled in Lowell’s favor. The Judge charged Faxon and Hawkes $1962, who promptly appealed the case and brought it to the Supreme Court at Machias. The second trial, overseen by Chief Justice Prentiss Mellen, took place three months later in September of 1822. The jury, however, was highly influenced by outside politics not directly associated with case itself, and was unable to come to any agreement. They were divided, not only by the loyalties and biases between Massachusetts and Maine (the later had only seceded in 1820), but also on a more micro scale between Washington County in northern Maine and the surrounding areas (Spaulding 1910, 9). The doctors in this trial can be clearly grouped into opposing sides: all Bostonian doctors in favor of the plaintiff; all doctors from Maine supporting the defense. Amongst the smaller sphere of Maine residents, players can likewise be separated: Hawkes from Eastport (to whom whose residents felt a great sense of loyalty), and Lowell from outside the County lines. Consequently, the case was brought to court a final time in June of 1824. Once again, however, it came to a stale mate, and Justice Nathan Weston decided that “the best thing for all parties was for the plaintiff to accept a non-suit and the defendant to take no costs' (Spaulding 1910, 23)." Nobody wins. (https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/lowellhip/overview).

 Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Includes an account of the discovery by Bagford’s friend and fellow antiquarian John Conyers of a flint handaxe in London, unearthed circa 1680 near the bones of what was then thought to be an elephant, as neither the mammoth nor the entire concept of extinction existed, and there was no concept of prehistory. The illustration of the handaxe in Bagford’s letter is one of the earliest published images of a handaxe. Bagford called it ". . . a British Weapon made of a Flint Lance like unto the Head of a Spear, fastened into a Shaft of good length, which was a Weapon very common amongst the Ancient Britains. . . they not having at that time the use of Iron or Brass, as the Romans had" (p. lxiv).

What made this particular find remarkable to those at the time was the presence of the “elephant” bones, which Bagford attempted to explain this way:

"Mr. John Conyers, an apothecary . . . who made it his chief Business to make curious observations, and to collect such Antiquities as were daily found in and about London . . . discovered the body of an Elephant, as he was digging for Gravel in the Fields . . . not far from Battlebridge, and near to the River of Wells. . . .How this Elephant came there? is the Question. I know some will have it to have layn there ever since the Universal Deluge. For my own part I take it to have been brought over with many others by the Romans in the Reign of Claudius the Emperour, and conjecture . . . that it was killed in some Fight by a Britain" (p. lxiv).

"A man of compassion, Bell made many enemies because he was outspoken about the unnecessary pain and suffering inflicted by incompetent surgeons practicing in Scotland. In 1800 he became involved in an unfortunate controversy with James Gregory (1753–1821), the professor of medicine at Edinburgh. Gregory in 1800 attacked the system whereby the fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh acted in rotation as surgeons at the Royal Infirmary, with the result that the younger fellows were excluded. Bell, who was among the number, composed an Answer for the Junior Members (1800), and ten years later published a collection of Letters on Professional Character and Manners, which he had addressed to Gregory. After his exclusion from the infirmary he ceased to lecture and devoted himself to study and practice. (Wikipedia article on John Bell, accessed 1-2020)

Mirault modified Malgaigne’s technique for cleft lip repair by discarding the medial flap and bringing the lateral flap of mucosa across. Abridged English translation by R. Ivy in No. 5768.2.

Osler, Allbutt, and several other authorities believe this to be the description of an authentic case of angina, thus preceding Heberden’s classic account. Other eminent authorities consider the patient to have suffered from pulmonary emphysema. This little book of 55 pages is extremely rare; the whereabouts of only 2 copies is known.

First description of ankylosing spondylitis. The British Museum copy of the title page of this work has been mutilated, apparently deliberately, in two places; the author’s surname may originally have appeared as “O’Connor”, and the last part of the date has been cut away and appears as MDCXCI; other authorities give 1693 as date. The copy presented to the Royal Society of London is also mutilated to read “Connor”. Connor graduated MD in Reims in 1693. Partial translation by Baruch S. and Jean L. Blumberg, "Bernard Connor (1666-1698) and his contribution to the pathology of ankylosing spondylitis," J. Hist. Med., 1958, 13, 349-66.

(This annotation was last revised in April 2015.)

The first transfusion of blood into a human was performed by Denis on June 15, 1667; he transfused lamb’s blood into a youth. For a partial translation, see Geoffrey Keynes’s Blood transfusion (Bristol, 1949) 14-15. Denis also wrote: “a letter concerning a new way of curing sundry diseases by transfusion of blood”, which was published in some copies of Phil. Trans., 1667, 2, 489-504; for a reprint and a paper on the subject, see A. D. Farr, Med. Hist., 1980, 24, 143-62.

Theory of contralateral innervation.

In this work in the pathophysiology of drowning, resuscitation and the legal diagnosis of death Louis sought to reassure the public that the risk of being buried alive was very low. He rejected a proposal for late burials (three days after the diagnosis of death) because of the risk of infection. He claimed that flaccid and soft character of the eyes is a characteristic, unmistakable sign of death, and that this occurred "in a few hours".  Louis also carried out many experiments to explain the mechanism of drowning. He demonstrated for the first time that water is introduced into the bronchi, and not into the stomach, during drownings. He also studied methods of resuscitation and warned of the dangers of pouring spirits into the mouth of an unconscious drowned person. At the end of his book Louis republished Winslow's thesis (No. 11407) on the uncertainty of the signs of death, with its French translation on the opposite pages.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Leucocyte typing and matching of histocompatibility determinants. See also Payne (No. 2578.23). With J. G. Eernisse and A. van Leeuwen

Urethane in treatment of leukemia. With A. Haddow, I. Ap Thomas, and J. M. Watkinson.

Leucocyte typing.

“Baló’s disease” – encephalitis periaxialis concentrica. Translation in Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chicago), 1928, 19, 242-64.

The earlier lexicon of Gorraeus formed the basis of this work, which was reprinted in several editions, the last in 1792.

Stockhausen had considerable experience in treating the diseases of miners. His book on industrial diseases did much to clarify contemporary knowledge regarding the relative toxicity of lead, mercury, arsenic, cobalt, and other metals, although he claimed that lead colic was caused only by lead fumes. Translated into French by Joseph Jacques de Gardanne as Traité des mauvais effets de la fumes de la litharge (Paris, 1776.) Digital facsimile of the 1656 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

A treatise on prescriptions. Gaub was professor of chemistry at Leiden.

An alphabetical catalogue of plants and medicines made from them. Turner, the “Father of English Botany”, treated plants as simples, and did not attempt to show their relationships. He was a much travelled man and a friend of Conrad Gessner. He introduced Lucerne or alfalfa (Medicago sativa) into England. Reproduced in facsimile, London, 1877, and London, Ray Society, 1965. See Nos.1810.2 & 1811.

Translated into English by Richard Browne as The cure of old age and preservation of youth by Roger Bacon, a Franciscan frier (London, 1683). Digital facsimile of the 1683 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

The earliest medieval lapidary, and also the one which was quoted most widely. By the fourteenth century it was translated into French, Provençal, Italian, Irish, and Danish, and it was the first of Marbodius's works to be printed. Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, wrote his lapidary in 734 Latin hexameters between the years 1061 and 1081. The poem described 60 stones, including their magical and medical properties. 14 printed editions appeared between 1511 and 1741. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Rhazes was the first to devote an entire treatise to diseases of children. Although he lived so many years before the advent of printing, he was still regarded as an authority in the 15th century and his works were among the earliest medical books to be printed. Sudhoff included the above work in his Erstlinge der pädiatrischen Literatur, Munich, 1925.  ISTC No. ir00175000.

As with several 15th century printed medical compendia, this work contains texts by authors in addition to Rhazes, including Galen, and Hippocrates.

“The first systematic and sufficiently detailed examination of the human body since Mundinus, far outstripping the latter in scientific accuracy” (Lind, Pre-Vesalian anatomy, 10, also 141-56). See also Nos. 1589.1 and 1758.1.

Full color facsimile of the illuminated manuscript with translation and commentary in an accompanying volume. The two volumes boxed. The translation was originally published by the Folio Society in 1992, and the Boydell Press in 1993.

"Similar to the British Library bestiary Harley MS 4751 but with richer colors. Full color illustrations appear on 123 pages. A peculiarity in this manuscript is an illustration found in only one other bestiary: barnacle geese hanging from trees, as described by Gerald of Wales. The illustrations are masterfully executed; they are some of the best bestiary paintings to be found anywhere.

The descriptions of the barnacle goose, the osprey and the dipper are taken from Topographia Hibernica by Gerald of Wales. Also includes exerpts from the Aviarium of Hugh of Fouilloy (chapters 18-22 with variants, 49-52, 56, 58).  Clark aviary group: Aberdeen.

M. R. James considered the manuscript to have been produced in the late 12th century, though  Hassall says it could be as late as 1230-40;  Clark agrees with the later date." (http://bestiary.ca/manuscripts/manu1085.htm).

Includes a description of the neurological manifestations of syphilis. Though this work bears the date 1507, Peter Krivatsy, provided evidence that this edition was printed in 1527. See Krivatsy, "Nicola Massa's Liber de Morbo Gallico--dated 1507 but printed in 1527," J. Hist. Med., 1974, 29, 230-33. Massa was Professor of Anatomy in Venice.

De Baillou is usually credited with introducing the term “rheumatism”. He was court physician in Paris at the time of Henri IV. His book, the first on rheumatism, was translated into English by C. C. Barnard in Brit. J. Rheum., London, 1940, 2, 141-62. (According to Webb Dordick, the antiquarian bookseller Emil Offenbacher pointed out in his catalogue 28, item 94, a use of the word rheumatism as early as 1577:  Petrus Pichotus. De rheumatismo . . . , Bordeaux, 1577.)  A digital facsimile of Pichotus's book is available from Google Books at this link.

The most important early Persian pharmacological work, first published in print in Latin translation. Muvaffak flourished in Herat (current Afghanistan), under the Samanid prince Mansur I ibn Nuh, who ruled from 961 to 976. He was apparently the first to think of compiling a treatise on materia medica in Persian; to obtain the information he travelled extensively in Persia and India. Between 968 and 977 CE he wrote the Book of the Remedies (Kitab al-abnyia 'an Haqa'iq al-adwiya), the oldest prose work in modern Persian. It deals with 585 remedies (of which 466 are derived from plants, 75 from minerals, 44 from animals), classified into four groups according to their action. The above epitome was taken from a MS of 1055 CE, one of the oldest surviving texts in Persian. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. A German version appeared in 1893 under the direction of R. Robert.

The Almaleki, or Liber regius, of Haly Abbas was the leading treatise on medicine for a hundred years, when it was displaced by Avicenna’s Canon. This was the only edition printed in the 15th century.  ISTC No. ih00003000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The Almansor, so named after the prince to whom it was addressed, was a popular textbook and one of the first general medical texts to be printed. Rhazes ranks with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the founders of clinical medicine. Six copies of this work are recorded by the ISTC: London: British Library (purchased by William Osler in 1915 and bequeathed by him); Munich: UB; Florence: Facoltà di Medicina, Padova: C; Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, Dibner Library; St. Petersburg, Russia:. Aka.  ISTC No. ir00181500. When Osler purchased his copy it was thought to be the only copy surviving. For its full collation see the Bibliotheca Osleriana, No. 451.

Salani de Negris, whose commentary on Rhazes is included in this edition, and whose name is cited in this spelling by the ISTC, appeared to be virtually unknown except for this edition when I attempted to identify him further in July 2020.

An encyclopedia of medicines, mostly derived from plants, completed about the year 1317. The medicines are arranged in alphabetical order. Two printed editions were issued in 1474. The first, issued in Naples, appeared on April 1, 1474; ISTC No. is00510000. The second, edited by Matthaeus Moretus was issued in Modena or Bologna by Johannes Vurster in July 1474; ISTC No. is00511000. Digital facsimile of the Modena /Bologna edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

"Composed between 1209 and 1226, the first of the two primary texts discusses human generation — anatomy, physiology, astrology, sexual behavior, conception and the health of the fetus. The second part, the Physiognomy proper, goes head to toe, to determine a person’s character, vices and virtues by interpreting body parts. It draws on Aristotle and Rhazes and was translated into Spanish, Italian, French, German and Polish. The short tracts are on urology, dreams and the differences between genera and species of animals. This last flows from Michael’s translations of Averroës’ De animalibus, of parallel writings by Aristotle and of the Abbreviatio de animalibus of ibn Sina. This collection of texts influenced, i.a., Thos. Hill’s Contemplation of Mankinde (1571, etc.) and Aristotle’s Masterpiece" (McKittrick Rare Books, Medicine 1477-1755).

ISTC No. im00551000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

Schneider put an end to the idea that nasal mucus originated in the pituitary. He demonstrated anatomically and clinically that the mucous membrane lining the nose (“Schneider’s membrane”) is the source of nasal discharge, and discussed the tonsils, and ocular and lachrymal mucosa in the same way. As a result of his work the ancient doctrine of catarrhal diseases was overthrown, and the olfactory processes were definitely classified as cranial nerves. In Liber tertius (1661) Schneider was also the first to document the adenoid. (Robert J. Ruben, "The adenoid: Its history and a cautionary tale," The Laryngoscope, 127, June 2017, S13-28). 

Book 28 on drugs from the Al-Tasrif, a 30-volume Arabic encyclopaedia on medicine and surgery, written ca. 1000 CE by Abulcasis.  ISTC No. ia00014000. Digital facsimile from the Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart at this link.

This is a Latin translation from a Hebrew version dating from 1280. Avenzoar, the greatest Muslim physician of the Western Caliphate, described the itch-mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, serous pericarditis, mediastinal abscess, pharyngeal paralysis and otitis media. He was the first to attempt total extirpation of the uterus. He anticipated the modern stomach tube and advocated rectal feeding. He carefully described, but did not perform, lithotomy, and was apparently the first to mention a lithotrite. Avenzoar's text was translated from the Arabic by Jacob probably into the Venetian vernacular, from which it was translated into Latin by Paduan physician Paravicius in 1281. ISTC no. ia01408000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

This is the first printing of the medical and therapeutic section of Abul Qasim’s medical encyclopedia or al-Tasrif. It contains what is probably the earliest description of hemophilia (fol. 145). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/

In February 2018 the Library of Congress offered 316 different digital collections:

Reprints the auction catalogue of Hooke's library: Bibliotheca Hookiana (1703).

Rondelet wrote this book with the idea of verifying Aristotle, but in it he described many forms of fishes for the first time. The book is an accurate account of his investigation of Mediterranean fishes and marine animals, and Singer says that Fig. 51, illustrating the structure of a sea urchin, is the earliest figure we have of a dissected vertebrate. Rondelet also observed the relationship between embryo and mother in the placental dogfish. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Placitus wrote fanciful descriptions of medicines derived from animals, and other sources. For example, he recommended such remedies as consuming cooked puppy to relieve colic, and breaking a fever by cutting a splinter from the door that a eunuch has just passed through. (Wikipedia).

Aretaeus, a Greek physician who lived during the reign of Nero or Vespasian, wrote a general treatise on diseases which displays great accuracy in the detail of symptoms, and is of great value in the diagnosis of disease. His work, written in Ionic Greek, survived in relatively complete form. It consists of 8 books, the Latin translation of the titles of which are De causis et signis acutorum morborum (2 books), De causis et signis diuturnorum morborum (2 books), De curatione acutorum morborum (2 books), and De curatione diuturnorum morborum (2 books). Aretaeus's works were first published in Latin translation by Junius Paulus Crassus (Giunio Paolo Grassi) along with Grassi's translation of Rufus of Ephesus, in 1552. Rufus's work is the earliest treatise on the anatomical nomenclature of the human body. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Aretaeus's Greek text was first published in Paris by classical scholar and printer Adrianus Turnebus (Adrien Turnèbe or Tournebeuf) in 1554.Though the editor of that edition is unidentified, the work has been attributed to Jacques Goupyl. In 1723 a major edition in folio was published at the Clarendon press at Oxford, edited by John Wigan, containing an improved text, a new Latin version, learned dissertations and notes, and a copious index by Michel Maittaire. In 1731, Herman Boerhaave brought out a new annotated edition, of which the text and Latin version had been printed before the appearance of Wigan's; this edition contained annotations by Pierre Petit and Daniel Wilhelm Triller, as well as all the notes in Wigan's edition. The edition by C. G. Kühn, Leipzig 1828, included Wigan's text, Latin version, dissertations, etc., together with Petit's commentary, Triller's emendations, and Maittaire's index.The more recent standard edition is by Karl Hude (1860–1936) in the Corpus medicorum graecorum (2nd ed., Berlin, Akademie-Verlag, 1958, online at this link.The four books, De causis et signis, were published in an annotated bilingual edition in Greek and French, Arétée de Cappadoce, Des causes et des signes des maladies aiguës et chroniques, trans. R.T.H. Laennec, ed. and comm. Mirko D. Grmek, pref. by Danielle Gourevitch, Geneva, 2000.

Text in Spanish and Latin. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first separate book on exercise by a physician. Facsimile with English translation by Francisco Guerra as Book of bodily exercise, edited by Frederick G. Kilgour (New Haven: E. Licht, 1960).

The first Spanish anatomy book in the Spanish language, the second anatomy book ever published in Spain, and the work that introduced Vesalian illustrations to Spain. The text is a version of Henri de Mondeville’s medieval anatomy. The 12 anatomical woodcuts may have been executed by the printer, Sebastian Martinez.

Greek editio princeps of Galen's complete works in Greek, edited by the Paduan professor G. B. Oppizzoni [Opizo] with the help of John Clement , Edward Wotton, William Rose (ca. 1490-1525), and Thomas Lupset, all Engishmen and followers of Thomas Linacre, and the Saxon Georg Agricola of De re metallica fame. The work was published by Andrea Torresano, a printer who operated the Aldine press for Aldus's sons, who were then too young to run the press.

A Greek physician working in Rome, Galen's many writings in Greek dominated Byzantine, Arabic, medieval and even Renaissance medicine for over a millenium, being superseded in anatomy only with Vesalius, in physiology with Harvey, and in pathology with Boerhaave. The surviving writings of Galen also represent 25% of all that remains of ancient Greek literature.

Issuing this set in one year must have been an absolutely immense challenge for the publisher. The first volume was devoted to Galen's writings on physiology and anatomy, the second to pharmacology, the third to diagnostic, prognostic and "internistic" treatises, the fourth to therapy and hygiene, and the fifth to comments on Hippocratic texts.  For more information see HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

History of the 1889 Supreme Court case that legalized the licensing of physicians in the U.S. and the impact of that decision on the subsequent development of this nation's unique medical system.

First description of this condition (“Hebra’s pityriasis”).

Kaposi is credited with the first description of this condition, sometimes called “Kaposi’s disease”, and probably a rare variety of lichen planus.

Bozzini introduced a speculum in which the idea of illumination and reflection by mirrors was utilized. English translation in Urology, 1974, 3, 119-23. Bozzini published his work in book form, Der Lichtleiter, Weimar, 1807, which is translated in Quart. Bull. Northw. Univ. med. Sch., 1949, 23, 332-54.

Excretion of homogentisic acid (in alkaptonuria) first described.

Minkowski called attention to the constancy of pituitary enlargement on acromegaly; he was the first definitely to note this relationship.

Experimental production of tetany by excision of the thyroid of a cat, previously successfully transplanted into the abdomen.