These workers devised an immune serum for prophylactic inoculation against yellow fever. With S. F. Kitchen and W. D. M. Lloyd.

Milroy Lectures, Royal College of Physicians, 1898. Copeman’s bacteriological studies permanently determined the validity of vaccination as a preventive of smallpox.

First description of the hepatitis B vaccine, the first cancer vaccine, US patent 3636191A. Millman and Blumberg discovered that the blood of individuals carrying the hepatitis B virus contained particles of the outside coating of the virus. This coating, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), is not infectious; however, HBsAg can provoke an immune response. To develop a vaccine, Millman and Blumberg invented a method of detaching the coatings from the virus. See B. S. Blumberg, editor, Hepatitis B and the Prevention of Primary Cancer of the Liver. Selected Publications of Baruch S. Blumberg. (2000). See also I. Millman, T. Eisenstein & B. Blumberg, Hepatitis B: The Virus, the Disease, and the Vaccine. (New York: Plenum Press, 1984). 

Simian virus type 40, a polyomavirus found in both monkeys and humans.

Hulen devised a vacuum method of cataract extraction.

Henrotin’s method of removing the uterus.

First vaginal ovariotomy.

English translation, 1915.

Howell suggested that nerve impulses act indirectly by increasing the amount of diffusible potassium compounds in the heart tissue.

Plummer and Boothby recommended the pre-operative administration of iodine in exophthalmic goitre.

Edmund Kornfeld, an organic chemist working at Eli Lilly, first isolated Vancomycin in 1953 from a soil sample collected from the interior jungles of Borneo by a missionary, Rev. William M. Bouw (1918-2006). The organism that produced it was eventually named Amycolatopsis orientalis.^[21] The original purpose for Vancomycin was the treatment of penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

McGuire and colleagues published several following parts in this study: 

"Vancomycin, a new antibiotic.II. In vitro antibacterial studies." Antibiot. Ann., 3 (1955-56) 612-18.

The antibiotic was purified in 1958:

R.M. Higgins, W.H. Harrison, G.M. Wild, H.R. Wild, M.H. McCormick."Vancomycin, a new antibiotic. VI. Purification and properties of vancomycin," Antibiot. Ann., 5, 906-14.

See Donald P. Levine, "Vancomycin: A history," Clin. Infect. Dis., 42 (2006) Suppl. 1, S5-12.

"Nineteenth-century citizens of European descent widely believed that Native Americans would eventually vanish from the continent. Indian society was thought to be tied to the wilderness, and the manifest destiny of U.S. westward expansion, coupled with industry’s ever-growing hunger for natural resources, presaged the disappearance of Indian peoples. Yet, as the frontier drew to a close, some naturalists chronicling the loss of animal and plant populations began to worry that white Americans might soon share the Indians’ presumed fate.

Miles Powell explores how early conservationists such as George Perkins Marsh, William Temple Hornaday, and Aldo Leopold became convinced that the continued vitality of America’s “Nordic” and “Anglo-Saxon” races depended on preserving the wilderness. Fears over the destiny of white Americans drove some conservationists to embrace scientific racism, eugenics, and restrictive immigration laws. Although these activists laid the groundwork for the modern environmental movement and its many successes, the consequences of their racial anxieties persist" (publisher).

Vossius, a Dutch scholar and manuscript collector, was one of the first European writers to suggest that the Chinese had anticipated William Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. In his chapter on Chinese medicine, De artibus et scientiis Sinarum, Vossius stated that the Chinese had known about the circulation of the blood for over 4,000 years, citing relevant Chinese medical texts, such as the Huang ti nei ching, that had recently been translated into European languages. Vossius also alluded to Harvey's European precursors, including Cesalpino, Paolo Sarpi, and 'an Englishman"; this last was probably Walter Warner, one of the first Englishmen to support Harvey's theory and give an acount of it in the vernacular. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first comprehensive exposition of the relationship between genetics and natural selection in plants, and the most imporant book on plant evolution published during the 20th century.  Stebbins combined genetics and natural selection to describe plant speciation. His work was one of the main publications that formed the core of the modern evolutionary synthesis and still provides the conceptual framework for research in plant evolutionary biology.

"According to Ernst Mayr, 'Few later works dealing with the evolutionary systematics of plants have not been very deeply affected by Stebbins' work"^[2]....

"The 643-page book cites more than 1,250 references and was the longest of the four books associated with the modern evolutionary synthesis. The other key works of the modern evolutionary synthesis, whose publication also followed their authors' Jesup lectures, are Theodosius Dobzhansky's Genetics and the Origin of Species, Ernst Mayr's Systematics and the Origin of Species and George Gaylord Simpson's Tempo and Mode in Evolution. The great significance of Variation and Evolution in Plants is that it effectively killed any serious belief in alternative mechanisms of evolution for plants, such as Lamarckian evolution or soft inheritance, which were still upheld by some botanists.^[2] Stebbins book Flowering Plants: Evolution Above the Species Level was published in 1974 and was based on the Prather Lectures which he gave at Harvard. It is considered as an update to Variation and Evolution." (Wikipedia article on Variation and Evolution in Plants, accessed 02-2017).

Price-Jones described a method for the direct measurement of red blood cells, which led to the term, “Price-Jones curve”. See also his book, Red blood cell diameters, London, 1933.

Darwin carried out numerous investigations with pigeons and various plants. He recognized continuous and discontinuous variation; he concluded that crossing tends to keep populations uniform.

The mathematician Volterra created the basic equations for two species interactions. Abridged English translation as appendix to R. Chapman, Animal ecology, New York, 1931.

Zinsser advanced the theory that Brill’s disease is a recrudescence of epidemic typhus in persons who have contracted the typhus some time previously. The condition has subsequently been renamed “Brill-Zinsser disease”.

The first medical description of smallpox was written by Rhazes, about the year 910… The above work is the first edition of the Arabic text with a parallel Latin translation by the English pharmacist and scholar, John Channing, concerning whom see E. Savage-Smith, "John Channing: Eighteenth-century apothecary and arabist," Pharmacy in history, 30 (1988) 63-80. For an English translation see Medical Classics, 1939, 4, 22-84. A translation was also published by the Sydenham Society, 1848. See Nos. 2527 & 5441. In his Treatise on the smallpox and measles, Rhazes stated that survival from smallpox infection prevented an individual from ever acquiring the disease again. His explanation for why the disease does not strike the same individual twice is the first theory of acquired immunity.

Includes a Latin translation of Rhazes’s commentary on smallpox. Mead favored inoculation, and his great authority and influence contributed to a more general acceptance of this measure. English translation entitled A discourse on the small pox and measles, London, 1748.

Bartholin disputed the claim of Rudbeck as to priority in the discovery of the intestinal lymphatics. Although anticipated in this by Rudbeck, there is no doubt that Bartholinus was the first to appreciate the significance of the lymphatic system as a whole. Facsimile edition, 1916.

Lewis postulated that a histamine-like substance (“H-substance”) was responsible for the anaphylaxis symptom-complex. See also The blood-vessels of the human skin and their responses, 1927 (No. 797).

Meibom described the conjunctival Meibomian glands, holocrine type exocrine glands along the rims of the eyelid inside the tarsal plate. They were, however, already known to Galen and were figured by Casserius in 1609.

Dale and Richards studied the effect of histamine on the control of the circulation and showed its peripheral action to be located in the capillaries and smaller arterioles.

Showed that tissues are more sensitive to acetylcholine after treatment with eserine (physostigmine).

Mascagni, Professor of Anatomy at Siena, made several discoveries regarding the lymphatics. His beautiful atlas contained 41 engravings of the lymphatics and gained him lasting fame. He had previously published a Prodrome, in French, 1784; this contained only four plates.

The Abbé de L’Épée met two deaf girls, decided to educate them, and soon had a class of 60 devoted pupils, whom he supported and amongst whom he lived. He based his methods on those of Bonet and Amman, and was the first to attach great importance to signs. This is l’Épée’s most definitive work. It contains a reprint of No. 3358.

"The Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā (Ah, "Heart of Medicine") is written in poetic language. The Aṣṭāṅgasaṅgraha (As, "Compendium of Medicine") is a longer and less concise work, containing many parallel passages and extensive passages in prose. The Ah is written in 7120 easily understood Sanskrit verses that present a coherent account of Ayurvedic knowledge. Ashtanga in Sanskrit means ‘eight components’ and refers to the eight sections of Ayurveda: internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology and paediatrics, rejuvenation therapy, aphrodisiac therapy, toxicology, and psychiatry or spiritual healing, and ENT (ear, nose and throat). There are sections on longevity, personal hygiene, the causes of illness, the influence of season and time on the human organism, types and classifications of medicine, the significance of the sense of taste, pregnancy and possible complications during birth, Prakriti, individual constitutions and various aids for establishing a prognosis. There is also detailed information on Five-actions therapies (Skt. pañcakarma) including therapeutically induced vomiting, the use of laxatives, enemas, complications that might occur during such therapies and the necessary medications. The Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā is perhaps Ayurveda’s greatest classic, and copies of the work in manuscript libraries across India and the world outnumber any other medical work. The Ah is the central work of authority for ayurvedic practitioners in Kerala. The Aṣṭāṅgasaṅgraha, by contrast, is poorly represented in the manuscript record, with only a few, fragmentary manuscripts having survived to the twenty-first century. Evidently it was not widely read in pre-modern times. However, the As has come to new prominence since the twentieth century through being made part of the curriculum for ayurvedic college education in India" (Wikipedia article on Vagbhata, accessed 05-2018).

Barton served as a naval surgeon and, in 1815, became Professor of Botany at Philadelphia. Along with Bigelow (No. 1842) Barton’s work is one of the first two botanical works with colored plates issued in the United States.

Hales initiated a new stage in physiological experimentation with his "statical" methods, which were characterized by precise quantitative measurements, repetition and the used of controls, and were based on the assumption that that the known laws of matter operated in the bodies of plants and animals as well as in non-living materials. In his investigations of plant physiology, described in Vegetable Staticks, Hales studied the movement of water in plants, determining that leaf suction is the main force by which water is raised through a plant, and showing that plants lose water constantly via transpiration through their leaves. He also demonstrated that plants do not have a true circulation, and developed techniques to measure the varying rates of growth in different plant structures.

Vegetable Staticks is the first volume of Hales's Statical Essays, the second volume of which (Haemastaticks) appeared in 1733. Haemastaticks ecords Hales' invention of the manometer, with which he was the first to measure blood-pressure. His work is the greatest single contribution to our knowledge of the vascular system after Harvey, and led to the development of the blood-pressure measuring instruments now in universal use.

In the course of his work Hales indirectly discovered vasodilatation and vasoconstriction. Concluding that the force of the arterial blood in the capillaries could not be sufficient to produce muscular motion, he suggested a force regulated by the nerves, and perhaps electrical. "Hales was therefore the first physiologist to suggest, with some evidence to support it, the role of electricity in neuromuscular phenomena" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

This very extensive work consisting of 26 vols. in folio, with a total of 1548 plates, was the first comprehensive vernacular presentation of botany adopting Linnean generic names and binary nomenclature. It describes and illustrates about 26,000 plants. "The first volume (1759) is still in the old [i.e. pre-Linnaean] style, but from the second volume onward ... Linnaean binomials are used, although the sexual system is not followed ... Volume 5 contains 'observations on a natural method, so far as it regards the connection of the classes.' Hill's natural system was well worth studying but his voice remained unheard ... Hill was perhaps erratic and unconvincing ... but he was one of the first to rebel against Linnaeus's artificial system and essentialist classification" (F.A. Stafleu Linnaeus and the Linnaeans, Utrecht: 1971, p. 210)

The earliest surviving work on veterinary medicine, by a writer from Late Antiquity, presumably in the Western Roman Empire. Digital facsimile from BayerischeStaatsbibliothek at this link.

Measurement of circulation time.

Fabricius, teacher of Harvey at Padua, discovered the venous valves, and illustrated them in life-size copperplates in this monograph. He failed to recognize their true function, however, considering their function simply to delay blood flow. Fabricius's work must have influenced Harvey to direct his experimental efforts toward an accurate explanation of the function of the venous valves. This line of research eventually led Harvey to develop an accurate knowledge of how the circulation worked. Facsimile edition, with English translation, edited by K. J. Franklin, 1933. Digital facsimile of the 1603 edition from di.mospace.umsystem.edu at this link.

Digital facsimile from cervantesvirtual.com at this link.

Compiled in the years, 1424-1426, from Greek, Arabic and Latin works on medicine and nature. "Although Ardoini quotes previous authors at great length, his work is no mere compilation, since he does not hesitate to disagree with such medical authorities as Peter of Abano and Gentile da Foligno, and refers to his own medical experience or observation of nature at Venice and to what fisherman or collectors of herbs have told him. He also seems to have known Arabic, and his occasional practice of giving the names of herbs in several Italian dialects is of some linguistic value" (Thorndike). ISTC No: ia00950000. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Like Braune’s other anatomical works, this is notable for its excellent illustrations.

First pulmonary-azygos shunt operation for relief of mitral stenosis. Two further patients were operated upon later the same year; all three are reported in J. Amer. med. Ass.,1949, 140, 1259. A similar procedure was successfully employed independently by F. d’Allaines and his colleagues in 1949 (Mém. Acad. Chir., Paris, 1949, 75, 318-19).

An early work on Catholic medical morality. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Cardiopulmonary bypass and open excision of the aneurysm. With W.S. Henly, K.H. Amad, & D.W. Chapman.

The first successful defibrillation of a surgical patient, with the chest opened, and the paddles applied directly to the heart. With  H.S. Feil.

Dandy was responsible for the introduction of ventriculography.

English translation, The earthly Venus, was published in New York, 1966. Includes a reprint of No. 215.1.

Schmidt supported the theory of the hematogenous origin of carcinoma metastases.

Includes both anatomical engravings and engraving that relate to astrological influences. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Concerns medicine of the Aztecs, etc. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Confirmation of the work of Prout.

Even after the work of Prout and Beaumont, some physiologists thought that the free acid of the gastric juice was lactic acid; Bidder and Schmidt finally proved that normally the gastric juice always contains HCl in excess.

Koch greatly improved staining methods; he laid the foundations of the technical procedures employed in bacteriology today. In the above paper he described his method of slide preparation, making films of bacteria on cover-slips and fixing them gently by heat, his methods of staining, and preserving the specimens. He also gave details of his method of photographing bacteria, and reproduced the first photomicrographs of bacteria. In some of his reproductions of photomicrographs the cilia are clearly perceptible.

Botulism first described. Kerner published an expanded study as Neue Beobachtungen über die in Würtemberg so häufig vorfallenden tödtlichen Vergiftung durch den Genuss geräuchter Würstem, Tübingen, 1820. He published his most extensive report as Das Fettgift oder Die Fettsäure und ihre Wirkungen auf den thierischen Organismus, ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung des in Würsten giftig wirkenden Stoffes (1822). This monograph "reviewed 155 cases of poisoned patients and precisely described the autonomic dysfunctions: “The tear fluid disappears, the gullet becomes a dead and motionless tube; in all mucous cavities of the human machine the secretion of the normal mucus stands still, from the largest, the stomach, to the tear duct and the excretory ducts of the lingual glands. No saliva is secreted. No drop of wetness is felt in the mouth…”. (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)78793-6/fulltext).

Ariëns Kappers was Professor of Neuroanatomy at Amsterdam. English translation, 1936, reprinted New York, Hafner Press, 1967.

Brodmann was a pioneer in the study of cytoarchitectonics, and this work forms the basis for localization of function in the cerebral cortex. Brodmann's "areas" are used to designate cortical function regions.

Brodmann's broad comparative-anatomic approach, his recognition that the cortex is organized anatomically along the same basic principles in all mammals, and his idea of utilizing the morphogenesis of the cortex as a basis for the classification of cortical types and for the nomenclature of layers, were instrumental in dispelling the confusion that existed before Brodmann entered the field. His work first appeared as a series of papers in J. Psychol. Neurol. (Lpz.), 1903-08. His map of the human cortex appeared in the same journal, 1907, 10, 231-46, 287-334.

Broadmann studied the brains of diverse mammalian species, and developed a division of the cerebral cortex into 52 discrete areas, of which 44 are in the human, and the remaining 8 in the non-human primate brain. English translation of the 1909 work: Brodmann's localisation in the cerebral cortex; The principles of comparative localisation in the cerebral cortex based on cytoarchitectonics. Translated with editorial notes and an introduction by Laurence J. Garey. New York: Springer, 2006.

Introduction of dilaudid (Hydromorphone)

Schäfer showed the close serological relationship between human influenza viruses and their avian counterparts and suggested that members of this group might change their host specificity.

Hofmeister described the process of fertilization in non-flowering plants as an alternation of sexual and asexual generations in the mosses, ferns, horsetails and liverworts. He showed that asexual generation propagated by means of spores, altemating with one in which spermatozoids unite with ova. Hofmeister's researches led him to the revolutionary conclusion that all green land plants undergo a regular alternation of dissimilar generations in their complete life histories. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Hofmeister revised and expanded his work, and in its expanded form it was translated into English by Frederick Currey as On the germination, development, and fructification of the higher cryptogamia, and on the fructification of the coniferae (London: Ray Society, 1862). Digital facsimile of the 1862 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Includes Müller’s law of specific nerve energies. For an English translation, see his Elements of physiology, transl. W. Baly, London, 1838, vol. 1, pp. 766-67. Includes (p. 73) his explanation of the color sensations produced by pressure upon the retina.

This work on temperature in disease laid the foundation of modern knowledge regarding clinical thermometry. Wunderlich reportedly took over a million measurements from 25,000 people. Temperatures ranged from 97.2 to 99.5, and the mean normal human body temperature was 98.6. Wunderlich also established 100.4 degrees as “probably febrile.” Garrison said of Wunderlich that he “found fever a disease and left it a symptom.” The New Sydenham Society published an English translation, On the temperature in diseases: A manual of medical mhermometry, in 1871.

Saxl injected a mercurial compound (Novasurol), a powerful diuretic, for the treatment of cardiac failure.

Credé introduced the practice of instillation of silver nitrate into the eyes of all newborn children as a preventive measure against ophthalmia neonatorum. Separate expanded edition with the same title, Berlin: A. Hirschwald, 1884.

Steinach rejuvenation operation, ligation of the vas deferens, later discredited.

“Osgood–Schlatter disease”. A further description of the painful affection of the tibial tuberosity first noted by Osgood.

The first comprehensive book on the pathology of the appendix. Many of the illustrations are by Max Brödel. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

In this work Müller arranged the Infusoria into genera and species for the first time. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Borel collected evidence to show that Zacharias (sometimes called Zacharias Janssen) invented the compound microscope about 1590. Zacharias was a spectacle-maker of Middelburg, Holland.

Written in 1429, this didactic poem is the first known text to be devoted to the normal physiology and common illnesses of children. It was written in old Swabian, and its author was a monk. The poem was probably intended to be chanted, as an aid to memorization, and as a way of spreading of information among those who were not able to read and write; but, of course, in book form it had to be read. For details of this rare work, see J. Ruhräh, Pediatrics of the past, New York, 1925, pp. 465-86.  Digital facsimile from Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel at this link.  ISTC No. ih00013000.

Potter’s operation of podalic version.

The first comprehensive medical geography. See George Rosen, "Leonhard Ludwig Finke and the first medical geography," IN: Underwood, E. A. (ed.). Science and medicine in history: Essays on the evolution of scientific thought and medical practice written in honour of Charles Singer (London: Oxford University Press, 1953) Vol. 2, 186-193. Fincke is known to have developed a very early disease map, supposedly inspired by Zimmerman's pioneering map of the distribution of mammals. However, Fincke did not publish his map. Digital facsimile of the 1792-95 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Hebra’s classification of skin diseases was based upon their pathological anatomy.

First edition, 1839-45. Continuation by R. Dohm, for the period 1840-80, forming Bd. 3 (see No. 6289).

A monumental work, full of information which was of great assistance to later historians. Includes a useful chronology. Third edition, 1821-28; fourth edition of vol. 1, 1846.

Hahnemann's first presentation of his new system of medicine. English translation in The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann, Collected and Translated by R. E. Dudgeon, London: W. Headland, 1851, 195-357.

Grapengiesser was the first physician to use Volta’s “pile”, the first battery, which Volta first described in print in 1800. Grapengiesser “noted that in paralyzed muscle excitability could be so poor that 150 elements were necessary to produce contraction. He placed conductors on moistened skin and found by trial and error that the best results were obtained with the zinc pole placed over the nerve trunk and the other pole over the branches of the nerve. He also noted that contraction occurred on the make and break of the circuit”. (Licht).

Introduction of ethyl chloride in anesthesia.

Bier introduced the use of cocaine as a spinal anesthetic.

Heidenhain’s “secretion” theory of renal function.

Cardiazol (metrazol) convulsion therapy of schizophrenia was introduced by Meduna in 1934.

Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link. 

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Stepp discovered that removal of fat from the diet greatly reduced its nutritive value, but that substitution of pure fats did not replace the deficiency. He thus discovered the existence of fat-soluble vitamins, without fully realizing what he had discovered. For his later papers, see the Zeitschrift für Biologie, 1911, 57, 135; 1913, 62, 405.     

Old antipneumococcal serum.

Discovery of the Mendelian ratios, the most significant single achievement in the history of genetics. The story of how Mendel published his paper in this relatively obscure journal only to have his discovery ignored during his lifetime has been frequently retold. In 1900 Correns and de Vries (Nos. 239.01 and 239.1) rediscovered the Mendelian ratios almost simultaneously. William Bateson first translated the above work into English in J. Roy. Hort. Soc., 1901, 26, 1-32. The following year he published his first monograph on Mendel (No. 241).

"Eder was the director of an institute for graphic processes and the author of an early history of photography. With the photochemist Valenta, he produced a portfolio in January 1896, less than a month after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen published his discovery of X-rays. Eder and Valenta’s volume... demonstrated the X-ray’s magical ability to reveal the hidden structure of living things. Human hands and feet, fish, frogs, a snake, a chameleon, a lizard, a rat, and a newborn rabbit are all presented in exquisitely printed photo-gravures, as are carved cameos and an assortment of natural materials. In an era when photography’s ability to accurately depict the visible world had become commonplace, this newfound capacity to record the invisible opened up a host of possibilities, both scientific and aesthetic" (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/296322, accessed 05-2018).

Proof of the indispensability of bile to digestion.

First attempts at the serum treatment of cerebrospinal meningitis.

Frank, best remembered for his great services to public health, was the first physician to emphasize the gravity of diseases of the spinal cord.

Charcot completed the description of the syndrome first described by Menière.

Wulff outlined the bladder with a suspension of bismuth subnitrate.

History of the care of the wounded during the Wars of the Swiss Confederation. Brunner shows that the Swiss were the first nation in Europe to organize state care of the wounded. Part 2 of the above work was published in book form, Tübingen, 1903.

“Very valuable reports on artistic anatomy and the history of anatomic illustration” (Choulant).  Probably represents the first history of medical portraiture. Digital facsimile from Googe Books at this link.

Catalogue of the library of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, prepared for its sale at auction. Books were listed for sale individually, organized by size. Author and title and place published were listed, as were the number of pages, and whether or not there were plates; date of publication was not mentioned, however. Digital facsimile from HistoryofScience.com at this link.

Past issues may be viewed at: http://www.vesalius.org.uk/issues/past-issues.

In 1555 Vesalius was the first to diagnose an aneurysm of the thoracic and abdominal aorta in a living person. Vesalius wrote this consilium to Achilles Pirmin Gasser on July 18, 1557; it was not published until more than 100 years later. The consilium was in response to a notice from Gasser regarding the death of the Augsburg patrician, Leonard Welser, whom Vesalius had seen as a patient in 1555. Ever since a ride on horseback, Welser had suffered severe and constant pain. Upon examination Vesalius discovered a pulsating tumor in the region of the vertebrae, and immediatedly diagosed a fatal aneurysm of the aorta. After suffering with this disease for two years, Welser resorted to a quack, who, it was thought, contributed to his demise. Gasser's autopsy report confirmed Vesalius's original diagnosis. Regarding the consilium, in Andreas Vesalius of Brussels (1964) C.D. O'Malley translated Rumler's comments as follows: "When in 1557 that noble gentleman Leonard Welser finally died from an internal aneurism from which he had long suffered its various symptoms, on 25 June Adolph Occo, father and son, Ambrose Jung, and Lucas Stengel, physicians of Augsburg, dissected the body in order to find the cause of death, and Achilles Gasser, my maternal grandfather, sent their findings to Vesalius." Vesalius's consilium and much other material collected and preserved by Rumler seems to have been first published by Welsch, as part of a larger collection. O'Malley also translated Gasser's report to Vesalius on pp. 406-07, and translated Vesalius's consilium on pp. 395-96. Digital facsimile of the 1667 edition from Google Books at this link.

Isolation of the virus of spring–summer (Russian Far East) encephalitis.

First printed edition in Greek, edited by Jacques Goupyl. Rufus was a Greek physician who lived during the rule of Trajan. He wrote  wrote treatises on dietetics, pathology, anatomy, and patient care. His De partibus corporis humani is is the earliest treatise on the anatomical nomenclature of the human body. In his description of diseases of the kidneys he made a concerted effort to correlate structure and function, and to provide a rational explanation of the altered function of the kidneys in disease. The section of his monograph "On Hardening of the Kidneys" constitutes the first description of morbid and clinical features of the end-stage kidneys. In his day Rufus stood out among his contemporaries as a great surgeon. He is particularly remembered for his work on hemostasis; he also wrote a treatise on gout. Rufus is mentioned by Chaucer’s doctor.Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliiothek at this link.

A comprehensive account of the management of vesicovaginal fistula based on Sims’s technique.

The first successful operation for vesicovaginal fistula is believed to be that performed in August 1838, by Mettauer, a Virginian gynecologist. He introduced metallic sutures and a retention catheter.

Vesicular test for diagnosis of lymphogranuloma venereum.

Péan was first to operate on diverticula of the bladder.

“Bárány’s syndrome” – unilateral deafness, vertigo, and pain in the occipital region.

This outspoken statement of a belief in evolution, published anonymously to protect Chambers’s reputation as a publisher, anticipated Darwin’s Origin by 16 years and generally prepared the public for Darwin’s theories. For a scientific book in the Victorian era, it became a sensational best seller. Authorship was not revealed until the 12th edition (1884) 13 years after Chambers’s death. Facsimile reprint, Leicester, Univ. Press, 1969. See M. Millhauser, Just before Darwin: Robert Chambers and ‘Vestiges’, Middletown, Wesleyan University Press, [1959].

Ruel, a native of Soissons, was physician to François I. This book, commissioned by the king, was a Latin translation of a collection of excerpts from Greek veterinary writers on equine disease, compiled circa 900 CE: a Byzantine encyclopedia of horse medicine known as Hippiatrika. Nothing is known of many of the authors mentioned—Apsyrtus, Theomnestus, Eumelus, Hierocles, etc.— apart from these extracts. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

The collection was first published in Greek by Joannis Volderus of Basel, edited by Simon Grynaeus, in 1537.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Foundational work on veterinary epidemiology. At the University of California, Davis in 1966 Schwabe founded the first epidemiology department and graduate program in a school of veterinary medicine. Unusually extensive bibliographies at the end of each chapter.

Includes archival materials.

Trendelenburg’s graduation thesis on the ancient Hindu systems of medicine. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Building on the theory of mechanics as formulated by Aristotle and Galileo, and countering objections expressed by Stephani degli Angeli among others, Borelli presented a completely mechanical account of the action of muscles and analyzed the way the center of gravity of an animal shifts in locomotion. Translated into English by Paul Maquet as Borelli's on the movement of animals - On the force of percussion. Berlin: Springer, 2015. Digital facsimile of the 1667 edition from Google Books at this link.

Cloning of the lamb Dolly, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. Her birth established that the nuclei of at least some adult cells can be used to produce sheep or other animals that are genetically identical to the donor, when transferred into eggs from which the genetic material has been removed. Wilmut led the team that created Dolly but credits his colleague Keith Campbell with "66 percent" of the invention that made Dolly's birth possible. Co-authored by A. E. Schnieke, J. McWhire, and A. J. Kind.

Castiglioni was one of very few Italians to make the journey to America and to produce a detailed day-to-day account of his observations in the young country. His "Viaggio" is a systematic compendium of information drawn from both observation and secondary sources on the topography, history, instructions, agriculture and industry of the individual states from Massachusetts to Georgia. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Translated into English and edited by Antonio Pace, with an natural history commentary by Joseph and Nesta Ewan as Luigi Castiglioni's Viaggio: Travels in the United States of North America 1785-87. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1983.

http://www.victorianweb.org/

"The Victorian Web, which originated in hypermedia environments (Intermedia, Storyspace) that existed long before the World Wide Web, is one of the oldest academic and scholarly websites. It takes an approach that differs markedly from many Internet projects. Today the Internet offers many excellent resources — and we use them often! —  such as Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, the Library of Congress, and British Listed Buildings. These sites take the form of archives that quite properly preserve their information in the form of separate images or entire books accessible via search tools. The Victorian Web, in contrast, presents its images and documents, including entire books, as nodes in a network of complex connections. In other words, it emphasizes the link rather than the search tool (though it has one) and presents information linked to other information rather than atomized and isolated

"The Victorian Web takes a fundamentally different approach to finding and using information than do search-based Internet projects. Internet archives and invaluable Internet tools, such as Google, treat bodies of information as a chaotic swamp that one searches — one can’t say “negotiates” — with a wonderful laser-like tool that penetrates the fog and darkness. If we find what we're looking for, we leave immediately. We relate differently to hypertexts like the Victorian Web, which conceive of information existing within a complex ecology or set of connections, because they allow us to experience the richness of the texts and images we encounter. In the Victorian Web we encounter books, paintings, political events, and eminent and not-so-eminent Victorians in multiple contexts, which we can examine when and if we wish to do so. The Victorian Web also differs fundamentally from websites like Wikipedia and many reference works, such as Britannica, and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Each of these justly renowned sites (which authors of material on this site use frequently) aims to present a single authoritative view of its subject. In contrast, the multivocal Victorian Web encourages multiple points of view and debate, in part because matters of contemporary interest rarely generate general agreement.

"Originally begun back in 1987 as a means of helping scholars and students in see connections between different fields, the site today has greatly expanded the kinds of connections one can find. For example, on this site commentary on the works of Charles Dickens exists linked to his life and contemporary social and political history, drama, religion, book illustration, economics, and so forth. Similarly, our online edition of Ruskin’s enormously influential The Seven Lamps of Architecture, whose original print version makes its excellent illustrations hard to use, places these images near the text that mentions them, often adding details, photographs of the subjects of the drawings, and connections to a wide range of useful material including secondary materials, Ruskin’s other works, and images of the Gothic and the Gothic Revival.

How large is it?

"97,441 documents and images as of February 208, and it grows every day. Approximately 5,000 documents are Spanish translations of the sections on literature and religion created by a team based at the University of Computense Madrid and initially funded by the Spanish government. A small number of documents about Ruskin and gender matters exist in French translation, too.

How many people use it?

"The site now receives 1.5 million page views a month" (http://www.victorianweb.org/misc/vwintro.html).

The oldest surviving copy of Pedanius Dioscorides's treatise on medical botany and pharmacology, De materia medica, is an illuminated Byzantine manuscript produced about 512 CE. Dioscorides, a Greek physician, who may have served in the Roman army, wrote De materia medica in the first century CE.

"Presented in appreciation for her patronage in the construction of a district church in Constantinople, the parchment codex comprises 491 folios (or almost a thousand pages) and almost four hundred color illustrations, each occupying a full page facing a description of the plant's pharmacological properties. . . .

"In the Anicia codex, the chapter entries of De Materia Medica have been rearranged, the plants alphabetized and their descriptions augmented with observations from Galen and Crateuas (Krateuas), whose own herbal probably had been illustrated. Five supplemental texts also were appended, including paraphrases of the Theriaca and Alexipharmaca of Nicander and the Ornithiaca of Dionysius of Philadelphia (first century AD), which describes more than forty Mediterranean birds, including one sea bird shown with its wings both folded and open" (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/materiamedica.html, accessed 11-22-2008)

The Anicia Juliana codex also contains the earliest illustrated treatise on ornithology. It is one of the earliest surviving relatively complete codices of a scientific or medical text, one of the earliest relatively complete illustrated codices on any medical or scientific subject, and arguably the most beautiful of the earliest surviving scientific codices. It also contains what are probably the earliest surviving portraits of scientists or physicians in a manuscript. See Singer, Charles. "The herbal in antiquity and its transmission to later ages, " J. Hellen. Stud. 47 (1927) 1-52. For further details about this manuscript see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Written, designed, and illustrated by Dürer, this work is notable for its extraordinary series of anthropometrical woodcuts. The first two books deal with the proper proportions of the human form; the third changes the proportions according to mathematical rules, giving examples of extremely fat and thin figures, while the last book depicts the human figure in motion and treats of foreshortenings. Dürer’s work is the first attempt to apply anthropometry to aesthetics. The woodcuts represent the first attempt to employ cross-hatching to depict shades and shadows in wood engraving. Facsimile edition with commentary volume by M. Steck, Zurich, J.S. Dietikon, [1969]. Dürer’s manuscript prepared for the printer for the first part of the above work is preserved at Dresden along with many other anatomical studies by him. See The human figure by Albrecht Dürer. The complete “Dresden Sketchbook” edited with introduction, translation and commentary by W. L. Strauss. New York, 1972.

For more information on this work see HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

First description of hereditary oedema of the legs, generally known as “Milroy’s disease” or as “Meige’s disease” (No. 4129).

Reception of foreign medical ideas and techniques through the case study of smallpox.

“Barton’s fracture” of the radius.

Sixty images (reproduced in color where appropriate) with detailed commentary and bibliographical references, arranged in chronological order, from the first images viewed through the microscope to electron micrographs.

Clinical use of vinblastine (for Hodgkin’s disease and other lymphomas) and vincristine (for acute leukemias of childhood). With J. G. Armstrong, M. Gorman, and J. P. Burnett. Preliminary communication in J. Lab. clin. Med., 1959, 54, 830.

First report of rat-bite fever to appear in a medical journal.

Isolation of viomycin. With 11 co-authors.

In 1970 Baltimore and Temin discovered that certain viruses that have their genes in the form of RNA can copy the RNA "backward" into DNA in infected cells. The enyzme, reverse transcriptase, enables the manufacture of specific proteins for use as medicines. Baltimore, who was the only author of this paper, shared the Nobel Prize with R. Dulbecco and H. M. Temin in 1975 for discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of the cell.

In the course of his experiments on irritable responses caused by static electricity applied to frog muscles, Galvani produced electric current from the contact of two different metals in a moist environment. Galvani mistakenly believed this phenomenon (which his nephew Giovanni Aldini called “galvanism”) to be animal electricity. See No. 594.1 Facsimile of Volta’s copy, with English translation, and bibliography of editions and translations by J.F. Fulton and M.E. Stanton, Norwalk, Conn., Bumdy Library, 1953.

De viribus herbarum carmen has been attributed to Macer Floridus, a pseudonym of Odo of Meung, who lived in the Loire area of France towards the end of the eleventh century. Macer's unillustrated text described the medicinal properties of 77 herbs and was written in Latin hexameter, a poetic verse form that was most likely employed as a mnemonic device for physicians, apothecaries and others.

"The text titled De Viribus Herbarum (On properties of plants) has been traditionally attributed to Odo de Meung (Odo Magdunensis), who is believed to have lived during the first half of the 11th century and was from Meung on the Loire. Recent research has shown, however, that the De Viribus Herbarum was probably written in an earlier version, perhaps during the tenth century in Germany. The text was further expanded, including new data from the translation of Arabic texts into Latin in Salerno from the end of the 11th century onward. If this is the case, this text is good evidence of the continuity of scientific activity in the Middle Ages: its most ancient parts come from a period when there was a revival of interest in botany and a recovery of the classical tradition, while the most recent additions integrate the contribution of the Arabic world" (Hunt Botanical Library website, accessed 2009).

ISTC no. im00001000. Digital facsimile of the unillustrated first edition from the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The first edition of this work illustrated with woodcuts appears to be a Geneva edition printed circa 1500: ISTC No.: im00005000.

“Achard–Thiers syndrome”. These writers established as a definite syndrome the combination of hirsutism with diabetes.

Exact and detailed account of the male reproductive system. This work and No. 1209 were translated into English and published as Suppl. 17 to J. Reprod. Fertil, 1972. Facsimile of originals, Nieuwkoop, De Graaf, 1965.

The earliest separate treatise on cardiac physiology and pathology. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

“Durand’s disease” – D virus infection. Durand isolated the virus from his own blood. See also the paper by G. M. Findlay, Trans. roy. Soc. trop. Med., 1942, 35, 303-18.

Recovery of influenza B virus.

Discovery of interferon type I, a protein that interferes with viral replication. "While working together at the NIMR, Lindenmann and Isaacs noticed that if they killed viruses using heat and applied the dead viruses to living cells, those cells became resistant to further infections from live viruses.^[2] In 1957, Lindenmann and Isaacs discovered that the cells exposed to the dead viruses secreted a previously unknown substance which blocked future viral infections, which became known as interferon.^[2] It was later found that interferons are too toxic for use as general antiviral drugs, but they are used to treat hepatitis C as well as some types of cancer.^[2] "( Wikipedia article on Jean Lindenmann, accessed 3-2020).

T. Taniguchi, M. Hosokawa, and S. Kuga established a virus etiology for Japanese B encephalitis.

Smith,  Andrewes, and Laidlaw first isolated the influenza A virus in humans. They successfully infected ferrets with filtered throat-washings from influenzal patients by intranasal instillation.

Order of authorship in the original publication: Epstein, Achong, Barr. Presence of herpes-like virus particles in Burkitt’s tumor cells reported. The Epstein-Barr virus was the first human cancer-causing virus to be discovered.

Polyomavirus (papovavirus) shown to be capable of transforming cells in culture.  Full text from PubMedCentral at this link.

Contents of recent issues may be viewed at http://www.sozialgeschichte-medizin.org/wp_verein/?page_id=57.

Includes historical data, spectacular color photomicrographs, drawings, and geographical range maps for 101 viruses

Revised and updated edition, 2010.

Includes (pp. 71-100) his essay, De renibus, in which he described the uriniferous tubules and the “Malpighian bodies”. The great detail and clarity of Malpighi’s description was unsurpassed until Bowman (No. 1231). The book also includes (pp. 125-26) the first description of Hodgkin’s disease. Strangely enough, Malpighi gives no illustration of the kidney in this work. For a reproduction and English translation  see Annals of Medical History 1925, 7, 245-6 

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

"The Visible Human Project^® is an outgrowth of the NLM's 1986 Long-Range Plan. It is the creation of complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of the normal male and female human bodies. Acquisition of transverse CT, MR and cryosection images of representative male and female cadavers has been completed. The male was sectioned at one millimeter intervals, the female at one-third of a millimeter intervals.

"The long-term goal of the Visible Human Project^® is to produce a system of knowledge structures that will transparently link visual knowledge forms to symbolic knowledge formats such as the names of body parts.

"The National Library of Medicine thanks the men and the women who will their body to science, thereby enabling medical research and development.

Further Information

• General Information
  • A description of The Visible Human Project^® image data and how to obtain it (includes license agreement documents).
  • The Visible Human Project^® FactSheet.
  • The Visible Human Project^® From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • The Visible Human Project^®: From Data to Knowledge: An update of ongoing National Library of Medicine VHP initiatives.
  • Digitally encoded videos - requires RealPlayer
• • Projects Based on the Visible Human Data Set
    • Applicationsfor viewing images
    • Sourcesof images and animations
    • Products
  • Mirror Sites
  • Tools
  • Media Productions
  • Related Projects"

An exceptionally beautiful graphic work with many historical examples showing how data in many fields, including medicine and biology, can be mapped and visualized.

Avista Studies in the History of Medieval Technology, Science and Art Volume 5.

Introduction of portal venography for investigation of portal hypertension.

Focuses several chapters on the debates over innoculation for smallpox, and statistical measurement of results, statistical studies of the effect of climate on disease, etc.

Isolation of vitamin F (linolenic acid). 

Farr applied statistical methods to epidemiology and was the first mathematically to express the rise and fall of epidemic diseases, thus making possible the more accurate prediction of the occurrence of epidemics.

Ranks with Graunt’s Observations as an original contribution to medical statistics. Significantly expanded from the first edition (1837).  Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Goldmann was the first to demonstrate the blood-brain barrier. "By the intravenous and intrathecal administration of trypan blue he found that the barrier was impermeable to its large molecules, and he concluded that the choid plexuses were the sight of the holdup" Clarke & O"Malley, The human brain and spinal cord, 749).  Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Discovery of vitamin P (“citrin”).

A pioneer work in the study of vitamins. Much of the previous literature is reviewed. Funk introduced the term “vitamine”, later changed to “vitamin”. In 1912 (J. State Med., 20, 341) he postulated his theory of the existence of unknown but essential factors in diet. See No. 1047.

4th edition, 2 vols, 1980.

Codronchi's Methodus testificandi, inquibusvis casibus medicis oblatis first published in the above (pp. 148-232), is considered the earliest significant work on forensic medicine. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

First treatise devoted solely to diseases of the larynx. (See also No. 1718.)

The largest and most significant color plate book produced in America during the 19th century. 

Leffingwell sought a middle ground between the anti-vivisectionists, who callled for the abolition of all experimentation, and vivisectionists who rejected any restraint. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A remarkably detailed listing of scientific and medical researchers conducting research involving vivisection with address information and details of their research. This information was published in order to supply details to antivivisectionist protesters who attempted to stop this experimentation; however it is also useful as a selective directory of researchers in experimental physiology in England and on the Continent.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Korányi established cryoscopy of the urine as a kidney function test. See also his later papers in Z. klin. Med., 1897, 33, 1-54; 1898, 34, 1-52. Previously H. Dreser had made experiments on this subject; for these see Arch. exp. Path., 1892, 29, 303-19.

Casseri, originally a servant to Fabrizio, was personally trained by his employer and eventually succeeded to Fabrizio’s chair of anatomy. Like Fabrizio, who studied the development of the chick for clues to human embryology, Casseri endeavored to explain the human larynx and ear by reference to the lower animals. He investigated the structure of the auditory and vocal organs in most of the domestic animals. The book includes a description of the larynx more accurate than that of any previous author, and is also notable for its fine copperplate engravings, masterpieces of anatomical art. The elaborate engraved title page is particularly spectacular. Translation of chap. I-VIII , The larynx, organ of voice by Malcolm H. Hast and Erling B. Holtsmark with preface and anatomical notes in Acta otol. (Stockh.),1969, Suppl. 261.

First gastric fistula established specially for the purpose of experimentation.

This is the second and best edition in 2 volumes of works that were first issued separately in 1673 and 1693 respectively. For Rauwolf see No. 7327. Digital facsimile of the 1738 edition from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Ratzel emphasized the importance of the investigation of the history of primitive peoples in the study of ethnology.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Introduction of the flexible gastroscope.

First recorded operation for volvulus.

Soemmerring’s text-book contained only facts actually observed by him. He departed from the usual practice of including physiology with anatomy. The book was very popular in German medical schools, and Meckel considered it Soemmerring’s best work. It includes a very full list of what Soemmerring considered his anatomical discoveries.

Includes description of “Burdach’s column”, the posterior column of the spinal cord. This work is also “an unrivalled source of historical information on macroscopical neuroanatomy” (Meyer).

The first printed book on wine, its production and preservation, translated from the Latin by Wilhelm von Hirnkofen. It discusses the value of wine in diet and as a medication. Wine has been called the oldest documented human-made medicine. Egyptian papyri and Sumerian tablets dating back to 2200 BCE detail the medicinal role of wine. Wine was used variously as a safe alternative to drinking water, as an antiseptic for treating wounds, as a digestive aid, and as a cure for a wide range of ailments including  lethargy, diarrhea and pain from child birth. 

In 1943 medical historian Henry Sigerist issued a facsimile of the first edition, with an English translation and introduction, entitled The Earliest Printed Book on Wine. ISTC no. ia01080000. Digital facsimile of the first printed edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, München at this link. 

Written in 1473 but not published until 1524, this pamphlet on the diseases of miners is the first known work on industrial hygiene and toxicology. A reprint of the text appears in Münch. Beitr. Lit. Naturwiss. Med., 1927, 2, Sonderheft; and an English translation in Lancet, 1932, 1, 270-71. A separate reprint edition was also published: Von den gifftigen besen tempffen und reuchen. Eine gewerbe-hygienische schrift des XV. Jahrhunderts. (Munich: Verlag der Münchner Drucke, 1927). 

In this work on the “diseases that deprive man of his reason” Paracelsus anticipated the descriptive method in psychiatry, giving a purely medical account of the clinical manifestations of epilepsy, mania, and hysteria refuting previous theories that these diseases were caused by demonic possession or other supernatural means. He was “the first to differentiate the sexual components and the unconcious factors in the development ol hysteria” (Zilboorg). English translation by G. Zilboorg in H.E. Sigerist (ed.), Four treatises of…Paracelsus, Baltimore, 1941.

The earliest book devoted entirely to the health and illness of Jews, written by a Jewish physician. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Text in Latin and German. Includes an accurate description of peritonitis.

Bassi’s work on the muscardine disease of silkworms (see No. 2532), with its prophecy of the discovery of microbes as the causal agents of other diseases, inspired Henle to write this famous essay on miasms and contagions. He laid down postulates on the aetiological relation of microbes to disease which became fundamentals of bacteriology and which did much to check the reckless speculation which had arisen regarding micro-organisms. Koch later developed these postulates (see Nos. 2331, 2332, 2536, and 5167). Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

English translation in Bull. Hist. Med., 1936, 6, 911-83.

Paracelsus’s book on the diseases of miners was the first full monograph on the diseases of an occupational group. The first section covers the diseases, mainly pulmonary affections, of miners, including the etiology, pathogenesis, symptomatology and therapy. The second book describes the diseases of smelter workers and metallurgists, and the third section discusses diseases caused by mercury. English translation by G. Rosen in Four treatises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus, ed. by H. E. Sigerist, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1941. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Paracelsus suggested the hereditary transmission of syphilis and advocated mercury internally, as an antisyphilitic. He called the disease “French gonorrhoea” and thus started the confusion which lasted until the 19th century.

Reil advanced the doctrine of the life-force as the chemical expression of physiological function. Like Glisson and Hunter, he recognized irritability as a specific property of tissue. He founded the Archiv für die Physiologie, the first journal of physiology. Volume 1 was issued in 3 parts. This first issue of the journal, containing Reil's long paper, appeared in 1795. The volume was complete in 1796, at which time a title page for the complete volume was issued, dated 1796. Reil published 12 volumes of the Archiv für die Physiologie from 1796 to 1813.

Lavater was the last of the descriptive physiognomists. He expanded the above work into Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, 1775-78. This was translated into English by H. Hunter as Essays on physiognomy, 3 vols. in 5, London, 1789-98 [i.e. 1788-99] and other editions. His work was very influential on portraiture.

The first important monograph on bacillary dysentery. Translated into English by C. R. Hopson as A treatise on the dysentery, with a description of the epidemic dysentery that happened in Switzerland in the year 1765 (London, 1771). Digital facsimile of the 1767 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link. Digital facsimile of the English translation from the Internet Archive at this link.

In his description of hemophilia Nasse stressed the immunity of females, despite their ability to transmit the disease. This fact has become known as “Nasse’s law”.

Hereditary ectodermal dysplasia first described. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Independently of Lewis (No. 2830) these workers claimed auricular fibrillation to be the cause of perpetual arrhythmia.

Discovery (in 1868) of Borrelia recurrentis, causative agent in relapsing fever.

Introduction of cocaine as a local anesthetic; this was the first local anesthetic employed (16 September 1884). Freud (No. 1880.1) is accredited by some with this innovation, but in this connection see the letter by Koller in J. Amer. med. Ass., 1941, 117, 1284. English translation by H. Knapp in Arch. Ophthal. (Chicago), December, 1884. 

Proof that putrefaction is produced by living bodies. Independently of Cagniard-Latour, Schwann discovered the yeast cell. He is regarded as the founder of the germ theory of putrefaction and fermentation.

“Twilight sleep”.

Remak identified for the first time the myelinated fiber with its central “band of Remak” (the axon), and the unmyelinated axon or “fiber of Remak.” Fuller account in his Observationes anatomicae (No. 1262).

Pfeiffer discovered a bacillus, Haemophilus influenzae, “Pfeiffer’s bacillus”, which he believed to be the causal organism of influenza.

Isolation of papaverine.

On March 3, 1905, Schaudinn discovered the causal organism of syphilis Spirochaeta pallida, in serum obtained from a genital lesion by Hoffmann. Schaudinn later renamed the spirochete Treponema pallidum.

Helmholtz succeeded in measuring the velocity of the nervous impulse, by applying the knowledge and techniques of ballistics to the problem. In 1852, using a pendulum-myograph of his own invention, he measured the duration of an electric current through a galvanometer from the moment the nerve was stimulated to its interruption when the muscle contracted. A more detailed report “Messungen über den zeitlichen Verlauf der Zukkung animalischer Muskeln und die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit der Reizung in den Nerven”, appeared in the same journal volume, [276]-364, with its second part in the volume for 1852, 199-216.

Apart from Virchow’s Cellularpathologie, this was the most influential textbook of pathology during the 19th century. It includes (vol. 1, p. 38) a report on the experimental production of heart murmurs. English translation, New Sydenham Society, 3 vols., 1889-90.

Loeffler, Professor of Hygiene at Greifswald, made many discoveries in bacteriology. His history of the subject was the first and only history of bacteriology prior to the publication of Bulloch's History of bacteriology (1938). It was unfortunately left unfinished. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Henoch, whose name is remembered for his description of purpura, initiated the modern concept of pediatrics. English translation, New York, 1882.

Includes his test for quinine in urine. English translation of second edition, 1895-97. Binz was Professor of Pharmacology at Bonn. His most important work was perhaps the demonstration that quinine in low concentrations kills numerous micro-organisms.

First description of angiomatosis of the retina – “Hippel’s disease”.

Thomas Braidwood (1715-1806) founded the first British school for the deaf and dumb, in Edinburgh. His method consisted of a combination of lip-reading and signs.

In 1836 King Louis-Philippe, enthusiastic for Southern Hemisphere exploration, sponsored Dumont d'Urville's plan for a circumnavigation focusing on the South Seas. D'Urville had already distinguished himself on two Pacific expeditions and was eager to rival the achievements of James Cook. Between 1837 and 1840, the ships Astrolabe and Zélée explored the waters of the Antarctic area and Oceania in extremely harsh conditions; almost forty crew members died or deserted. However, d'Urville discovered a new portion of the Antarctic coast, shed light on the ethnography of several Pacific islands and brought back multitudes of botanical specimens. D'Urville published his account of the voyage, including his contributions to geography, natural history and ethnography in 10 vols, from 1841 to1846. Vol. 10, includes extracts from his correspondence, as well as a biography. The extensive scientific team who sailed on the voyage published their reports in 13 additional volumes. Their works are listed below.

Histoire du Voyage par M. Dumont d'Urville 10 vols, 1841-1843-46- [47]. Text. Plus Atlas pittoresque. 2 vols. 200 plates, 8 maps.

Anthropologie par M. [Pierre-Marie-Alexandre] Dumoutier, texte ...par M. É[mile]. Blanchard. 1854.

Anthropologie Atlas (50 plates) 1842-47.

Zoologie, par MM. [Jacques Bernard] Hombron et [C. H.] Jacquinot

Vol. 1. De l'homme dans ses rapports avec la Création, par M. Hombron. 1846.

Vol. 2. Considérations générales sur l'anthropologie suivies d'observations sur les races humaines de l'Amérique méridionale et de l'Océanie, par M. H. Jacquinot.

Vol. 3. Mammifères et oiseaux, par M. H. Jacinot et M. [Jacques] Pucheran.

           Reptiles et poissons, par M. H. Jacquinot et M. A. Guichenot.

           Crustacés par M. H. Jacquinot et M. H. Lucas. 1853.

Vol. 4. Description des insects, par E[mile]. Blanchard. 1853. 

Vol. 5. Description des mollusques, coquilles et zoophytes, par L. Rousseau. 1854.

Zoologie Atlas: Mammifères, 29 colored plates; Oiseaux, 37 colored plates; Reptiles, 18 colored plates; Poissons, 5 colored plates, Insectes, 25 colored plates; Crustacés, 9 colored plates; Mollusques, 20 colored plates; Zoophytes, 3 colored plates. 1842-53.

Botanique

Vol. 1. Plantes cellulaires par  [Jean Pierre François] C[amille] Montagne.

Vol. 2. Description des plantes vasculaires, par J. Decaisne.

Botanique Atlas. 66 plates (20 colored). 1852.

Géologie, Minérologie et Géographie physique...par M. J. Grange. 2 vols. 1848, 1854.

Géologie Atlas. 9 plates, 4 colored maps.

Physique, par MM. Vincendon-Dumoulin et Coupvent-Desbois. Vol. 1. 1842.

Hydrographie, [par M. Vincendon-Dumoulin. 2 vols. 1843, 1851.

Hydrographie Atlas. 57 maps. 1847.

Digital facsimile of d'Urville's 10 vols. texte from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

In 1817 Freycinet commanded the Uranie, accompanied by marine hydrologist Louis Isidore Duperrey, the artist Jacques Arago, junior draughtsman Adrien Taunay the Younger and others, and a guard of seventeen officers. Freycinet sailed to Rio de Janeiro to take a series of pendulum measurements and to make observations, not only in geography and ethnology, but in astronomy, terrestrial magnetism, and meteorology, and for the collection of specimens in natural history. Freycinet also managed to sneak his wife Rose de Freycinet aboard.

For three years, Freycinet cruised about the Pacific, visiting Australia, the Mariana Islands, Hawaiian Islands, and other Pacific islands, South America, and other places, and, notwithstanding the loss of the Uranie on the Falkland Islands during the return voyage, returned to France with fine collections in all departments of natural history, and with voluminous notes and drawings of the countries visited.

The set consists of:

1. Historique par L. de Freycinet.  2  vols. plus Atlas of 113 plates), 1825-29.

2. Recherches sur les langues des sauvages. 

3. Zoologie, par MM. Quoy et Gaimard. 1 vol. plus Atlas of 96 plates.

4. Botanique. Par M. C. Gaudichaud. 1 vol. plus Atlas of 120 plates.

5. Observations du pendule et de magnétisme. 

6. Météorologie 1 vol.

7. Hydrographie. 1 vol. plus Atlas de 22 plates.

 Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Duperrey undertook this circumnavigation under the sponsorship of the French Minister of Marine, to study terrestrial magnetism and meteorology, and to confirm or correct the position of islands and landmarks that were essential for safe navigation. To accomplish this mission in August 1822 Duperrey departed Toulon, "embarking on what would become a three-year expedition through the Pacific Islands and South America. Joining him on board were two naturalists, both also the ship’s surgeons, Prosper Garnot and René Primevère Lesson, plus his colleague and assistant commander, the botanist Jules Dumont d’Urville. They sailed along the coast of South America as far as Paita, Peru, and then headed west through the Tuamotus to Tahiti, before continuing on through the Society, Friendly (Tonga), and Fiji Islands. Although they were bound for Australia, dangerous weather conditions forced them northwest, and they passed the Santa Cruz and Solomon Islands before landing at Louis de Bougainville’s Port Praslin, New Britain. From there Coquille continued across the top of New Guinea, eventually making its way to the west and south coasts of Australia and to New Zealand by April 1824. It also passed through the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and the British island of Mauritius before finally docking in Marseilles in March 1825.

"Along the way, Duperrey and his crew had discovered a number of undocumented islands, prepared charts of little-known areas of the South Pacific (especially in the Caroline Archipelago), studied ocean currents and gathered new data on geomagnetic and meteorological phenomena. They had also amassed a staggering collection of unknown plants and animals, especially from New Guinea, including birds of paradise, bower birds, marsupials and a variety of fish and invertebrates for the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle" (https://blogs.adelaide.edu.au/special-collections/2015/11/18/voyage-autour-du-monde-by-louis-isidore-duperrey-1826/, accessed 04-2018). Digital facsimiles of the complete set, including the unusually elaborate 12-page prospectus from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Vol. 1, pp. 113-16, “No author before the time of Sonnerat gives us so distinct an account of the epidemic prevalence of cholera, so full a description of its varieties or has attributed it so positively to the physical misery of the natives of the country” (Macpherson, No. 5111.2). English translation, 1788-89.

In 1799 Humboldt and Bonpland embarked on a six-year tour of research through South America and Mexico, a trip which would afterwards be called, justifiably, "the scientific discovery of America."  The two amassed exhaustive data in a wide array of fields from meteorology to ethnography, and gathered 60,000 plant specimens, 6,300 of which were previously unknown in Europe. Their American travel journals— issued under the general title Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804— were published in thirty-four volumes between 1807 and 1834. Digital facsimiles are available from the Internet Archive and Bnf Gallica. 

Vol. 1. Historique, by François Péron. 1807

Vol. 2. Historique [by Francois Péron, completed by L. de Freycinet] 1816.

Vol. 3. Navigation et géographie, [by L. Freycinet.] 1815. 

Atlas historique [by C. A. Leseur & N. Petit] 1817.

[The following summary of the complex authorship and history of this voyage is a conflation of selections from various articles from the Wikipedia, accessed 3-2020:]

In October 1800  Napoleon selected the French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer Nicolas Baudin (1754-1803) to lead what became known as the Baudin expedition to map the coast of Australia (New Holland). To make the voyage and conduct research Baudin had two ships, Géographe and Naturaliste captained by Hamelin, and a suite of nine zoologists and botanists, including Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour. Baudin left Le Havre on 19 October 1800, stopped off in St. Croix, Tenerife, then sailed straight to the Ile de France arriving on 15 March 1801, 145 days later. The voyage, overlong with early rationing left sailors and scientists feeling discouraged, but the colony was happy to build up the crews in case of conflict and to make use of the new skills they brought with them. Baudin reached Australia in May 1801, and would explore and map the western coast and a part of the little-known southern coast of the continent. The scientific expedition proved a great success, with more than 2500 new species discovered. The French also met Aboriginal peoples and treated them with great respect.

In April 1802 Baudin met Matthew Flinders, also engaged in charting the coastline, in Encounter Bay in present-day South Australia. Baudin then stopped at the British colony at Sydney for supplies, and from there he sent home the Naturaliste, carrying all of the specimens that had been collected by both ships up to that time. Realizing that the Géographe could not venture into some of the shallow waters along the Australian coast that he was intending to survey, he bought a new ship — Casuarina — named after the wood it was made from, and placed it under the command of Louis de Freycinet, who would 15 years later make his own circumnavigation in the corvette l'Uranie. Baudin then headed back to Tasmania, before continuing along the southern and western coasts of Australia to Timor, mapping as he went. In very poor health, Baudin then turned for home, stopping at Mauritius, where he died.

During the voyage, which charted significant stretches of the Australian coast between 1801 and 1803, the naturalist François Péron clashed repeatedly with Baudin. When Stanislas Levillain and René Maugé died, Péron rose to prominence as the sole remaining zoologist. (Baudin had already lost numerous officers, sailors, savants and artists who deserted in Mauritius.) With the aid of the artist Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Péron was largely responsible for gathering some 100,000 zoological specimens—the most comprehensive Australian natural history collection to date. Although he died before he could fully study his specimens, Péron made a major contribution to the foundations of the natural sciences in Australia and was a prescient ecological thinker. He was also a pioneer oceanographer who conducted important experiments on sea water temperatures at depth.

Baudin died before he could return to France, and it was Péron who began writing the official account of the expedition: Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes. In doing so, he committed a great injustice to his former commander's memory by magnifying his faults and frequently distorting the historical record. In the wake of the resumed fighting between France and Britain, Péron also drafted a secret Mémoire sur les établissements anglais à la Nouvelle Hollande, which advocated a French conquest of Port Jackson with the aid of rebellious Irish convicts.^[1]

Péron died of tuberculosis in his hometown of Cérilly in 1810. He was just thirty-five years old. The task of completing the official account of the expedition fell to Louis de Freycinet.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Translated into English as A new voyage into the northern countries being a discription of the manners, customs, superstition, buildings, and habits of the Norwegians, Laponians, Kilops, Borandians, Siberians, Samojedes, Zemblans, and Islanders : with reflexions upon an error in our geographers about the scituation and extent of Greenland and Nova Zembla. (London: Printed for John Starkey, 1674). Digital facsimile of the 1671 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Full text of the 1674 edition from umich.edu at this link.

Translated into English by L. Jay Oliva, introduced and annotated by Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. as A medical journey in California (Los Angeles: Zeitlin & Ver Brugge, 1967).

Digital facsimile of the first American edition (1878) from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Choris was the artist aboard the Rurik, 1815-18, commanded by Otto von Kotzebue. After visiting islands in the South Seas, Kotzebue explored the North American coast and landed twice in the Hawaiian Islands. Choris's work, illustrated with 104 plates, is of particular interest for the outstanding images, and includes scientific information by Cuvier, Chamisso, and Gall. The book was issued in 22 parts. Buyers had the option of ordering the plates in black & white, the plates partially colored and partially uncolored, or with the plates entirely colored.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Atkins, surgeon on the voyage, included information about the slave trade and the natural history of the Gold Coast. "Atkins describes the manatee accurately, and tells much about fetish worship. He shows that there was no evidence of a general cannibalism in any negro tribe, but mentions how an English captain made one slave eat the liver of another as a punishment. He gives full accounts of the winds and currents" (Wikipedia article on John Atkins, accessed 01-2017). Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

As a youth Sloane collected objects of natural history and other curiosities. This led him to the study of medicine, which he went to London, where he studied botany, materia medica, surgery and pharmacy. His collecting habits made him useful to John Ray and Robert Boyle. After four years in London he travelled through France, spending some time at Paris and Montpellier, and stayed long enough at the University of Orange-Nassau to take his MD degree there in 1683. He returned to London with a considerable collection of plants and other curiosities, of which the former were sent to Ray and utilised by him for his History of Plants.

In 1687 Sloane became a fellow of the College of Physicians, and the same year went to Jamaica aboard HMS Assistance as physician in the suite of the new Governor of Jamaica, the second Duke of Albemarle.Jamaica was fast emerging as a source of immense profit to British merchants based on the cultivation of sugar and other crops by the forced labor of West Africans—many from the Akan and other peoples of the regions which the English entitled the Gold and Slave Coasts. Income from the sugar produced by enslaved African laborers on Sloane's wife's plantations at an area known as Sixteen Mile Walk fed the family fortunes in London and, together with Sloane's medical revenue and London property investments, gave him the wealth to collect on a vast scale. On his death Sloane bequeathed his collections to the English nation, founding the British Museum. (adapted from the Wikipedia article on Hans Sloane, 03-2018).

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Spectacular color images including many of original paintings and manuscripts.

In this very early work on gunshot wounds Maggi, Professor of Surgery at Bologna, showed that not all gunshot wounds suppurated and he discarded cauterization, treating such wounds with white of egg and salt water.