Facets

1473

#6316

Regiment der jungen Kinder.

This work has very little originality, being mainly derived from the Arabic physicians of 500 years before, but is noteworthy as being the first book on pediatrics printed in German. It includes what is probably the f…

1473

#43

Canon medicinae [Latin] (Lib I-V) (Tr: Gerardus Cremonensis) (5 vols.)

Avicenna is said to have written more than 100 books, most of which have perished. He wrote on the etiology of epilepsy and described diabetes, noticing the sweetish taste of the urine. His Canon is one of the most fa…

1490

#5553

La chirurgie da Lanfranc traduit du latin par Guillaume Yvoire.

Lanfranc, the founder of French surgery, was a pupil of William of Salicet. He enjoyed a great reputation for his lecturing and bedside teaching. His Chirurgia magna was completed in 1296. According to Hirsch and othe…

1490

#47

Liber Teisir, sive rectificatio medicationis et regiminis. Antidotarium. Translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacobus Hebraeus; into Latin by Paravicius. Add: Averroes: Colliget.

This is a Latin translation from a Hebrew version dating from 1280. Avenzoar, the greatest Muslim physician of the Western Caliphate, described the itch-mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, serous pericarditis, mediastinal absces…

1496 –1497

#2362

Tractatus de pestilentiali scorra sive mala de Franzos: originem remediaqu[ue] eiusdem continens.

Grünpeck was first to record mixed primary lesions, multiple primary lesions, and to note the second incubation period of syphilis. A translation of the above is in Arch. Derm. Syph. (Chicago), 1930, 22, 430. Digital …

1553

#5073

De tumoribus praeter naturam.

This treatise on tumors includes (p. 194) the first known description of an epidemic disease resembling scarlet fever. This was a malady prevalent in Italy, and was commonly called rossania or rossalia. Ingrassia was …

1557

#534.5

Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon.

This encyclopedic chronology of portentious events in human history includes many monstrous births, both human and animal. Actual cases are uncritically mingled with mythical creatures. German translation, 1557. Engli…

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…

1563 –1564

#1093

Opuscula anatomica.

Eustachius is credited with several anatomical discoveries, among them the tensor tympani muscle and the Eustachian tube, published in his chapter entitled De auditus organis. In the last respect, however, he was anti…

1564

#2581.99

De catarrho commentarius.

Summer catarrh (hay fever) first described. Partial English translation in No. 2241.

1572

#3980

De morbis cutaneis, et omnibus corporis humani excrementis tractatus.

The first systematic textbook on diseases of the skin. English translation by R. L. Sutton Jr, Kansas City, Missouri, Lowell Press, 1986. Mercuriali enjoyed a great reputation in his day; he wrote on many medical subj…

1573

#534.51

Deux livres de chirurgie. I. De la generation de l’homme… II. Des monstres tant terrestres que marins avec leurs portraits.

Many reports of real malformations are intermixed with mythical accounts. English translations, 1634, and later. Recent English translation, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1982. Digital facsimile of the 1573 ed…

1577

#7990

De arte medica infantium libri quatuor. Quorum duo Priores de tuenda eorum sanitate, posteriores de curandis morbis agunt.

An early illustrated work on pediatrics. The three parts of his book deal with the management of the nurse and her milk, the care and feeding of the new-born, and diseases of children, including skin diseases, and cha…

1586

#3417

De medica historia mirabili.

An early history of diseases, with extensive sections on ophthalmology (ff. 66-77) and urology (ff. 260-271). Lib. IV, Cap. iii, page 196 contains the first recorded case of gastric ulcer. Lib. VI. cap. iii contains t…

1603

#3805

De generatione stultorum. In his Opera, 2, 174-82.

Paracelsus was the first to note the coincidence of cretinism and endemic goitre. It was not until the 19th century that the possibility of the occurrence of cretinism in adults was entertained. Partial English transl…

1609

#3806

De mirabili strumas sanandi.

An early historical record of goitre which du Laurens maintained was contagious. Du Laurens was at one time physician to Henri IV.

1609

#7819

Monstrorum historia memorabilis, monstrosa humanorum partuum miracula, stupendis conformationum formulis ab utero materno enata, viuis exemplis, observationibus, & picturis, referens. Accessit analogicum argumentum de monstris brutis, supplementi loco ad observationes medicas Schenckianas edita.

Schenck described nearly 100 human and animal examples, illustrated with engravings by Theodor de Bry (1528-98). Most of the examples are from the 16th century. Not all the cases are teratological in the strictest sen…

1614

#3789

Observationum in hominis affectibus plerisque, corpori & animo, functionum laesione, dolore, aliave molestia & vitio incommodantibus, libri tres.

First known report of a case of death from hypertrophy of the thymus, in an infant, is reported on p. 172; it is reproduced on p. 239 of J. Ruhräh’s Pediatrics of the past, New York, 1925. Platter first described flex…

1616

#534.52

De monstrorum caussis, natura, & differentiis libri duo.

One of the earliest classifications of deformities, Liceti’s work was still under review in works on malformation in the 19th century. Includes both real and imaginary cases. The first of many illustrated editions app…

1624

#2971

De tumoribus praeter naturam libri quinque. Ex instructissima Bibliotheca Ranchiniana eruti, & publici iuris facti, cura & studio Henric Gras...Accessit Ioannis Saportae Tractatus de lue venerea.

IN 1554 Saporta gave the earliest description of an aortic aneurysm. Many years after Saporta's death Henri Gras of Lyon discovered the manuscript of Saporta's book, and edited it for publication. Digital facsimile fr…

1632

#2273

De recondita abscessuum natura.

The first textbook of surgical pathology. It treats of all kinds of swelling under the term “abscess” and describes neoplasms of the genital organs and sarcoma of bones. Tumors of the breast are classified into four g…

1642

#534.53

Monstrorum historia cum Paralipomenis historiae omnium animalium Bartholomaeus Ambrosinus… volumen composuit.

Aldrovandi assembled a large collection of specimens and notes on monsters which were published posthumously by Ambrosini, who added a number of personally observed cases. Those included the first detailed description…

1642

#7879

Figura ductus cuiusdam cum multiplicibus suis ramulis noviter in pancreate in diversis corporibus humanis observati.

Wirsung, assistant to the celebrated German anatomist Johann Vesling, discovered the excretory duct of the pancreas named for him in 1642. To announce his discovery, Wirsung chose the extremely unusual method of publi…

1644

#11581

Two treatises in the one of which the nature of bodies, in the other, the nature of mans soule is looked into in way of discovery of the immortality of reasonable soules.

"Digby's Two Treatises was intended to prove the immortality of the rational soul and its distinction from the material body, a dualistic view shared by many of his contemporaries. the work is noteworthy on several co…

1652

#3737

Observationes medicae.

One of the earliest accounts of beri-beri is on pp. 300-05 of this work. Tulp, notable as the demonstrator in Rembrandt’s “Anatomy Lesson”, was among the first, in the same book, to describe the ileo-caecal valve (“Tu…

1653

#5160

Thesis de carbunculo.

1656

#1116

Adenographia: sive, glandularum totius corporis descriptio.

Wharton described the duct of the submaxillary salivary gland (“Wharton’s duct”). He described the thyroid more accurately than his predecessors, naming it. He also described “Wharton’s jelly” of the umbilical cord (p…

1666

#1230

De viscerum structura exercitatio anatomica.

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). T…

1674 –1675

#3926

Pharmaceutice rationalis sive diatriba de medicamentorum operationibus in humano corpore. 2 vols.

Willis’s last work deals with the anatomy and physiology of the thoracic and abdominal organs, and contains the first description of the superficial lymphatics of the lungs, the first clinical and pathological account…

1683

#1545

Traité de l’organe de l’ouie; contenant la structure, les usages et les maladies de toutes les parties de l’oreille.

The first scientific account of the structure, function and diseases of the ear. Du Verney showed that the bony external meatus develops from the tympanic ring and that the mastoid air cells communicate with the tympa…

1683

#3927

Experimenta nova circa pancreas.

Brunner came near to discovering pancreatic diabetes. His experiments on the dog represent pioneer work on internal secretion. Following excision of the pancreas, he recorded extreme thirst and polyuria. Translated in…

1684

#1311

Dr. Willis's practice of physick.

The only complete edition of Willis's works in English, translated by the poet Samuel Pordage. It contains the translations of all his works except his Affectionum quae dicuntur hystericae (1671). The collection inclu…

1685

#5373

Observationum medicarum Castrensium Hungaricarum.

Pp. 49-51: Cober, a German physician, reported the relationship between typhus and pediculosis.

1687

#2529.1

Osservazioni intorno a’ pellicelli del corpo umano.

First clinical and experimental proof of infection by a microparasite. Bonomo observed Sarcoptes scabiei, the scabies mite. This gave researchers grounds to think in terms of objective, exogenous pathogenic agents as …

1695

#1379.1

The anatomy of the brain.

The first book on the brain in the English language, including the first account of the circular venous sinus which Ridley names, and the first English account of a pineal tumor. In it Ridley gives the first account o…

1695

#13151

Desvios de la naturaleza: O Tratado de el origen de los monstros. A que va anadido vn compendio de curaciones chyrurgicas en monstruosos accidentes.

On conjoined twins, including the record of autopsy of conjoined twins in Lima in 1694. Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo edited work for publication at the request of the Viceroy, Melchor Fernandez Portocarrero. Digital facs…

1698

#3166

A treatise of the asthma.

Floyer provided the first clear descriptions of cases of bronchial asthma. Floyer himself suffered from asthma for over 30 years. He recognized the influence of heredity in asthma. The above includes (p. 239) an impor…

1714

#3981

De morbis cutaneis. A treatise of diseases incident to the skin.

Turner may be regarded as the founder of British dermatology. His book, the first English text on the subject, gives a good idea of contemporary knowledge of skin diseases. Turner began his career as a barber surgeon,…

1715

#5409.1

Nova et tuta variolas excitandi per transplantationem methodus; nuper inventa & in usum tracta: Qua rite peracta, immunia in posterum praeservantur ab huiusmodi contagio corpora.

Inoculation was practiced in ancient times. In 1701 Pilarino inoculated three children at Constantinople with smallpox virus. He is credited with the “medical” discovery of variolation, and is thus the first immunolog…

1727

#7061

A discourse concerning the causes and effects of corpulency, together with the method for its prevention and cure.

The first book on obesity in English.

1730

#10109

Exanthematologia ; or, an attempt to give a rational account of eruptive fevers, especially of the measles and small pox, In two parts. Parts I Of the blood, the air, venoms, Infection: fever of all kinds in general with their varieties, descriptions, names & C but more professedly and fully of the measles ... Part II Of the small pox ... To which is added. An appendix concerning inoculation.

Includes the first clear account of chicken pox as a distinct disease, and the first distinction between the spots made by flea bites from those seen in eruptive fevers.

1731

#2275

Samuel Sontag: Dissertatio inauguralis medica de metastasi sive sede morborum mutata oder: Wie sich öffters eine Kranckheit in die andere verwandele. Praeside Hoffmanno.

Recamier (1829) is credited with coining the term metastasis with respect to cancer. It is evident that Hoffmann and his pupil Sontag used the term nearly 100 years earlier in this general thesis on disease. They did …

1731

#4013

An extract from the minutes of the Royal Society, March 16, 1731, containing an uncommon case of a distempered skin.

First known description of Ichthyosis hystrix, a group of rare skin disorders in the ichthyosis family of skin disorders characterized by massive hyperkeratosis with an appearance like spiny scales. Digital facsimile …

1746

#3166.1

An account of what appeared on opening the body of an asthmatic person.

Probably the earliest comprehensive clinical and pathological account of emphysema.

1752

#3424.1

De tumore scirrhoso trium cum quadrante librarum glandulae parotidis extirpato.

First description of parotid tumor.

1754

#4014

An account of an extraordinary disease of the skin and its cure. Extracted from the Italian of Carlo Crusio, with a letter of the Abbé Nollet to Mr. William Watson by Robert Watson.

The early history of scleroderma is confused with that of leprosy, ichthyosis, and keloid. Crusio appears to be the first to differentiate it. Gintrac in 1847 coined the term “scleroderma”. It is now included among th…

1756

#5290

Natural history of Aleppo and parts adjacent.

Includes (Chap, iv) a good account of “Aleppo boil”, which Russell found to be endemic in Aleppo. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1757

#2607

Mémoire avec un précis de plusieurs observations sur le cancer.

Le Dran discarded the humoral conception of cancer for the first time. He regarded cancer as a local disease in its early stage and knew that it spread via the lymphatics to regional nodes, and from there into the gen…

1758 –1763

#3878

De cranii ustione in pertinacioribus capitis vitiis. In his: Ratio medendi in nosocomio practico, 6, 239-287. 8 vols.

Haen provided the first description of amenorrhea in connection with a pituitary tumor. He recorded the case history of a young woman suffering from amenorrhea as well as many neurological symptoms assumed to result f…

1759

#11137

Traité de tumeurs et des ulcères, où l'on a tâché de joindre à une théorie solide, la pratique la plus sûre et la mieux éprouvée ; avec deux lettres : I. Sur la composition de remèdes dont on vante l'utilité et dont on cache la préparation : II. Sur la nature et le succès des nouveaux remèdes qu'on propose pour la guérison des maladies vénériennes. 2 vols.

The earliest French work on dermatology, and one of the earliest works in dermatopathology, including tumors of the skin. Digital facsimile of the 1768 second edition from Google Books at this link.