Facets

1667

#6823

Gods terrible voice in the city of London wherein you have the narration of the two late dreadful judgements of plague and fire, inflicted by the Lord upon that city; the former in the year 1665. The latter in the year 1666

This edition of a plague tract by English puritan minister Thomas Vincent was the first medical or biological publication in North America. It was issued by printer Samuel Green, using a press in Cambridge, Massachuse…

1677

#5406

A brief rule to guide the common-people of New-England how to order themselves and theirs in the small pocks, or measels.

The first medical publication of North America and the only one to appear in the 17th century. Only one copy of the original printing of this broadside survived, written by Thacher, a Boston minister. The sheet was re…

1721

#5410.1

Some account of what is said of inoculating or transplanting the small pox by the learned Dr. Emmanuel Timonius, and Jacobus Pylarinus. With some remarks theron. To which are added, a few queries in answer to the scruples of many about the lawfulness of this method.

An abridgement of Nos. 5409 & 5410 together with Boylston’s remarks. From internal evidence this 24-page pamphlet would appear to be the first North American publication on inoculation. See No. 5415. Digital facsimile…

1721

#5411

Some observations on the new method of receiving the smallpox by ingrafting or inoculating.

This work offers general support for the practice of Zabdiel Boylston, detailing some of Boylston’s cases, including accounts of occasions when patients died. Reprinted with additional material by Daniel Neal, as A na…

1722

#5412

Inoculation of the smallpox as practised in Boston.

1722

#5413

The abuses and scandals of some late pamphlets in favour of inoculation of the small-pox.

Douglass at first opposed inoculation for smallpox, but by 1730 he had changed his views and had become an advocate of inoculation.

1722

#5414

An account of the method and success of inoculating the small pox in Boston in New England.

Mather republished reports of earlier writers on inoculation. He persuaded Boylston to adopt the practice in June 1721, and he supported Boylston during a period of great opposition to inoculation.

1726

#5415

An historical account of the small-pox inoculated in New-England, upon all sorts of persons, whites, blacks, and of all ages and constitutions: With some account of the nature of the infection in the natural and inoculated way, and their different effects on human bodies; with some short directions to the unexperienced in this method of practice .

Boylston was the first in America to inoculate for smallpox, at Boston on 26 June 1721. "During a smallpox outbreak in 1721 in Boston, he inoculated about 248 people[5] by applying pus from a smallpox sore to a small …

1736

#5076

The practical history of a new epidemical eruptive miliary fever, with an angina ulcusculosa, which prevailed in Boston New England in the years 1735 and 1736.

Douglass left the first adequate clinical description of scarlet fever, which he called angina ulcusculosa, in his account of New England’s first scarlet fever epidemic. He was one of the first American physicians to …

1743

#5416

An essay on inoculation, occasioned by the small-pox being brought into South Carolina in the year 1738.

After its initial popularity, inoculation fell into disuse in England. Kirkpatrick, who became a prominent inoculator in England after experience in America, helped considerably in reviving its popularity. He attempte…

1751

#1832

Descriptions, virtues, and uses of sundry plants of these northern parts of America, and particularly of the newly discovered Indian cure for the venereal disease.

Bartram founded one of the first botanical gardens in America (at Kingsessing). Linnaeus referred to him as the “greatest natural botanist in the world”. A few copies of this 7-page work printed by Benjamin Franklin w…

1759

#5419

Some account of the success of inoculation for the small-pox in England and America. Together with plain instructions, by which any person may be enabled to perform the operation.

Franklin’s statistical account of smallpox inoculation in Boston during the epidemic of 1753-54, showing the beneficial effects of the practice, was written for William Heberden, who contributed the “Plain instruction…

1781

#5422

The new method in inoculating for the small pox.

1789

#5470

An account of the bilious remitting fever. In his Medical inquiries and observations, 1, 104-21

One of the first important accounts of dengue (“breakbone fever”). Rush described the Philadelphia outbreak of 1780.

1793

#5451

A short account of the malignant fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia: With a statement of the proceedings that took place on the subject in different parts of the United States.

Carey was a Philadelphia publisher and economist rather than a physician. In this little book, which passed through four editions in a few months, Carey left a graphic description of the great yellow fever epidemic of…

1793

#5452

A description of the malignant, infectious fever prevailing at present in Philadelphia; with an account of the means to prevent infection, and the remedies and method of treatment, which have been found most successful.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1794

#5453

An account of the bilious remitting yellow fever, as it appeared in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1793.

Benjamin Rush was the most eminent figure in Philadelphia medicine in his day. His description of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 is classic. He did magnificent work in treating the sick during the epidemic and in p…

1794

#5453.1

A narrative of the proceedings of the black people during the late awful calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1793: and a refutation of some censures thrown upon them in some late publications.

A refutation of slights by Matthew Carey in his Short account of the malignant fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia (1793; No. 5451) to the important contributions of black people, many of whom served as nurses and…

1797

#7687

An inquiry into the cause of the prevalence of the yellow fever in New-York.

Includes four early plot maps; Seaman was one of the first to create maps that attempted to show the spread of contagious disease.

1799

#10511

A description of the American yellow fever, which prevailed at Charleston, in South Carolina, in the year 1748.

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

1800 –1802

#5424

A prospect of exterminating the small-pox, being the history of the variolae vaccinae, or kine-pox, commonly called the cow-pox; as it has appeared in England: With an account of a series of inoculations performed for the kine-pox in Massachusetts. [Part II:] A prospect of exterminating the small pox part II, being a continuation of a narrative of facts concerning the progress of the new inoculation in America; together with practical observations on the local appearance, symptoms, and mode of treating the variola vaccina, or kine pock; including some letters to the author, from distinguished characters, on the subject of this benign remedy, now passing with a rapid step through all ranks of society in Europe and America.

Waterhouse introduced Jennerian vaccination into the U.S.A. He vaccinated his own child as his first case. See J. B. Blake, Benjamin Waterhouse and the introduction of vaccination. A reappraisal. Philadelphia, 1957. D…

1802

#5425

Practical observations on vaccination: or inoculation for the cow pock.

Coxe did much to destroy ignorant prejudice against vaccination; he was the first in Philadelphia to practice it. Like Waterhouse, he inoculated his own child as his first case.

1810

#4675

An inaugural dissertation on the disease termed petechial, or spotted fever. Submitted to the Examining Committee of the Medical Society of Connecticut, for the county of Hartford.

This graduation dissertation was the first published brochure on cerebrospinal meningitis. Digital facsimile from U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

1815

#13487

Sketches of epidemic diseases in the state of Vermont; from the first settlement to the year 1815, with a consideration of their causes, phenomena, and treatment. To which is added remarks on pulmonary consumption.

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

1819

#10456

A statement of the occurrences during a malignant yellow fever in the city of New-York, in the summer and autumnal months of 1819; and of the check given to its progress, by the measures adopted by the Board of Health. With a list of cases and names of sick persons, and a map of their places of residence within the infected and proscribed limits: With a view of ascertaining, by comparative arguments, whether the distemper was engendered by domestic causes, or communicated by human contagion from foreign ports.

Pascalis mapped this yellow fever outbreak using a method similar to Valentine Seaman, but with a more extensive and detailed list of cases. A condensation of his 60-page pamphlet with a reissue of his map appeared in…

1822

#9523

An account of the yellow fever which occurred in the city of New York, in the year 1822, to which is prefixed a brief sketch of the different pestilential diseases, with which this city was afflicted, in the years 1798, 1799, 1803 & 1805, with the opinion of several of our most eminent physicians, respecting the origin of the disease, its prevention and cure.To which is added a correct list of all the deaths by yellow fever during the late season.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1825

#10518

Medical facts and inquiries, respecting the causes, nature, prevention and cure of fever: more expressly in relation to the endemic fevers of summer and autumn in the southern states: Together with a history of the bilious remitting fever of Alabama, as it appeared in Cahawba and its vicinity in the summers and autumns of 1821 and 1822.

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

1832

#10812

Observations on the epidemic now prevailing in the city of New-York; called the Asiatic or spasmodic cholera; with advice to the planters of the South, for the medical treatment of their slaves.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1839

#13896

An account of the yellow fever which appeared in the city of Galveston, Republic of Texas, in the autumn of 1839, with cases and dissections,

In 1839 Smith treated the victims of a yellow fever epidemic in Galveston while writing reports about the treatment of the disease in the Galveston News. As a result of this experience, he wrote the first treatise on …

1842

#10064

The history, diagnosis, and treatment of typhoid and of typhus fever: With an essay on the diagnosis of bilious remittent and of yellow fever.

Bartlett's book contains the first complete description of typhoid fever in English. In 1908 Osler wrote, "The chief interest of the work today lies in the remarkably accurate picture which is given of typhoid fever--…

1844

#10446

The theory and treatment of fevers. Revised and corrected by Ferdinando Stith.

The first medical treatise published in Missouri and the first medical treatise published west of the Mississippi River. "John Sappington provided medical services, was a financial lender, and imported and exported go…

1850 –1854

#1777

A systematic treatise, historical, etiological, and practical, on the principal diseases of the interior valley of North America as they appear in the Causcasian, African, Indian, and Esquimaux varieties of Its population. 2 vols.

This classical contribution to the social / medical history of North America includes the most important work on the natural history of malaria published up to that time. Digital facsimile of vol. 1 from the Internet …

1855

#5454.2

Yellow fever, considered in its historical, pathological, etiological, and therapeutical relations: including a sketch of the disease as it has occurred in Philadelphia from 1699 to 1854, with an examination of the connections between it and the fevers known under the same name in other parts of temperate, as well as in tropical, regions. 2 vols.

The most important 19th century American monograph on yellow fever. La Roche’s work sketched the disease in its appearances from 1699 to 1854 at Philadelphia, which saw some of the worst yellow fever epidemics, and pr…

1858

#12152

Diphtheritis: A concise historical and critical essay on the late epidemic pseudo-membranous sore throat of California (1856-7), with a few remarks illustrating the diagnosis, pathology, and treatment of the disease.

For publishing this 46-page pamphlet Fourgeaud has been called "California's first medical historian." Digital facsimile from U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

1871 –1872

#10585

Photographic review of medicine and surgery. A bi-monthly illustration of interesting cases, accompanied by notes. Edited by F.F. Maury [and] L.A. Duhring. Vols. 1 & 2 (All published).

The leading 19th century American publication of artistic medical photography. Each of the two volumes includes 24 mounted photographs. The photographs ilustrate cases of unusual and extreme disease, such as gross def…

1879

#10524

The epidemic of 1878 in Mississippi: Report of the yellow fever relief work.

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

1886

#10521

Leprosy in Hawaii. Extracts from reports of presidents of the board of health, government physicians and others, and from official records, in regard to leprosy before and after the passage of the “Act to prevent the spread of leprosy”, approved Jan. 3, 1865. The laws and regulations in regard to leprosy in the Hawaiian Kingdom.

1889

#10885

Preliminary observations on the microorganism of Texas fever.

First report on the discovery of a Babesia, cause of Babesiosis. Smith first observed the microscopic organism in the summer of 1886, but mentioned Babes's work in this paper, perhaps resulting in Babes being credited…

1893

#5529

Investigations into the nature, causation and prevention of Texas or Southern cattle fever.

U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, Bulletin No. 1. Discovery of the parasite of Texas cattle fever, Pyrosoma bigeminum, and proof that its transmission is due to the cattle tick, Boöphilus bovis. This was the first demon…

1900

#5456

A note on the interval between infecting and secondary cases of yellow fever from the records of yellow fever at Orwood and Taylor, Mississippi, in 1898.

Carter's determination of the incubation period yellow fever influenced the direction of Reed’s researches, and was instrumental in the discovery of the mode of transmission of the yellow fever virus.

1906

#5378

The transmission of Rocky Mountain spotted fever by the bite of the wood-tick (Dermacentor occidentalis).

Ricketts (who himself died of typhus) demonstrated that the wood tick Dermacentor andersoni is a vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

1909

#10406

Eradicating plague in San Francisco. Report of the Citizen's Health Committee and an account of its work. With brief descriptions of the measures taken, copies of ordinances in aid of sanitation, articles by sanitarians on the nature of plague and the best means of getting rid of it, facsimiles of circulars issued by the committee and a list of subscribers to the health fund. March 31, 1909. Prepared by Frank Morton Todd, historian for the Committee.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1916

#10522

"The path of the destroyer": A history of leprosy in the Hawaiian Islands, and thirty years research into the means by which it has been spread.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1926

#5396

Clinical observations on endemic typhus (Brill’s disease) in Southern United States.

Maxcy described murine (flea-borne) typhus (“Maxcy’s disease”).

1930

#5538.3

Tick-borne infections in Colorado. I. The diagnosis and management of infections transmitted by the wood tick.

Becker first clearly described Colorado tick fever as a separate entity and suggested that the causal organism was transmitted by the tick, Dermacentor andersoni.

1933

#4656

Encephalitis: studies on experimental transmission.

Isolation of the St. Louis encephalitis virus. With C. Armstrong and H. A. McCordock.

1934

#4688

Experimental lymphocytic choriomeningitis of monkeys and mice produced by a virus encountered in studies of the 1933 St. Louis encephalitis epidemic.

Isolation of the virus of benign lymphocytic choriomeningits.

1950

#5546.1

Colorado tick fever. Isolation of the virus from Dermacentor andersoni in nature and a laboratory study of the transmission of the virus in the tick.

Isolation of the virus of Colorado tick fever. With M. S. Miller and E. R. Mugrage.

1958

#4661.2

St. Louis encephalitis in 1933; observations on epidemiological features.

In a report to the Surgeon General in 1933, Lumsden concluded that the Culex mosquito was the vector of the St. Louis encephalitis virus. His report was not published until 1958.

1962

#7927

The cholera years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866.

Edition with new Afterword published in 1987.