Facets

c. 1474

#5113

De epidemia et peste.

One of the earliest works written on public health, and one of the earliest printed medical books. It was first printed in Arnaldus de Villanova’s De arte cognoscendi venena (Padua, 1473; Mantua, 1473). Above is the f…

1475

#9146

De conservatione sanitatis. With additions by Johannes Philippus de Lignamine.

This medieval guide to health and hygiene is sometimes misattributed to Hugo Benzi. It was one of the earliest medical or health texts to appear in print, and is unusual in that the printer, who was not a physician, i…

1475

#10733

De honesta voluptate et valetudine.

The first two editions of De honesta voluptate et valetudine, the first printed work on cookery, diet, and health, by Italian humanist and papal librarian Bartholomeo Platina (Sacchi) appeared at roughly the same time…

1476

#4204

Summa conservationis et curationis. Chirurgia.

Contains (Cap. cxl) his classic account of renal edema: De duritie in renibus, an English translation of which is in Major, Classic descriptions of disease, 3rd ed., 1945, p. 527. ISTC no. is00032000.

c. 1477 –c. 1483

#1959.3

Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum (With commentary by [Pseudo-Arnoldus de Villa Nova]). Add: Arnoldus de Villa Nova: Regimen sanitatis ad regem Aragonum.

Probably originating about 1160, the Regimen sanitatis from the medical school at Salerno (where medicine was first treated as a separate science) had greater popular influence than virtually any other medieval medica…

1477

#10725

Liber phsionomiae [and other works].

"Composed between 1209 and 1226, the first of the two primary texts discusses human generation — anatomy, physiology, astrology, sexual behavior, conception and the health of the fetus. The second part, the Physiognom…

1478

#20

De medicina. Ed: Bartholomaeus Fontius.

De Medicina is the oldest Western medical document after the Hippocratic writings. Written about 30 CE, it remains the greatest medical treatise from ancient Rome, and the first Western history of medicine. Celsus’s s…

1478 –1482

#5115

Tractatus de pestilentia.

The most widely disseminated of all plague tracts from the time of the Black Death, of which 33 printed editions appeared in the 15th century. A French rhymed version appeared in 1476, but this version is very differe…

1478

#1959.2

Von Bewahrung und Bereitung der Weine.

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 document…

1478

#7086

Halieutica, sive de piscatu. [Translated by Lorenzo Lippi, with recipes for cooking added by Lippi.]

The didactic poem on fish and fishing by Oppian of Anazarbus, a 2nd-century Greco-Roman poet, survived the Middle Ages essentially in its entirety, consisting of 3500 lines in Greek. The poem was dedicated to the empe…

1483

#6812

Regimen contra pestilentiam [English] Treatise on the Pestilence.

The earliest medical work printed in English. It was published without printer's name or date, but has been attributed to the press of William Machlinia, in London, and estimated to have been published in 1483."Althou…

1487

#1589

Frontinus: De aquaeductibus. Edited by Pomponius Laetus and Johannes Sulpitius Verulanus.

De aquaeductibus, or De aquis urbis Romae was written about 100 CE by the Roman senator Frontinus. Its title is sometimes translated as The Aquaducts of Rome, and most recently by Rodgers as On the Water-Management of…

1487

#1961

De particularibus diaetis.

The first separately printed treatise on diet was written by the Egyptian-Jewish physician and philosopher Isaac Judaeus who lived from about 832 to 932 CE. He was also known as Isaac Israeli ben Solomon and Abu Ya'qu…

1489

#1589.1

Gerontocomia.

The first printed book on geriatrics – a guide to proper hygiene, physical and mental, and particularly to the diet of the aged. Translated into English by L.R. Lind as Gerontocomia: on the care of the aged and Maximi…

1491

#11871

Corona florida medicinae, sive De conservatione sanitatis.

A popular guide to healthy living, dealing with such topics as sleep, exercise, sex, hygiene, drugs, and especially diet, with an emphasis on the qualities and properties of foods, including their cooking and preparat…

1492

#1960

Thesaurus pauperum. [Italian:] Tesoro de poveri. Tr: Zucchero Bencivenni.

One of the most popular medical books of the Middle Ages; first written about 1260. After its first printing about 1492 it was reprinted many times in the next 100 years. "Petrus Hispanus was the only practicing physi…

1502 –1503

#9325

Enneas muliebris.

This work was prepared for and dedicated to Lucrezia Borgia by her physician, Bonaccioli, who guided her through 14 pregnancies, the last of which was fatal to both mother and child. The first three chapters concern f…

1505

#11107

De gotta la preservation e cura.

The earliest separately printed treatise on gout by the physician/humanist grandfather of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola. Giovanni Savonarola emphasized the dietary causes of gout, and the dangers of eating r…

1517

#6944

Galeni de sanitate tuenda libri sex.

First separate dated Latin translation of Galen's De sanitate tuenda (On the preservation of health), which contained his views on maintaining health and hygiene and preventing disease. Translated from the Greek by Th…

1524

#2118

Von den gifftigen besen Tempffen und Reuchen.

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., …

1531

#7627

Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar Medici de Baldath, de sex rebus non naturalibus, earum naturis, operationibus, & rectificationibus, publico omnium usui, conseruandae sanitatis, recens exarati. Albengnefit De uirtutibus medicinarum, & ciborum. Iac. Alkindus De rerum gradibus.

A Christian physician of Baghdad, Ibn Butlān traveled widely, eventually settling in Antioch. His treatise on hygiene and dietetics, Taqwām al-sihhah (The Almanac of Health) presented a guide to medical regimen in tab…

1534

#12223

The castel of helth gathered and made by Syr Thomas Elyot knyghte, out of the chiefe authors of physyke, wherby euery manne may knowe the state of his owne body, the preseruatio[n] of helthe, and how to instructe welle his physytion in syckenes that he be not deceyued.

A few copies are dated 1534, but by internal evidence they cannot be dated before 1536. The next printing was in 1539. Digital text from Old English Books Online at this link.

1538

#6969

Simeonis Sethi, magistri Antiochiae, Syntagma per literarum ordinem de cibariorum facultate, Lilio Gregorio Gyraldo,... interprete.

First printed edition of Seth's Byzantine encyclopedia of foods, nutrition, and diatetics from plants and animals, with Greek text and Latin translation by scholar and poet Giglio Gregorio Giraldi. Simeon Seth was an …

1544

#1590

A new booke entyteled the regiment of lyfe.

Translation by John Phaer of a book by Jehan Goeurot published in 1530. Garrison states that it is a version of the Regimen Sanitatis.

1545

#10734

New Kochbüch für die Krancken.

A cookbook with recipes to restore the health of convalescents.

1547

#1591

The breviary of helthe, for all manner of syckenesses and diseases the whiche may be in man, or woman doth folowe.

This, probably the earliest “modern” work on hygiene, throws some light on the condition of that subject in the 16th century.

1555 –1556

#9773

Le benefice commun de tout le monde, ou commodité de vie d’vn chascun, pour la conseruation de santé: Remedes segretz tirées des plantes contre toutes maladies. 3 vols.

A vernacular guide for living a healthy life compiled from the writings of Fuchs. Includes herbal and dietary remedies, recipes for oils, pills and other preparations to treat maladies such as fever, plague and wounds.

1556

#13252

De re metallica.

Agricola, a physician, wrote several pioneering works on physical geology, systematic minerology, and mining technology. The twelve books of his masterwork, De re metallica (On Metals), illustrated with over 270 woodc…

1558

#1592

Trattato de la vita sobria.

Garrison considered this “the best treatise on personal hygiene and the simple life in existence”. Cornaro was called the Apostle of Senescence. "When he was about 40, Cornaro found himself exhausted and in poor healt…

1561

#8987

De habitu et constitutione corporis, quam Greci χρασιν, triviales complexionem vocant, libri duo.

One of the earliest self-help medical guides, written by a pupil of Vesalius. Translated into English by Thomas Newton as The touchstone of complexions generallye appliable, expedient and profitable for all such, as b…

1562

#11404

Gli ornamenti delle donne: Tratti dalle scritture d'una reina greca per m. Giovanni Marinello et diuisi in quattro libri.

A comprehensive manual by a physician on female hygiene, beauty and adornment, containing hundreds of recommendations, advice on cosmetics, and more than two dozen recipes for dyes to bleach hair blond. Marinello reco…

1564

#3710

De magnis Hippocratis lienibus, Pliniique stomacace, ac sceletyrbe, seu vulgo dicto scorbuto, libellus.

Jean de Joinville was probably the first, about 1250, to describe scurvy; Vasco da Gama noted its occurrence at sea, and Jacques Cartier mentioned it. Ronsse gave an early medical account describing how sailors cured …

1567

#2118.1

Von der Bergsucht oder Bergkranckheiten drey Bücher…

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,…

1569

#1986.1

Artis gymnasticae apud antiquos celeberrimae, nostris temporibus ignoratae.

A history, based on extensive study of the classical literature, of the attitudes and practices of the Greeks and Romans concerning diet, hygiene, bathing, and exercise. This is one of the earliest books to discuss th…

1571

#1986.2

De thermis …libri septem. Opus ... in quo agitur de universa aquarum natura, deque differentiis omnibus, ac mistionibus cum terris, cum ignibus, cum metallis, de lacubus, fontibus, fluminibus, de balneis totius orbis, & de methodo medendi per balneas, deque lavationum simul atque exercitationum institutis in admirandis thermis Romanorum....

A comprehensive study of mineral waters, dealing with all the spas of the then-known world. Besides exhaustive coverage of the baths of antiquity and of Bacci’s own time, the work gives considerable attention to wines…

1589 –1591

#8466

Der Bücher und Schriften des Edlen, Hochgelehrten und Bewehrten Philosophi und Medici, Philipi Thephrasti Bombast von Hohen hem, Paracelsi genannt. Edited by Johannes Huser. 10 vols.

First edition of Paracelsus's collected works. Though all the autographs of Paracelsus's writings were later lost, Huber, who was born shortly after Paracelsus's death, was able to collect a great number of autographs…

1596

#1594

A new discourse of a stale subject, called the Metamorphosis of Aiax. Written by Misacmos to his friend Philostilpnos.

Harington invented a water-closet in which the disposal of excreta was for the first time controlled by mechanical means. He published several tracts on the device, the first appearing in 1596. These were elegantly re…

1596

#7968

De naturali vinorum historia de vinis Italiae et de conviviis antiquorum libri septem....Accessit de factitiis ac cervisiis de q[ue] Rheni, Galliae, Hispaniae et de totius Europa vinis et de omni vinorum usu compendiaria tractatio.

A comprensive study of the production, storage, characteristics, and use of wines. Book two considers wine in relation to health. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1597

#802

Opusculum physiologum & anatomicum in duos libellos distinctum: In quibus primùm, de integritatis & corruptionis virginum notis, deinde, de grauiditate & partu naturali mulierum in quo ossa pubis & ilium distrahi, dilucidè tractatur ....

In 1595 Pineau demonstrated the vestigial foramen ovale in the adult heart, settling the question of the perviousness of the septum of the heart. His work was first published in 1597. He published this study in a fran…

1598

#2262

The cures of the diseased, in remote regions. Preventing mortalitie, incident in forraine attempts, of the English nation.

This book is the earliest work in English devoted to tropical medicine. It discusses sunstroke, tabardilla (possibly typhus or yellow fever), prickly heat, dysentery, erysipelas and scurvy. Facsimile reproduction, wit…

1598

#10727

Discvrsos del amparo de los legitimos pobres.

A plan for a state-funded public health system and poor relief program. An emblem introduces each of the ten essays, which treat hospital sanitation and kitchen gardens, care of disabled veterans, prisoners and the in…

1598

#12829

Discursos del amparo de los legitimos pobres y reduccion de los fingidos, y de la fundacion y principio de los albergues destos Reynos, y amparo de la milicia dellos.

In this rather utopian work with emblematic illustrations Pérez presented a plan for a state funded public health system and poor relief program. His ten essays concerned hospital sanitation, kitchen gardens, care of …

1612

#9518

Traité des hermaphrodits parties génitales accouchements des femmes et traitement qui est requis pour les relever en santé, et bien élever leurs enfants. Où sont expliquez la figure des laboureur, et verger du genre humain, signes de pucelage, defloration, conception, et la belle industrie dont use nature en la promotion du concept et plante prolifique.

In 1601 the Rouen physician Duval was summoned by the Rouen parlement to examine Marie Le Marcis, who at the age of 20 had discovered she was a man and had determined to marry, only to be imprisoned for lesbianism and…

1614

#2119

Consilium Peripneumoniacum: Das ist Ein getrewer Rath in der beschwerlichen Berg und Lungensucht : darinnen verfasset, was die fürnemsten Ursachen seyn beyderley Beschwerungen, beydes der gifftigen, die vom Bergwerck entstehet: so wol der gemeinen, die von Flüssen herrühret: Zuvor aber, wie der Mensch mit der kleinen Welt, und mit dem Bergwerck artlich zu vergleichen, und wie beyde Suchten zu vertreiben seyn.

Martin Pansa, a pupil of Georg Agricola, wrote the most important work on occupational disease before Ramazzini. He described the symptoms of the lung diseases of miners and smelters. Digital facsimile from the Bayeri…

1614

#13381

Discours sur les hermaphrodits. Où il est demonstré contre l'opinion commune, qui'il n'y a point de vrays hermaphrodits.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

1614

#13382

Responce au discours fait par le sieur Riolan docteur en medecine & professeur en chirurgie & pharmacie à Paris, contre l'Histoire de l'hermaphrodit de Rouen.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

1617

#2144

The surgions mate, or, A treatise discouering faithfully and plainely the due contents of the surgions chest: the uses of the instruments, the vertues and operations of the medicines, the cures of the most frequent diseases at sea: namely, wounds, apostumes, vlcers, fistulaes, fractures, dislocations, with the true maner of amputation, the cure of the scuruie, the fluxes of the belly, of the collica and illiaca passio, tenasmus, and exitus ani, the callenture; with a briefe explanation of sal, sulphur, and mercury; with certaine characters, and tearmes of arte.

Woodall was the surgeon-general to the East India Company. This was the first textbook for naval surgeons. Woodall, surgeon to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, was an early advocate of limes and lemons as a preventive me…

1623

#2262.1

Tratado de las siete enfermedades, de la inflammacion universal del higado, zirbo, pyloron, y riñones, y de la obstrucion, de la satiriasi, de la terciana y febre maligna, y passion hipocondriaca. Lleva otros tres tratados, del mal de Loanda, del guzano, y de las fuentes y sedales.

The first important work on tropical diseases. Only six copies of the original edition of this book are known. It includes full accounts of malaria, typhoid, and scurvy, and the first accurate descriptions of yellow f…

1623

#10491

Historia vitae & mortis. Sive, titulus secundus in historia naturali & experimentali ad condendam philosophiam: Quae est instaurationis magnae pars tertia.

This was Bacon's direct contribution to medicine or medical philosophy, with natural and experimental observations on the prolongation of life. Translated into English as The History naturall And experimentall, of lif…

1639

#11588

De flagrorum usu in re veneria et lumborum renumque officio, epistola.

According to Havelock Ellis, Studies in the psychology of sex (1913) this is the earliest published work on flogging in "medicine" and for sexual gratification, giving accounts of a number of examples. "David Savran d…