Facets

1492

#2191

Rosa anglica practica medicinae. Ed: Nicolaus Scyllacius.

The first printed medical book of an Englishman. John of Gaddesden was a prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral and physician to Edward II. The work, to quote Garrison, “consists mainly of Arabist quackeries and countrysi…

1509

#8445

Medicinae Pliniae libri quinque finiunt foeliciter.

The Medicina Plinii was an anonymous compilation of remedies dating to the early 4th century CE ."The excerptor, saying that he speaks from experience, offers the work as a compact resource for travelers in dealing wi…

1511

#9183

Libellus de lapidibus preciosis nuper editus.

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 …

1533

#9863

En nyttelig laegebog for fattige og rige, unge og gamle.

Pedersen, a Danish canon, humanist scholar, writer, printer and publisher, wrote and published the earliest medical book issued in Scandanavia by a Scandanavian writer. Translated as "A useful doctor book for poor and…

1534

#9864

Om UrteVand.

Petersen issued a second book, "On herbal extracts" in 1534. According to Stokker, Remedies and rituals: Folk medicine in Norway and the new land (2007) p. 111, Pedersen's two works together contained "250 medical her…

1536

#10961

De medicamentis empiricis physicis ac rationalibus liber.... Edited by Janus Cornarius. Item Claudii Galeni libri novem nunc primum Latini facti.... Jani Cornarii.

The Gallo-Roman physician Marcellus was born in Bordeaux. He may have served as magister officiorum under Theodosius I, or may have been royal physician. Sarton (Introduction to the history of science I, 391) consider…

1546

#9865

Skøn lystig ny Urtegaard.

Smid was one of the first writers on medicine in Scandinavia who was trained in medicine, but according to Stokker, Remedies and rituals: folk medicine in Norway and the new land (2007) p. 111 "had trouble succeeding …

1646

#10032

Pseudodoxia epidemica, or, enquiries into very many received tenents and commonly presumed truths.

In this widely read work of popular science that underwent six editions in Browne's lifetime Browne debunked numerous quack cures, etc. Full text from quod.lib.umich.edu at this link. Digital facsimile of the 4th edit…

1666

#4992

A brief account of Mr Valentine Greatrakes, and divers of the strange cures by him lately performed. Written by himself in a letter addressed to the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq., 1666.

The earliest scientific account, by a practitioner, and corroborated by witnesses, of healing by the “laying-on of hands”. Greatrakes became known as “the Irish stroker” because of his method of healing by stroking th…

1666

#9638

De medicina Danorum domestica dissertationes x.

An early study of medicine in Denmark, including local botanic drugs and folk medicine. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1673

#12972

Nova medicina spirituum: Curiosa scientia & doctrina, unanimiter hucusque neglecta, & à nemine meritò exculta, medicis tamen & physicis utilissima. In quâ Primo Spirituum naturalis constitutio, vita, sanitas temperamenta, ingenia, calidum innatum, phantasiae vires, ideae, astrorum influentiae, μετεμψύχωσις, rerum magnetissimi, sympatiae & antipatiae, qualitates hactenus occultae, aliaq; caeteroquin abstrusa & paradoxa; Dehinc spirituum praeternaturalis seu morbosa Dispositio, causae, curationes per naturam, per diaetam, per arcana majora, palingenesiam, magnetissimum seu sympatheismum, transplantationes, amuleta, ingenuè & dilucidè demonstrantur.

”A very curious work, attributing the causes of many diseases to spirits and basing their cure on this theory. There is a great deal on insanity. The methods of treatment are partly chemical, partly magnetical, even s…

1682

#6492

Specimen medicinae Sinicae.

One of the earliest studies of Chinese medicine published in the West. (See also Nos. 6472.10 et seq.). Cleyer edited these translations of Chinese medical texts, reproducing a series of 30 plates dealing with Chinese…

1683

#6374.1

Dissertatio de arthritide: mantissa schematica: de acupunctura: et orationes tres…

This work by the resident physician at Deshima, the Dutch East India Company’s trading station in Nagasaki Bay, Japan, contains the first detailed description of acupuncture, and the first illustration of acu-points p…

1686

#6492.1

Clavis medica ad Chinarum doctrinam de pulsibus. Autore R.P. Michaele Boymo, e Soc. Jesu, & in China missionario. Huius operis ultra viginti annos iam sepulti fragmenta, hinc inde dispersa, collegit & in gratiam medicae facultatis in lucem Europaeam produxit Cl. Dn. Andreas Cleyerus, M.D. & Societatis Batavo-Orientalis Proto-Medicus. A quo nunc demum mittitur totius operis exemplar, e China recens allatum, & a mendis purgatum, Procuratore R.P. Philippo Copletio, Belga, e Soc. Jesu, Chinensis missionis Romam misso.

Translations of Chinese treatises on pulse medicine with illustrations of hands and wrists to illustrate pulse-taking. The texts published here are different from those published by Cleyer in No. 6492. Previously publ…

1699

#7965

The dispensary: A poem. In six cantos.

An aggressive criticism of quack medicines, apothecaries who produced them, and physicians who prescribed them.

1700

#11894

Observations sur la maniere de tailler dans les deux sexes pour l'extraction de la pierre, pratiqué par Frere Jacques. Nouveau system de la circulation du sang pour le trou ovale dans le foetus humain, avec les réponses aux objections qui ont été faites contre cette hypothese.

"Méry became closely associated with the comparative-anatomical work led by Claude Perrault and J.-G. Duverney. As a member of this group, Méry made contributions to their joint publications, in which each man’s speci…

1703

#8870

A description of the Western Islands of Scotland.: Containing a full account of their situation, extent, soils, product, harbours, bays, tides, anchoring places, and fisheries. The ancient and modern government, religion and customs of the inhabitants, particularly of their druids, heathen temples, monasteries, churches, chappels, antiquities, monuments, forts, caves, and other curiosities of art and nature. Of their admirable and expeditious way of curing most diseases by simples of their own product. A particular account of the second sight, or faculty of forseeing things to come, by way of vision, so common among them. A brief hint of methods to improve trade in that country, both by sea and land. With a new map of the whole, describing the harbours, anchoring places, and dangerous rocks, for the benefit of sailers. To which is added a brief description of the Isles of Orkney, and Schetland.

Martin, who graduated MD from Leiden, included throughout his book detailed and non-judgmental documentation of folk medicine practices and ethnobotanic remedies then in use in the region. Digital facsimile of the 170…

1712

#6374.11

Amoentitatum exoticarum politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi V.

Kaempfer’s illustrated accounts of Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion are among the best of the 17th century. They appeared for the first time in the above work and were translated into English in his The History of…

1745

#1831

Aνтιθηεριακά. An essay on mithridatium and theriaka.

Heberden’s first printed work. His criticism of current superstitions conceming these two concoctions resulted ultimately in their removal from the pharmacopoeia. No publisher's name appears on the title page. Digital…

1761

#7669

History of the travels and adventures of the Chevalier John Taylor, ophthalmiater; pontifical imperial and royal to the Kings of Poland, Denmark, Sweden, the electors of the Holy Empire, the princes of Saxegotha, Mecklenburg, Anspach, Brunswick, Parma, Modena... Addressed to his only son.

1767

#13081

The law of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries: Containing all the statutes, cases at large, arguments, resolutions, and judgments concerning them. Compiled, by desire of a great personage, for the use of such gentlemen of the faculty as are enemies to quackery, in order to point out the defects in the law, as it now Stands, relative to those professions, and To propose such expedients for remedying them as they shall think necessary, before the next session of parliament, when it is intended to apply for an act for regulating the practice of physick, and suppressing empirical nostrums.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1774

#6451.90

An oration…containing an enquiry into the natural history of medicine among the Indians in North-America; and a comparative view of their diseases and remedies, with those of civilized nations.

Rush was the first American physician to publish a detailed study of native American medicine. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

1774 –1780

#6374.12

Histoire de la chirurgie depuis son origine jusqu’a nos jours. 2 vols.

Dujardin seems to be the first European to discuss acupuncture within its historical context as an ancient remedy still found to be of practical value. His section on Chinese and Japanese medicine appears on pp. 75-10…

1778

#9866

Kort Underviisning om De paa Landet, I Bergens Stift, meest grasserende Sygdomme, og derimod tienende Hjelpe-Midler. Paa Det Nyttige Sælskabs Bekostning.

Strøm's work, which may be translated as "A short instruction about common sicknesses in the area around Bergen and their most common remedies" was "More a report than a doctor book, it describes the living conditions…

1779

#4992.1

Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal.

Mesmer promoted his system of treatment, based on his confused doctrine of a universal magnetic fluid influencing tides and men alike, with books and great personal showmanship. His treatment became such a popular hea…

1784

#4992.2

Rapport des commissaires chargés par le roi, de l’examen du magnétisme animal. Edited by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier.

Responding to Mesmer’s growing notoriety, the Medical Faculty of Paris became alarmed, and urged the King to appoint a blue-ribbon committee of inquiry. The committee included Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Laurent Lavois…

1790

#10002

Essays on fashionable diseases. The dangerous effects of hot and crouded rooms. The cloathing of invalids. Lady and gentlemen doctors. And on quacks and quackery. With the genuine patent prescriptions of Dr. James's fever power, Tickell's aetherial spirit, & Godbold's balsam, taken from the Rolls in Chancery, and under the seal of the proper officers; and also the ingredients and compostion of many of the most celebrated quack nostrums, as analized by several of the best chemists in Europe. By James M. Adair, Formerly M.D.... With a dedication to Philip Thicknesse ... To which is added a dramatic dialogue. Published for the benefit of the tin-miners in Cornwal

An attack on quack medicines, etc. with one of the most verbose title pages of the 18th century. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1790

#13699

Culpeper's English physician; and complete herbal. To which are now first added upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult properties, physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind. To which are annexed rules for compounding medicine according to the true system of nature, forming a complete family dispensatory and natural system of physic. Beautified and enriched with engravings of upwards of four hundred and fifty different plants, and a set of anatomical figures....

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

1794

#8004

Demostracion de las eficaces virtudes nuevamente descubiertas en las raices de dos plantas de Nueva-España, especies de ágave y de begónia, para la curacion del vicio venéreo y escrofuloso ...

Balmis conducted experimental trials on the effectiveness of two Mexican plants, agave and begonia, which were believed, according to folk medicine practices in Mexico, to cure syphilis and scrofula. The trials confir…

1798

#8654

The influence of metallic tractors on the human body, in removing various painful inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatism, pleurisy, some gouty affections, &c. &c: Lately discovered by Dr. Perkins, of North America; and demonstrated in a series of experiments and observations....by which the importance of the discovery is fully ascertained, and a new field of enquiry opened in the modern science of Galvanism, or animal electricity

In 1795 Dr. Elisha Perkins (1741-1799) of Connecticut introduced the use of “Metallic Tractors” for the treatment of a wide range of disorders, including pains in the head, face, teeth, breast, side, stomach, back, rh…

1800

#7749

Of the imagination, as a cause and as a cure of disorders of the body; exemplified by fictitious tractors, and epidemical convulsions. Read to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Bath.

The first clinical demonstration of the placebo effect, specifically in the context of Perkins' metallic tractors. Haygarth demonstrated the placebo effect caused by the tractors by obtaining the same results with woo…

1803

#13026

A poetical petition against tractorising trumpery and the Perkinistic institution: In four cantos. Most respectfully addressed to the Royal College of Physicians.

This medical satire in doggerel verse, which was ostensibly an attack on Perkins' metallic tractors, or "Perkinism" was actually written in support of them. The work was best known for its second and greatly expanded …

1816

#6374.13

Mémoires sur les maladies chroniques, les évacuations sanguines et l’acupuncture.

Berlioz, father of the composer, published the first French monograph on acupuncture. He had his best success with muscle and joint stiffness after falls, and rheumatic and arthritic states. Digital facsimile from Goo…

1821

#6374.14

A treatise on acupuncturation, being a description of a surgical operation originally peculiar to the Japonese and Chinese, and by them denominated zin-king, now introduced into European practice, with directions for its performance, and cases illustrating its success.

The first English monograph on acupuncture. Churchill had most success with rheumatic conditions, sciatica, back-pain, etc. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. The German translation of Churchill…

1822

#6988

New guide to health; or botanic family physician, containing a complete system of practice, upon a plan entirely new; with a description of the vegetables made use of, and directions for preparing and adminstering them to cure disease. To which is prefixed a narrative of the life and medical discoveries of the author.

The "Bible" of Thomsonism or "Thomsonian medicine", which employed botanical remedies, often based on native American medicines. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

1822

#10751

A narrative of the life and medical discoveries of Samuel Thomson: Containing an account of his system of practice, and the manner of curing disease with vegetable medicine, upon a plan entirely new; to which is added an introduction to his New Guide to Health, or Botanic Family Physician containing the principles upon which the system is founded, with remarks on fevers, steaming, poison &c.

Thomson issued this introductory work shortly before publication of his New Guide. Three issues appeared in 1822: one with 180 pages, another with 182 pages including testimonials, and a 204 page issue with the introd…

1825

#6374.16

Mémoires sur l’électro-puncture, considerée comme moyen nouveau de traiter efficacement la goutte, les rheumatisme et les affections nerveuses…

The first treatise on electro-puncture – the only significant Western contribution to acupuncture, and one of the most widely used methods of acupuncture today.

1825

#14163

Mémoire sur l'acupuncture, suivi d'une série d'observations recueillies sous les yeux de M. Jules Cloquet by M. Morand.

Little is known about Morand. He refers to his teacher, Jules Cloquet throughout. Cloquet's book on acupuncture was published the following year in 1826. (No. 6829). Digital facsimile of Morand's book from BnF Gallica…

1826

#6828

Cases illustrative of the remedial effects of acupuncturation.

The first original study of acupuncture published in North America, and one of the earliest American publications on the alleviation of pain. Franklin Bache, great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, was the first American…

1826

#6829

Traité de acupuncture, d'après les observations de M. Jules Cloquet. Édité par Dantu de Vannes.

As adjunct chief surgeon at the Hôpital St. Louis, Cloquet had an ample number of patients at his disposal, and he was able to test acupuncture on upwards of 300 cases with mostly beneficial results. Cloquet did not p…

1829

#9450

Praktische waarnemingen over eenige Javaansche geneesmiddelen, welke niet alleen vele uitheemsche medicamenten, die thans nog van Europa naar Java moeten worden overgezonden, kunnen vervangen, maar dezelve ook tegen eenige ziekten op het eiland Java heerschende, in werkzaamheid overtreffen.

An early account of Jamu (old spelling Djamu), the traditional medicine of Indonesia, especially Java. "It is a predominantly herbal medicine made from natural materials, such as parts of plants such as roots, bark, f…

1831

#2977

Mémoire sur la piqûre ou l’acupuncture des artères dans le traitement des anévrismes.

First attempt at operative treatment of aneurysm.

1838

#10402

Botica general de los remedios esperimentados. Que á beneficio del público se reimprime por su original en Cadiz, en Sonoma, de la alta California: Por M. G. V.

The first medical book printed in California, a small 23-page pamphlet of folk or popular medicine. It was printed by Agustín V. Zamorano, the first printer in Alta California under Mexican rule before the region beca…

c. 1839

#10003

Deadly adulteration and slow poisoning unmasked; or, Disease and death in the pot and the bottle; in which the blood-empoisoning and life-destroying adulterations of wines, spirits, beer, bread, flour, tea, sugar, spices, cheese-mongery, pastry, confectionary medicines, &c. &c. &c. are laid open to the public, with tests or methods for the ascertaining and detecting the fraudulent and deleterious adulterations and the good and bad qualities of those articles: with an exposé of medical empiricism and imposture, quacks and quackery, regular and irregular, legitimate and illegitimate: and the frauds and mal-practices of the pawn-brokers and madhouse keepers. New edition

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

1842

#4992.3

Satanic agency and mesmerism reviewed. In a Letter to the Rev. H. Mc. Neile A.M. of Liverpool: In reply to a sermon preached by him in St. Jude's Church, Liverpool, on Sunday, April 10th, 1842.

Braid’s scientific investigations of mesmerism convinced him that its effects did not depend on an outside force, but were natural phenomena arising from the subject’s heightened suggestibility. This 10-page pamphlet …

1842

#11260

Homoeópathy, and its kindred delusions; Two lectures delivered before the Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1843 –1856

#9256

The Zoist: A journal of cerebral physiology & mesmerism, and their applications to human welfare. Edited by John Elliotson. 13 vols.

The most comprehensive source about British mesmerism of the period, and an invaluable reference for contemporary ideas and developments not only in mesmerism (hypnosis) but also in phrenology, neurology and psychiatr…

1844

#12695

On superstitions connected with the history and practice of medicine and surgery.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

1845

#10459

Des hallucinations, ou histoire raisonnée des apparitions, des visions, des songes, de l'extase, du magnétisme et du somnambulisme.

This study underwent at least three editions in French and also appeared in several English translations, the first of which appears to have been translated anonymously and publlished in Philadelphia in 1853 from the …

1862

#11625

An inquiry into the medicinal value of the excreta of reptiles, in phthisis and some other diseases.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.