1740–1749
87 entries with publication dates in this decade.
1745
#398
Essai d’anatomie en tableaux imprimés, qui represent au naturel tous les muscles de la face, du col, de la tête, de la langue & du larinx. d'après les parties disséquées & préparées par Monsieur Duverney....comprenant hit grandes planches.
Remarkable for its striking mezzotints printed in color. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
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…
1745
#2094
An essay on the West-India dry-gripes… to which is added, an extraordinary case in physick.
Cadwalader, an American pupil of Cheselden, left a classical account of lead colic and lead palsy. This was later shown by Benjamin Franklin, printer of the above work, to be due to the consumption of Jamaica rum whic…
1745
#215.2
Vénus physique, contenant deux dissertations, l’une, sur l’origine des hommes et des animaux, et l’autre, sur l’origine des noirs.
English translation, The earthly Venus, was published in New York, 1966. Includes a reprint of No. 215.1.
1745
#10474
Berg-Raths Medicinischer Aufstand und Schmelz-Bogen Von der Bergsucht und Hütten-Katze auch einigen andern, Denen Bergleuten und Hütten-Arbeitern zustoßenden Krankheiten, Vor dieselben und diejenigen So in Stein, Erz, Metall und Feuer arbeiten, ausgestellet.
A key early work on the Bergsucht or miner's phthisis.
1746
#862
De ferrearum particularum sede in sanguine.
Discovery of iron in the blood.
1746 –1747
#917
De respiratione experimenta anatomica, quibus aëris inter pulmonem etpleuram absentia demonstratur et musculorum intercostalium internorum officium adseritur. 2 pts.
First investigation of the action of the intercostal muscles in respiration.
1746
#1691.1
Essai sur les probabilitiés de la durée de la vie humaine: d’où l’on déduit la manière de déterminer les rentes viagères, tant simples qu’en tontines.
Deparcieux was the first to construct correct life tables. Appendix in 1760. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
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.
1746
#3424
De ruptura intestini duodeni.
First description of duodenal ulcer.
1746
#3672.2
Essai d’odontotechnie, ou dissertation sur les dents artificielles.
The first specialized book on dental prosthetics.
1746
#7573
Description abregée du fameux cabinet de Mr. Le Chevalier de Baillou pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des pierres précieuses, métaux, minéraux, et autre fossiles.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
1746
#8869
Medicina Britannica; or, a treatise on such physical plants as are generally to be found in the fields or gardens of Great-Britain: Containing a particular account of their nature, virtues, and uses. Together with the observations of the most learned physicians, as well ancient as modern, communicated to the late ingenious Mr. Ray, and the learned Dr. Sim. Pauli. Adapted more especially to the occasions of those, whose condition or situation of life deprives them, in a great measure, of the helps of the learned. To which are added, three indexes: The first containing the England and Latin names of the plants treated of: The second of the diseases, and their remedies: The third to the notes.
Short focused his book on the medical uses of plants readily available in England. Many of the plants recommended in the traditional herbal literature were difficult to find in England. Digital facsimile from the Biod…
1746
#9570
Of birds of passage.
Catesby was one of the first ornithologists to study bird migration. Digital facsimile from the Royal Society at this link.
1746 –1748
#12628
Dictionnaire universel de médecine, de chirurgie, de chymie, de botanique, d'anatomie, de pharmacie, d'histoire naturelle, &c. Précédé d'un discours historique sur l'origine et les progrès de la médecine. Traduit de l'anglois de M. James. Revue, corrigé & augmenté par M. Julien Busson. 6 vols.
James, it may be assumed, had little or nothing to do with this translation, because copyright between England and France was essentially non-existent at the time. In the process of supervising this large publication,…
1746
#12928
Experiences et demonstrations faites à l'Hôpital de la Salpêtriere, & à S. Côme en présence de l'Académie Royale de Chirurgie. Pour servir de suite & de preuves a l'Essai sur les maladies des dents, & c. Et une pharmacie odontalogique, ou Traité des médicamens, simples & composés propres aux maladies des dents, & des différentes parties de la bouche, à l'usage des dentistes.
In this follow-up to his book published in 1743 Bunon proved the assertions of his earlier Essai through a series of dental researches conducted on patients at the Salpêtrière and at the hospital of St. Côme--the firs…
1747
#585
Primae lineae physiologiae in usum praelectionum academicarum.
Haller was one of the most imposing figures in the whole of medicine, besides being a superb bibliographer and the founder of medical bibliography. As a physiologist he was the greatest of his time. Many apparently “n…
1747
#5417
De variolis et morbillis liber.
Includes a Latin translation of Rhazes’s commentary on smallpox. Mead favored inoculation, and his great authority and influence contributed to a more general acceptance of this measure. English translation entitled A…
1747
#6152
Observations sur les causes et les accidens de plusieurs accouchemens laborieux.
Levret, who improved the obstetric forceps, was a famous teacher in Paris.
1747
#9149
Primitive physick; or, an easy and natural method of curing most diseases.
Wesley, an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist, was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. Digital facsimile of the 14th American edition, Philadelphia, 1770, from the I…
1747
#12700
Essai sur la caractére du grand medecin ou eloge critique de Mr. Herman Boerhaave [By Michael Maty].
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
1747
#13007
Nouvelle méthode facile et curieuse, pour apprendre par les notes de musique à connoître le pous de l'homme, & les différens changemens qui lui arrivent, depuis sa naissance jusqu'a sa mort, tirée des observations faite par M. F. N. Marquet, Docteur en medecine, ancient medecin ord. du feû Duc Leopold, & Doyen des medecins de Nancy.
Osler, whose copy is recorded in Bibliotheca Osleriana 3335, quoted a previous owner's comment on this edition: "A curious and uncommon book. The author, in claiming to judge of the state of the pulse by its resemblan…
1747
#13830
Europae medicina a sapientibus illustrata.
"This work is an attempt to give, first, the story of medicine in each country by means of excerpts from the important writers; and secondly, the state of medicine in each country at the time of writing, gathered by c…
1748
#586
L’homme machine.
La Mettrie attempted among other things to prove the materialism of the soul. Because of his blatant and aggressive atheism, all of La Mettrie’s writings were placed on the Index and systematically burned. Owing to it…
1748
#1249
Tractatus anatomico-physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri.
Meckel’s graduation thesis contains the first really detailed account of the trigeminal nerve’s distribution (along with a meticulous treatment of the earlier literature), and in it he describes for the first time the…
1748
#1987.3
Experiences sur l’électricité …
Discovery of stimulation of muscles by electricity, and the first proof that paralysis could be successfully treated by electricity.
1748
#4284
A remarkable case of a person cut for the stone in the new way, commonly called the lateral, by William Cheselden, Surgeon to Her late Majesty; communicated to Martin Folkes, Pr. R. S
Cheselden’s lateral lithotomy first described in this brief paper by Alexander Reid. Digital facsimile from royalsocietypublishing.org at this link.
1748
#5049
An account of the sore throat attended with ulcers.
First authoritative account of both diphtheria and scarlatinal angina, although failing to differentiate between the two conditions. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 58-99.
1748
#6322
An essay upon nursing, and the management of children, from their birth to three years of age.
Cadogan’s famous essay laid down rules on the nursing, feeding, and clothing of infants, and filled a great need at a time when infant welfare was much neglected through the ignorance of those concerned. As a result o…
1748
#7491
Anatomie de la tête, en tableaux imprimés qui représentent au naturel le cerveau sous différentes coupes, la distribution des vaisseaux dans toutes les parties de la tête, les organes des sens et une partie de la névrologie, d'après les pièces disséquées et préparées par M. Duverney, en huit grandes planches dessinées, peintes, gravées et imprimées en couleur et grandeur naturelle....
Includes eight spectacular plates printed in color by Gautier d'Agoty with text by Duvereny. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
1748
#13777
Lettre de M. Daviel, conseiller, chirurgien ordinaire du roi en survivance & par quartier, à M. de Joyeuse, docteur en médecine de l’Université de Montpellier ....
The first account of cataract extraction. Daviel also published this in the Mercure de France in September 1748, pp. 198-218. The separate edition, a 24-page pamphlet, was printed from a different setting of type.
1749 –1789
#324
Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…. 44 vols., plus atlas.
This vast work is divided into seven parts. I: Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…15 vols., by Buffon and L.J.M. Daubenton (1749-67). II: Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. 9 vols., by Buffon, P. Guéneau de Mont…
1749
#2732
De aortae venaeque cavae gravioribus quibusdam morbis.
1749
#2733
Traité de la structure du coeur, de son action, et de ses maladies. 2 vols.
Senac’s valuable treatise on the heart added much to the knowledge of the anatomy and diseases of that organ; he mentioned the leucocytes, which he considered to belong to the chyle, and he described pericarditis. Sen…
1749
#7597
Materia medica, liber I: De plantis.
Linnaeus’s physician’s reference on pharmacology. Linnaeus classified medicinal plants according to his botanical system and described the therapeutic value of the drugs derived from each plant. He was instrumental in…
1749
#13437
Bibliothecae Platnerianae medicae sectio prior (posterior) auctionis lege distribuenda.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
1749
#13625
A general chronological history of the air, weather, seasons, meteors, &c. In sundry places and different times; more particularly for the space of 250 years. Together with some of their most remarkable effects on animal (especially human) bodies and vegetables. 2 vols.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.