Facets

1766

#4302.2

Sur un enfant auquel il manquoit les deux clavicules, le sternum et les cartilages, qui dans l’état naturel l’attachent aux côtes.

First description of cleido-cranial dysostosis.

1766

#7808

Descrizione degl'instrumenti, delle macchine, e delle suppellettili raccolte ad uso chirurgico e medico dal P. Don Ippolito Rondinelli...

Catalogue of the private museum of surgical and medical instruments established by Father Ippolito Rondinelli in Ravenna, which Soldo described as “the first museum of medicine and surgery.” Extensively illustrasted. …

1768

#4851

Opuscules de chirurgie. Pt. 1.

Records, p. 161, a successful operation for temporo-sphenoidal abscess, 1752. The patient, a monk, had otorrhoea followed by a mastoid abscess, which Morand opened.

1768

#4408

Some few general remarks on fractures and dislocations.

The methods outlined by Pott in his classic work on fractures and dislocations were eventually adopted all over the world. He described (pp. 57-64) “Pott’s fracture” in this book, and he stressed the necessity for the…

1770 –1773

#437.1

Histoire de l’anatomie et de la chirurgie. 6 vols.

A biobibliographical survey to 1755, including dentistry.

1770

#4437

An account of a case in which the upper head of the os humeri was sawed off, a large portion of the bone afterwards exfoliated, and yet the entire motion of the limb was preserved.

First recorded excision of the head of the humerus.

1773

#6270

A treatise on the management of pregnant and lying-in women, and the means of curing, but more especially of preventing the principal disorders to which they are liable. Together with some new directions concerning the delivery of the child and placenta in natural births. illustrated with cases.

White was the first to state clearly in a text on midwifery the necessity of absolute cleanliness in the lying-in chamber, the isolation of infected patients, and adequate ventilation. He instituted the principle of u…

1774

#3357

Traité des maladies chirurgicales et des opérations qui leur conviennent. 3 vols.

Records (Vol, 1, pp. 153, 160) the first successful operation for mastoiditis, performed by Petit in 1736. “Petit’s hernia” and “triangle” described (vol. 2, pp. 256-58). (See also No. 3357.) A lumbar hernia had previ…

1774 –1775

#5789

Bibliotheca chirurgica. 2 vols

Reprinted, Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1971.

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…

1775

#2155

Plain, concise, practical remarks, on the treatment of wounds and fractures; to which is added an appendix, on camp and military hospitals; principally designed for the use of young military surgeons in North America.

The first surgical work written by an American and printed in North America. Jones’s work was the accepted guide to surgical practice during the American Revolutionary War.

1778 –1779

#3578

Abhandlung von den Brüchen.

Richter, lecturer on surgery at Göttingen, in his classic treatise on hernia, first described partial enterocele, or “Richter’s hernia” (Chap. 24).

1778

#3676

A practical treatise on the diseases of the teeth, intended as a supplement to the natural history of those parts.

This and Hunter's The natural history of the human teeth (No. 3675) revolutionized the practice of dentistry and provided a basis for later dental research. Hunter devised appliances for the correction of malocclusion…

1778

#5550

De chirurgia. Arabice et Latine cura Johannis Channing. 3 vols.

This parallel Arabic-Latin edition prepared by the apothecary John Channing is the first printed edition in Arabic, and the first modern edition of the text. Digital facsimile of the 1778 edition from Bayerische Staat…

1778

#5578

A treatise on the theory and management of ulcers.

Important classification of ulcers.

1779

#4303

Dissertation sur les effets du mouvement et du repos dans les maladies chirurgicales.

Includes a description of Pott’s disease, with post-mortem findings, better than Pott’s own account. This is an important early work on the effect of movement and of rest in the treatment of joint conditions. English …

1779

#4304

Remarks on that kind of palsy of the lower limbs, which is frequently found to accompany a curvature of the spine.

“Pott’s disease”. Percival Pott, surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital for more than 40 years, left a classic description of spinal curvature due to tuberculous caries and causing paralysis of the lower limbs. He did …

1781

#4305.1

Dissertation sur la meilleure forme des souliers.

Classic discussion of childhood shoe-induced deformities. There was also an edition in Dutch published the same year. Digital facsimile of the edition in French from the Internet Archive at this link. English translat…

1781

#5000

Bibliotheca chirurgica. 2 vols.

Fulton (No. 6785) points out that this work contains the “most complete bibliographical study of the literature of head injury that had been brought together up to that time”. Digital facsimile from Google Books at th…

1781

#9586

L’art de soigner les pieds, contenant: Un traité sur les cors, verrues, durillons, oignons, engelures, les accidens de ongles & leur difformité.

Laforest was the first to describe and illustrate the condition of hallux valgus. The second edition of this work (1782), "Augmentée d’un chapitre sur la manière de soigner les pieds des soldats en garnison & dans les…

1781

#10715

Instrumentarium chirurgicum Viennense oder, Wiennerische chirurgische Instrumenten-Sammlung.

Brambilla was a personal physician to Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II and the first director of the Vienna hospital and the Josefinum school for military surgeons (now a medical museum). Brambilla provided a history of s…

1783 –1788

#5579

A system of surgery. 6 vols.

Bell studied under the Monros at Edinburgh. He was surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, for 29 years. He improved the methods of amputation, introducing the “triple incision of Bell”. Above is his best work.

1784

#5645.91

A method of preventing or diminishing pain in several operations of surgery.

Moore revived the ancient concept of nerve compression, developing a special clamp for its use. John Hunter used Moore’s clamp in a leg amputation in 1784 in which analgesia was successfully obtained.

1786

#2925

An account of Mr. Hunter’s method of performing the operation for the popliteal aneurism.

First description of John Hunter’s method of treating popliteal aneurysm. This consisted in a single ligature of the artery at a distance high in the healthy tissues. Recorded by his brother-in law. See also Trans. So…

1788

#4304.1

Dissertatio medica descriptionem et casus aliquot osteomalaciae sistens.

In his doctoral thesis Ekman gave an account of osteogenesis imperfecta in three generations. For extensive translation see No. 4404.1. K.S. Seedorff, Osteogenesis imperfecta, Copenhagen, 1949.

1788

#4305

Description de plusieurs nouveaux moyens mécaniques propres à prevénir, borner et même corriger dans certains cas les courbures latérales et la torsion de l’épine du dos.

Venel stressed the necessity for prolonged periods of recumbency, rather than exercise, in the correction of spinal curvature. He invented a corset and extension bed for treating spinal deformities. His extension bed …

1789

#4409

Dissertatio de fractura patellae et olecrani.

1790

#2925.1

An account of an aneurism in the thigh, perfectly cured by the operation.

The first femoral ligation reported in America, and the first paper on a surgical topic to be published in an American medical periodical.

1791

#3250

Observation sur un fongus du sinus maxillaire.

First successful operation on a tumor of the maxillary sinus, 1789.

1791

#4306

Abbildungen und Beschreibungen einiger Misgeburten.

Achondroplasia is first described on page 30 and pictured on plate 11. English translation in No. 2241.

1791 –1792

#4439

La médecine éclairée par les sciences physiques. 4 vols.

This work edited by Fourcroy contains in vol. 4 (pp. 85-88) the first description of Chopart’s method of partial amputation of the foot. This is in the form of a note by Lafiteau: “Observation sur une amputation parti…

1793

#3579

Nuevo método de operar en la hernia crural.

Description of Gimbernat’s operation for strangulated femoral hernia. In the same work he also described the ligament in the crural arch named after him. Gimbernat was a pioneer in ophthalmology, vascular surgery, and…

1794

#2283

A treatise on the blood, inflammation, and gun-shot wounds.

It was while serving with the army at Belle Isle during the Seven Years’ War that Hunter collected the material for his epoch-making book on inflammation and gunshot wounds. His studies on inflammation in particular a…

1794

#4307

A practical essay on a certain disease of the bones termed necrosis.

One of the first attempts at a complete and detailed description of necrosis. Russell was the first Professor of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh.

1794

#5735.1

Article on Indian rhinoplasty.

The first report published in Europe on the so-called Indian or Hindu method of rhinoplasty using a forehead flap, accompanied by an engraving of the patient, Cowasjee, with a restored nose and showing the stages of t…

1797

#10481

An essay on burns: Principally upon those which happen to workmen in mines from the explosions of inflammable air (or hydrogen gas)....

Digital facsimile of the 1817 edition reprinting the 1797 work and the continuation (1800): A second essay on burns : in which an attempt is made to refute the opinions of Mr. Earle, and Sir W. Farquhar, lately advanc…

1798

#3429

Observation sur un enfant né sans anus, et auquel il a été fait une ouverture pour y suppléer.

First successful construction of artificial anus, for congenital atresia, Oct. 20, 1793.

1798 –1799

#2927

Oeuvres chirurgicales de P. J. Desault....ou tableau de sa doctrine & de sa pratique dans le traitement des maladies externes. Ouvrage publié par Xav. Bichat, son èlève. 3 vols.

Desault was one of the first professors at the École Pratique de Chirurgie, Paris. He made many suggestions regarding the treatment of fractures and dislocations and is one of the founders of modern vascular surgery. …

1800

#5646

Researches, chemical and philosophical, chiefly concerning nitrous oxide.

Davy discovered the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide and suggested its use during surgical operations. This suggestion was applied until 1844 when the American dentist Horace Wells volunteered to have the effect…

1801

#3580

Icones herniarum. Editae a S. T. Soemmerring.

Camper illustrated his own work, and was an outstanding anatomical artist. His illustrations of hernias are of great value.

1801

#3880

Accroissement singulier en grosseur des os d’un homme âgé de 39 ans. In: Mélanges de chirurgie, 407-11.

Saucerotte described before the Académie de Chirurgie in 1772 a case of what is now known to have been acromegaly. This is the first known clinical description of the disease, and is one of the five cases included in …

1801 –1808

#2926

The principles of surgery. 3 vols.

John Bell, the Scottish anatomist and brother of Charles Bell, is regarded as a founder of surgical anatomy. He was first to ligate the gluteal artery (Vol. I, pp, 421-26), and tied the common carotid and internal ili…

1802

#9581

An entire, new, and original work; being a complete treatise upon spinae pedum; containing several important discoveries. Illustrated with copperplates exhibiting the different species of spinae.

The first original British work on podiatry, with several illustrations, one hand-colored. Disappointed at being refused a medical degree, Lion, a German Jewish émigré, wrote this book, taking the unusual step of havi…

1803

#4308

Memoria chirurgica sui piedi torti congenita dei fanciulli.

First accurate description of the pathological anatomy of congenital club-foot. English translation, Edinburgh, 1818.

1803

#4308.1

Practical observations in surgery.

Hey is remembered for “Hey’s saw” and “Hey’s internal derangement of the knee,” a phrase that he coined. He was an outstanding surgeon in his day; he founded and was senior surgeon of the General Infirmary, Leeds. He …

1803

#4440

Observations pratiques relatives à la résection des articulations affectées de carie.

Excision and arthrodesis in joint disease. Moreau was the first to excise the elbow. English translation, Glasgow, 1806. See No. 4438.

1804

#4409.1

A case of fracture of the os humeri, in which the broken ends of the bone not uniting the usual manner, a cure was effected by means of a seton.

The first paper on orthopedic surgery published in the United States. Physick introduced the use of the seton in the treatment of ununited fractures.

1804

#5736

Degli innesti animali.

Baronio was among the first to attempt transplantation and experimental surgery in animals. He successfully carried out full-thickness skin grafts after detachment from the body, and the first purely scientific resear…

1804

#13225

Surgical observations, containing a classification of tumours, with cases to illustrate the history of each species; - an account of diseases which strikingly resemble the venereal disease; - and various cases illustrative of different surgical subjects.

Abernethy published the first classification of tumors based on pathologic anatomy. "Abernethy is best known for his lectures and writings on surgery and for the first attempt at classification of tumors, some of whic…

1805

#1839

Darstellung der reinen Mohnsäure (Opiumsäure); nebst einer chemischen Untersuchung des Opiums, mit vorzüglicher Hinsicht auf einen darin neu entdeckten Stoff.

Isolation of morphine from opium. This was the first isolation of an active ingredient from a plant.