1790–1799

1794

#9989

Hortus Americanus, containing an account of the trees, shrubs, and other vegetable productions of South-America and the West-India islands, and particularly of the island of Jamaica; interspersed with many curious and useful observations, respecting their uses in medicine, diet, and mechanics.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

1794

#10470

Die Bleyglasur de irdenen Küchengeschirrs als eine unerkannte Hauptquelle vieler unserer Krankheiten und Mitursache der Abnahme körperlicher Kräfte der Menschen.

On the lead glaze of earthen kitchen utensils as an unrecognized source of many diseases.

1794

#11782

Medicina theologica, ou supplica humilde, feita a todos os senhores confessores e directores, sobre o modo de proceder com seus penitentes na emenda dos peccados, principalmente da lascivia, colera, e bebedice.

The first Portuguese work on psychosomatic medicine. The author was a Brazilian who worked in Portugal. Digital facsimile from Wellcomelibrary.org at this link.

1794

#11830

Theophanis Nonni Epitome de cvratione morborvm graece ac latine: Ope codicvm manvscriptorvm recensvit notasqve adiecit I. O. Steph. Bernard. 2 vols.

Reprints text and translation from Martius's 1568 edition with extensive annotations by Bernard, and divergent manuscript readings based on the study of several codices. For an analysis of this Byzantine medical handb…

1794

#12686

The life of Sir Charles Linnaeus, Knight of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star, &c. &c. To which is added a copious list of his works, and a biographical sketch of the life of his son, by D. H. Stoever. Translated from the original German by Joseph Trapp.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1795

#595

Experiments on the insensible perspiration of the human body.

Demonstration that carbon dioxide is given off by the skin. This book was first privately printed in 1779; above is the corrected edition.

1795

#2609.1

De morbis vasorum absorbentium corporis humani.

Soemmerring noted an association between pipe smoking and cancer of the lip (p. 109).

1795

#3111

Hints respecting the chlorosis of boarding schools.

1795

#5336.3

An essay on the malignant pestilential fever introduced into the West Indian Islands from Boullam, on the coast of Guinea, as it appeared in 1793 and 1794.

Chisholm, "Surgeon to his Majesty's Ordnance in Grenada," was apparently the first to observe the mode of transmission of the Guinea worm, Dracunculus medinensis. Chishom was also one of the first to recognize that th…

1795

#6272

A treatise on the epidemic puerperal fever of Aberdeen.

Gordon was the first to advance as a definite hypothesis the contagious nature of puerperal fever, thus preceding Holmes and Semmelweis by half a century. He also advocated the disinfection of the clothes of the docto…

1795

#10016

The history of medicine, so far as it relates to the profession of the apothecary, ... the origin of druggists, their gradual encroachments on compound pharmacy, and the evils to which the public are from thence exposed.

The first history of pharmacy in Britain. Good’s History was commissioned by the General Pharmaceutical Association, formed in 1794, of which the author was a prominent member. It was intended to protect the trade of …

1795

#13237

Escuela española de sordo mudos, ó arte par enseñaries á escribir y hablar el idoma española. 2 vols.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

1795

#13791

Tratado de las enfermedades de la boca sobre todas las partes del arte del dentista.

The first significant book on dentistry by a Spanish dentist. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1796

#310

An account of Indian serpents collected on the coast of Coromandel: containing descriptions and drawings of each species, together with experiments and remarks on their several poisons.

First attempt at a description of Indian serpents and serpent venoms. Includes the original description of Russell’s viper, Daboia russellii. Digital facsimile from the Linda Hall LIbrary at this link.

1796

#596

Von der Lebenskraft.

Reil advanced the doctrine of the life-force as the chemical expression of physiological function. Like Glisson and Hunter, he recognized irritability as a specific property of tissue. He founded the Archiv für die Ph…

1796

#1387

Exercitationum anatomicarum fasciculus primus. De structura nervorum, tribus tabulis aeneis illustratus [All published].

Description of the “island of Reil”. This was the first part of the surface of the cerebral hemispheres to be given a name since 1641 (No. 1377.3). See also Reil’s follow-up paper in Arch. Physiol. (Halle), 1809, 9, 1…

1796 –1808

#3985

On cutaneous diseases. Vol. 1 [All published].

Modern dermatology may be said to start with Willan. His classification of skin diseases gained him the Fothergillian Medal of the Medical Society of London in 1790. He established a standard nomenclature which is sti…

1796

#6849

Versuch über ein neues Prinzip zur Auffindung der Heilkräfte der Arzneisubstanzen, nebst einigen Blicken auf die bishberigan.

Hahnemann's first presentation of his new system of medicine. English translation in The Lesser Writings of Samuel Hahnemann, Collected and Translated by R. E. Dudgeon, London: W. Headland, 1851, 195-357.

1796 –1800

#7093

Catalogus bibliothecae historico-naturalis Josephi Banks, auctore Jona Dryander. 5 vols.

Digital facsimile of the 5 vols. from the Hathi Trust at this link.

1796

#7723

Anatomisches museum. Gesammelt von Johann Gottlieb Walter. Beschrieben von Friedrich August Walter. 2 vols.

Includes fine hand-colored plates of kidney stones and gall stones. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1796

#11958

Hortus cantabrigiensis, or a catalogue of plants, indigenous and foreign, cultivated in the Walkerian Botanic Garden, Cambridge.

The Walkerian Botanic Garden was the first botanical garden founded in Cambridge. It is the ancestor of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

1796

#13162

An account of the epidemic fever which prevailed in the city of New York, during part of the summer and fall of 1795.

Traces the spread of yellow fever in late July, 1795, to the ship Zephyr, recently arrived from the West Indies. After spreading to nearby ships and then into the neighborhoods surrounding the port, the epidemic kille…

1796

#13243

De corporis humani viribus conservatricibus dissertatio.

Young's thesis for his medical degree from Göttingen on the conservation of strength in the human body, which also contains, on the final four pages, the only extant fragment of Young's brief thesis on the human voice…

1797

#4519

De paralysi musculorum faciei rheumatici.

Facial paralysis first described.

1797

#401

Tabula sceleti feminini juncta descriptione.

Soemmerring was noted for his accuracy in anatomical illustration, and the above work is a fine example of his artistic sense. For it he selected the skeleton of a well-built girl of 20 years. Great care was taken in …

1797

#863.1

Observations and experiments on the colour of blood.

Wells showed that the coloring matter in the blood was not iron but a complex organic substance subsequently identified as hematin.

1797 –1804

#401.3

The anatomy of the human body. 4 vols.

“The first great textbook contributed by the British school to modern anatomy” (Russell, No. 461).

1797 –1803

#2159

Medicina nautica; an essay on the diseases of seamen. 3 vols.

Trotter has left an excellent account of the conditions of seamen at the beginning of the 19th century. His book includes an interesting theory of the causation of fevers. He worked hard to improve the conditions of t…

1797

#1602

Die Kunst das menschliche Leben zu verlängern

Hufeland’s “Makrobiotik”, one of the most popular books of its time on personal hygiene. It was translated into all European languages. Hufeland was court physician at Weimar. English translation, 1797.

1797

#1218

Experiments in which, on the third day after impregnation, the ova of rabbits were found in the Fallopian tubes, and on the fourth day after impregnation in the uterus itself, with the first appearances of the foetus.

Cruikshank showed that the impregnated ovum stayed in the Fallopian tube for a period before implantation in the uterus.

1797

#1988

Medical reports, on the effects of water, cold and warm, as a remedy in fever and febrile diseases.

Currie was among the first in Britain to use cold water packs in the treatment of fever. He made some original observations on the clinical use of the thermometer. It was Currie who first edited Robert Burns’s Collect…

1797

#2736

The morbid anatomy of some of the most important parts of the human body. 2nd ed.

First clinical description of chronic obstructive pulmonary emphysema. The lung on which Baillie performed an autopsy before describing this condition is said to have been that of Samuel Johnson. P. 46: Baillie sugges…

1797

#3930

An account of two cases of the diabetes mellitus: With remarks, as they arose during the progress of the cure. To which are added, a general view of the nature of the disease and its appropriate treatment, including observations on some diseases depending on stomach affection; and a detail of the communications received on the subject since the dispersion of the notes on the first case....And some observations on the nature of sugar by William Cruickshank. 2 vols.

Rollo reported the success of a meat diet in the treatment of diabetes. He was the first to take Matthew Dobson's discovery of glycosuria in diabetes mellitus and apply it to managing metabolism.[He was a pioneer in t…

1797

#4287

On gouty and urinary concretions.

Wollaston showed that, in addition to stones consisting of uric acid, renal calculi might also consist of calcium phosphate, magnesium, ammonium phosphate, and calcium oxalate, or a mixture of these.

1797

#7119

Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser: nebst Vermuthungen über den chemischen Process des Lebens in der Thier- und Pflanzenwelt. 2 vols.

Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

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.

1797

#7768

The natural history of the rarer lepidopterous insects of Georgia. Including their systematic characters, the particulars of their several metamorphoses, and the plants on which they feed. Collected from the observations of Mr. John Abbot, many years resident in that country, by James Edward Smith.

The earliest illustrated monograph on the butterflies and moths of North America. Text in English and French. 104 hand-colored plates. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

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…

1797

#11491

A practical inquiry into disordered respiration, distinguishing the species of convulsive asthma, their causes, and indications of cure,

Bree "embodied the numerous experiments in his own case, gave a more full and complete view of asthma and dyspnœa than had hitherto appeared, and laid down some important therapeutic rules, the practical value of whic…

1797 –1800

#11497

Histoire naturelle des singes et des makis.

This work on monkeys and apes was published in a series of ten fascicules, with a total of 65 plates drawn and engraved by Audbert, and printed in color. Audebert was a miniaturist who developed a technique of color p…

1798 –1803

#402

A system of dissections. 2 vols.

Published in 7 fascicules and appendix while Bell was still a student, this was Bell’s first independent venture as an author. The anatomical work of Charles Bell and his brother John was among the most significant in…

1798

#4794

Observations on insanity.

Haslam was among the first to describe general paralysis; he recorded three cases (pp. 64, 67, 92, 120).

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

#4969

Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht abgefasst.

Kant attempted a classification of mental diseases.

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. …

1798

#5834

Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colours.

First scientific description of color-blindness, or “Daltonism”. Dalton himself suffered from red–green blindness. His paper was read to the Society in 1794.

1798

#2529.3

An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolae vaccinae.

Jenner established the fact that a “vaccination” or inoculation with vaccinia (cowpox) lymph matter protects against smallpox. He performed his first vaccination on May 14, 1796. The above work, describing 23 successf…

1798

#6236.1

A case of the caesarean operation performed, and the life of the woman preserved. IN: Medical records and researches selected from the papers of a private medical association, pp. 154-163.

This is apparently the first Caesarean section in England from which the mother recovered. It was performed on 27 November 1793. Barlow’s account is reproduced by Young (No. 6307), pp. 54-58. A note on Barlow is in Pr…

1798

#1693

An essay on the principle of population, as it affects the future improvement of society.

Malthus laid down the principle that populations increase in geometrical ratio, but that subsistence increases only in arithmetical ratio. He argued that a stage is reached where increase of populations must be limite…

1798

#7978

An inquiry into the nature and origin of mental derangement: comprehending a concise system of the physiology and pathology of the human mind, and a history of the passions and their effects. 2 vols.

In chapter 2 of vol. 1, pp. 254-90, “On Attention and its Diseases” Crichton described a mental state much like the inattentive subtype of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He did not mention any sympto…