Novinsky successfully transplanted two tumors in dogs. German translation in Zbl. med. Wiss., 1876, 14, 790-91. A fuller report appeared in his thesis K voprosu o privivanii zlokachestvennich novoobrazovanii (eksperimentalnoi issledovanii). [On the question of inoculation of malignant neoplasms (experimental investigations)]. St. Petersburg, 1877.

Hlava induced experimental amoebiasis in cats by intrarectal inoculation of stools. In an abstract of this paper Kartulis confused the author’s name with that of the title, a mistake copied by writers for many years; see C. Dobell, Parasitology, 1938, 30, 239-41.

A spectacularly beautiful volume as are the other 3 vols in the Oak Spring series.

Introduction of artificial pneumoperitoneum for the treatment of bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis.

Abridged English translation by W. S. C. Copeman and M. Winder in Med. Hist., 1969, 13, 288-93, who write: "This small treatise contains a surprising amount of sound advice regarding the prevention and cure of the disease. The author is an early advocate of prophylaxis by the exercise of moderation in food, drink, anger and lechery: he recommends moderate regular exercise as well as avoidance of unnecessary purgation, and 'great sadness or anxiety'. Burgauer, about whom little is known, was evidently an admirer of Rhazes and Avicenna and quotes freely from their works. It is interesting to note, however, that he was evidently also an early follower of Paracelsus as, in addition to his recommendations regarding galenic preparations of herbs, seeds and roots, he attributes therapeutic virtue to metals and precious stones and strongly advocates a compound of metallic gold."

The first American book specifically devoted to obesity research.

Continued as Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 1- 1955-  See http://www.historyofmedicine.com/id/11216

Juvenile osteochondritis deformans (“Calvé–Legg–Perthes disease”; see also Nos. 4381 and 4382.). Previously described by H. Waldenström, Z. orthop. Chir., 1909, 24, 486.

Verneuil’s gastrostomy operation, a modification of Sédillot’s method.

First adequate description of pneumopericardium.

Best historical account to the time. 2nd ed., 1806.

Lacrimal duct catheterized for the first time. See No. 5823. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Successful ligation of the external iliac, Oct. 16, 1815.

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

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

Report of Roux’s operation on Stephenson (No. 5740). English translation in No. 5768.2. Roux recorded it more fully in his Quarante années de pratique chirurgicale, vol. 1. Paris, Masson, 1854. See No. 5741.2.

“Littre’s hernia” – so named from his description of diverticulum hernia. Later Richter (No. 3578) described this condition more fully.

Dupuytren was the first successfully to excise the lower jaw, in 1812, as recorded in his Leçons orales, 1829, 2, 421-53. The above paper deals with a later operation of the same type.

De observatione ciborum ("On the Observance of Foods") by Anthimus, a Byzantine physician at the court of the Ostrogoth king Theodoric, concerns foods and their preparations as well as the use of foods for selected ailments such as dysentery, diarrhea, edema, and fever. It was edited by Valentine Rose from two 9th century codices in St. Gall and Bamberg, an 11th century manuscript at St. Gall, and a 12th century manuscript at Paris. Digital facsimile of the 1877 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. English translation by Mark Grant as Anthimus: On the observance of foods (1996).

Wrisberg, Professor of Anatomy at Göttingen, is remembered for his discovery of the nervus intermedius (“nerve of Wrisberg”), described in the above treatise.

See No. 1260.

The only publications of one of the earliest scientific societies, active from 1664 to 1672. Founded by Gerard Blaes, and numbering Jan Swammerdam among its members, the college devoted itself to comparative anatomical and physiological investigations of the lower vertebrates, concentrating primarily on fishes and mammals. The above works contain the first publication of Swammerdam’s early experiments with neuro-muscular physiology. Other portions of the works were probably written by Blaes. Facsimile edition edited by F.J. Cole, Berkshire: University of Reading,1938. Digital facsimile of the 1938 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Wepfer showed apoplexy to be a result of hemorrhage into the brain. He described four cases, with clinical and post mortem findings. He preceded Willis (No. 1378) in describing the “circle of Willis”. Partial English translation in Ruskin, Classics in arterial hypertension (1956). Digital facsimile of the 1675 edition from Google Books at this link.

Includes the first account of the excretory duct of the parotid gland (“Stensen’s duct”), discovered by Stensen. He first reported his discovery in a letter to his teacher, Thomas Bartholin, dated April, 22, 1661. Stensen was also the first mention the ceruminous glands in this work. Facsimile reproduction, with English translation, Copenhagen, 1951.

Sandifort’s beautifully illustrated work on pathological anatomy included records of ulcerative aortic endocarditis, renal calculi, hemias, bony ankyloses, and congenital abnormalities. A good account of the “tetralogy of Fallot” (No. 2792) is given on pp. 1-38 of Vol. 1. For English translation see Amer. Heart J., 1956, 51, 9-25. In quality Sandifort's work is comparable with that of Morgagni, except that Morgagni's De sedibus was entirely unillustrated. 

Observationes anatomicae, a work of 232 leaves printed in the comparatively small octavo format, with no illustrations, was the only work Fallopio published before his death from tuberculosis at age thirty-nine, and is thus the only one that can be said to be fully authentic. The remainder of Falloppio's works were edited for publication from his lecture notes, and may represent more or less than the author's original intention. Observationes was not an all-inclusive textbook of anatomy but rather a detailed critical commentary on Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica (1543), in which Falloppio attempted to correct errors in the earlier work, and to add material that Vesalius had overlooked; for this reason, there was no need for illustrations. The large amount of new material included Falloppio's investigations of primary and secondary centers of ossification, the first clear description of primary dentition, numerous contributions to the study of the muscles (especially those of the head), and the famous account of the uterine ("Falloppian") tubes, which he correctly described as resembling small trumpets (tubae), definitely proved the existence of the seminal vesicles. He also gave to the placenta and vagina their present scientific names, provided a superior description of the auditory apparatus (including the first clear accounts of the chorda tympani and semicircular canals), and was the first to clearly distinguish the trochlear nerve of the eye. Vesalius responded positively to Falloppio's work with his posthumously published Examen on Falloppio (1564).

For further details see the entry in HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Santorini was one of the ablest dissectors of his day. In the above work many new discoveries of anatomical details are set forth, together with corrections of some of the errors of earlier anatomists. The work describes the four major discoveries for which Santorini is known eponymically: Santorini’s cartilage, Santorini’s vein, Santorini’s duct, and Santorini’s caruncula.

Illustrates several early microscopes, including the famous microscopes of the Bolognese Joseph Campani. Contradicting Redi, Bonanni tried to show that spontaneous generation was possible in animals "without blood and a heart." Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Huxham made daily records of the weather and prevailing diseases; his aim was to establish a relationship between atmospheric conditions and disease. The work was first published in 1728; vol. 1 and 2 of the edition given above are second edition, which was rounded off by a third volume published posthumously. English translation of vol. 1 and 2, 1758-67.

Link described Polyangium, the first bacterium to be described that is still recognized today. Link also described Penicillium for the first time.

Contains (Book 3, Cap. 2; Book 5, Cap. 4) an important account of smallpox, particularly the epidemics of 1667-69 and 1674-75. Sydenham attributed smallpox to a specific inflammation of the blood; he clearly distinguished it from measles. His treatment of fevers with fresh air and cooling drinks was an improvement on the sweating methods previously employed. English translation in his Works, ed. R. G. Latham, London, 1848, 1, 123, 219.

Sydenham recorded significant observations on dysentery, scarlet fever (p. 387), scarlatina, measles and other conditions. He stressed the clinical study of medicine and kept careful case records. Includes (pp. 272-80) the most minute and careful description of measles that had so far appeared; this is reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 4, 313-19.

English translation in No. 64 and prior English editions. The above book is really a third edition of his Methodus curandi febres, 1666; second edition, 1668. The Latin texts of both editions of Methodus curandi were reprinted, with Latham’s translation, an introduction and notes by G.G. Meynell, Folkstone, Winterdoum Books, 1987.

Boate who spent many years in Ireland, included a full first-hand account of rickets in Chapter 12 of the above book (“De tabe pectorea”). He showed how widespread the disease was at that time. Reprinted in Opuscula Selecta Neerlandicorum, Fase. 5, pp. 260-73, Amsterdam, 1926.

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 (“Tulp’s valve”). The first edition was published in 1641.

"Tulp's book has various accounts of unusual illnesses and primarily growths or carcinomas, but also has accounts of creatures brought back from Dutch East India Company ships. His drawing of a Chimpanzee is considered the first of its kind.^[2] This creature was called an Indian Satyr, since all ships cargo was considered Indonesian. However, the accompanying text claims the animal came from Angola. This drawing was copied many times and formed the basis for many theories on the origin of man. Most notably, Tulp's work and that of Jacob de Bondt (alias Jacobus Bontius) was copied and republished by Linnaeus to show a link between apes and man.^{[2]" (Wikipedia article on Observationes medicae (Tulp).}

Digital facsimile of the 1652 edition from Google Books at this link.

Best contemporary description of the segmentation furrowing of the egg.

Although Tenon did not discover the fibrous capsule and the interfascial space of the orbit, they are named after him.

Includes a brief description of “Cowper’s glands”.

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

Nicholls was the first to describe dissecting aneurysm of the aorta, the patient being King George II, to whom he was physician from 1753-60. Nicholls was also the first to give a correct description of the mode of production of aneurysm. Nicholls' pa;er was illustrated with two folding plates of the heart engraved by J. Mynde and printed in two colors (brown and sanguine). These were probably the first color-printed plates in a major scientific periodical.

This "case was that of a rupture of the right ventricle of the heart showing an effusion of blood into the pericardium and an aneurism of the aorta. The King had complained for some years of frequent distress about the region of the heart. His death was due to tamponade by the extravasated blood from a tear in the myocardium, probably caused by a coronary occlusion. Though complicated by a 'transverse fissure in the trunk of the aorta, one and a half inches long' Nicholls' report may be regarded as a contribution to the history of myocardial infaraction" (Leibowitz, The history of cononary heart disease, 83).

Also published in Gentleman's Magazine (issue of November 1762, 520-523.

First allograft transplantation of bone in humans.

Belon was first trained as an apothecary, and worked in that capacity for the bishop of Clermont, Guillaume Duprat. Around 1542 he studied medicine In Paris, and obtained a licentiate in medicine, though he never took the formal degree of doctor. With the recommendation of Duprat, he became an apothecary to Cardinal François de Tournon. Under this patronage, he was able to undertake extensive scientific voyages and travels. Beginning in 1546, he travelled through Greece, Crete, Asia Minor, Egypt, Arabia and Palestine, and returned in 1549. He hoped to find the remains of Homer's Troy in the Levant. His Observations, an account of these travels, included numerous woodcut illustrations. Digital facsimile of the 1553 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Translated into English by James Hogarth as Travels in the Levant: The observations of Pierre Belon of Le Mans on many singularities and memorable things found in Greece, Turkey, Judaea (2012).

The first book on obstetrics published by a midwife. Louise Bourgeois was accoucheuse to the French court. She was one of the pioneers of scientific midwifery; her Observations was the vade mecum of contemporary midwives. She induced premature labor in patients with contracted pelvis, an idea probably derived from Paré.

The natural history of Captain James Cook's second voyage in the Pacific; Forster and his son Georg were appointed naturalists to the voyage after Joseph Banks withdrew from the position. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Hemopoietic properties of folic acid reported. With C. F. Vilter, M. B. Koch, and M. H. Caldwell.

Lipocaic. With J. Van Prohaska and H. P. Harms.

Langdon Down suggested that the physiognomical features of certain defectives enabled them to be arranged in ethnic groups; of these he differentiated Mongolian, Ethiopian, Caucasian, and American Indian. Such an ethnic classification has been abandoned, but the term “mongolism” has been used to describe one important variety of ailment, although recently giving way to “Down’s syndrome”, for an explanation of which, see N. Howard-Jones, Med. Hist., 1979, 23, 102-04.

Bellingham introduced the “Dublin method” of treating aneurysm by slow compression.

Bowman devised an operation for the formation of an artificial pupil.

First recorded description of multiple neurofibromatosis. Akenside was better known as a poet;  he was caricatured as the republican doctor of Tobias Smollett's The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.

Original description of cornu cutaneum.

Includes John Hunter’s observations on the secondary sexual characteristics in birds, on the descent of the testis, on the air sac in birds, on the structure of the placenta, etc., together with the original description of the olfactory nerves. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

The “thread test” in gout was introduced by Garrod. Later he wrote more fully on gout and rheumatism (see No. 4497).

The diagnostic value for neurosurgery of changes in the optic nerve caused by increased intracranial pressure.

Perry correctly described many of the distinctions between typhus and typhoid.

In this work Jackson showed the importance of the ophthalmoscope in the investigation of diseases of the nervous system. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 3, 918-26.

Concerning lead poisoning from artists' paints.

Lizars performed the first (unsuccessful) ovariotomy in Britain. His book made generally known the practical possibility of this operation.

Digital facsimile from the Intenet Archive at this link.

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

Digital facsimile of the 1825 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. The second, posthumous, edition published in English in Naples by Fibreno in 1834 includes additional chapters by Bell that were not included in the first edition, as well as notes added by the translator of the edition in Italian. Digital facsimile of the 1834 edition from Google Books at this link.

Original description of acute yellow atrophy of the liver.

Isolation of a mycoplasma from man.

Lister evolved a carbolized catgut ligature, better than any previously produced. He was able to cut short the ends of his ligature, closing the wound tightly and eliminating the necessity for bringing the ends of ligatures out through the wound.

After performing an autopsy on a strangulation case, Gross set out to study the physiology involved in manual strangulation. He set up a series of experiments on dogs for this purpose and provides autopsy reports on each as well as guidelines for medical examiners investigating strangulations.

Neuroma first described.

For many years Clay was the most eminent ovariotomist in Great Britain. In all, he performed 395 ovariotomies, with a mortality of 25 percent.

Parry called attention to infection from articles of clothing worn by victims of the epidemic of relapsing fever in Philadelphia in 1869.

Stokes’s celebrated account of heart block with syncopal attacks – the Stokes–Adams syndrome (see also No. 2745). Stokes was most interested in the diagnostic value of this condition. The paper is reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 3, 727-38. For history of this syndrome see N. Flaxman, Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., 1937, 5, 115-30.

“A valuable surgical record of the Napoleonic period” (Garrison).

Clossy, an Irish physician, previously at Trinity College, Dublin, gave the first anatomy classes and dissections at King’s College in New York City (now Columbia) in 1763. Clossy worked closely with other King’s College faculty, including Samuel Bard, to professionalize the study of medicine in the United States. He is understood to have dissected the bodies of deceased slaves in his lectures. His Observations, which he wrote during the 1750s, was the first treatise on anatomy and pathology published by a physician working in America. Clossy had it printed in London. Some of Clossy's innovative observations bear a relationship to similar kinds of observations made by Morgagni (1761). Clossy had his book printed in London. He returned to Europe in 1780

Burns described endocarditis and reported three cases of mitral stenosis. He recognized the thrill present in the latter condition and seems to have understood the mechanism of a cardiac murmur. He also described unilateral paralysis of the diaphragm resulting from pressure on the phrenic nerve by a thoracic aneurysm. Burns was also among the first to suggest (see p. 136) that angina pectoris is an expression of coronary obstruction. Biography by J. B. Herrick, 1935.

Includes Millar’s original description of laryngismus stridulus (“Millar’s asthma”).

Robertson proved one of the causal organisms of rat-bite fever to be Sp. morsus muris. He re-named it Spirillum minus Carter, 1887, identifying it as the first spiral micro-organism to be described from a rodent.

Hillary included good accounts of lead colic and infective hepatitis, and probably the first description of sprue (celiac disease).

Experimental proof that the initial step in urine production is the formation in Bowman’s space of a protein-free ultrafiltrate of plasma and that reabsorption of certain substances must occur in the tubules since they were present in the filtrate but absent from the final urine. One of the most significant of all publications in renal physiology.

Galton spent some years in the army; he had a variety of interests, chief among them being railways, education and sanitary science. He designed the Herbert Hospital at Woolwich and he invented a ventilating fire grate.

The isolation of oxygen was first achieved by Priestley. He also demonstrated that plants immersed in water give off oxygen and that this gas is essential for animal life.

Clarke left a detailed account of African trypanosomiasis; he saw cases of the disease while serving as a colonial surgeon at Sierra Leone, and named it “narcoleptic dropsy”.

Digital facsimile of the third edition, "revised and enlarged" (1793) from the Internet Archive at this link.

William Hunter recommended Blane as private physician to Admiral Rodney; Blane sailed with him to the W. Indies and became physician to the British Fleet. He was held in great esteem in the navy and was instrumental in effecting improvements in living conditions among seamen. He strongly supported Lind’s views on scurvy. In 1799 he made recommendations which formed the basis of the Quarantine Act of that year. Later he became physician to St. Thomas’s Hospital. With Lind he stands predominant in the history of naval medicine.

Although Blane added nothing to the knowledge on scurvy, he demonstrated the value of fresh lemons, limes, and oranges; through his influence the issue of lemon juice in the British Navy was ordered in 1795, after which scurvy soon disappeared. Blane’s extreme coldness of manner earned him the nickname “Chilblain”.

Pringle, founder of modern military medicine, was Physician-General of the British Army from 1744 to 1752. His books lay down the principles of military sanitation and the ventilation of barracks, gaols, hospital ships, etc. He did much to improve the lot of soldiers, and it was due to remarks in his book that foot-soldiers were given blankets when on service. The preface of the book includes an account of the origin of the Red Cross idea (the neutrality of military hospitals on the battlefield); for a further note on this, see Lancet, 1943, 2, 234.

First clear account of chronic constrictive pericarditis.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Revised and expanded edition, 1781; digital facsimile of the 1781 edition from Google Books at this link.

The first account of the clinical course of tuberculous meningitis in children. This work is notable for its fullness of detail and its accuracy. Whytt divided the disease into three stages, according to the character of the pulse, and he attributed its various manifestations to the presence of a serous exudate in the brain.

"The first philosophical, secular medical ethics in the English language" (Lawrence, Paul. "(John Gregory." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.). "Gregory divided the practice of medicine into four parts, or branches: 'the art of preserving health, of prolonging life, of curing diseases, and making death easy' " (Vanderpool, Palliative care [2015] 19). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Full text available from quod.lib.umich.edu at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Cleghorn left a good account of several diseases and conditions not previously observed, among them epidemic jaundice. He included accounts of many post-mortems. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Castle showed pernicious anemia to be due to absence from the gastric juice of a substance (Castle’s intrinsic factor, hemopoietin) that reacts with an extrinsic factor present in many foodstuffs to form the anti-pernicious anemia factor. His experimental work resulted in the introduction of stomach preparations for the treatment of pernicious anemia. Preliminary communication in J. Clin. Invest., 1928, 6, 2.

Isolation of vitamin C, ascorbic acid. Szent-Györgyi was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1937 for his discoveries in connexion with the biological combustion process with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid.

Reprinted from the Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, May and August, 1857. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Garcia, a teacher of singing, invented the modern laryngoscope.

Heberden observed that the number of deaths from dysentery sharply decreased over the 18th century, but that deaths attributed to apoplexy increased. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Badham distinguished acute and chronic bronchitis from pneumonia and pleurisy, with which it had previously been confused. He gave the disease its present name. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Harrison demonstrated the development of nerve fibres by independent growth from cells outside the organism.

Charles Sherrington described the significance of Romanes' research on jellyfish in terms of its impact on cardiac physiology: "Romanes's observations carried out with simple means were novel and fundamental. The questions which he put to the swimming-bell [medusa or jelly-fish] and answered from it, led, it is not too much to say, to the development of modern cardiology. Medusa swims by the beat of its bell, and Romanes examining it discovered there and analyzed the two phenomena now recognized world-over in the physiology of the heart, and there spoken of as the 'pace-maker' and 'conduction-block'" (Sherrington quoted in W. Bruce Fye, "The origin of the heart beat: A tale of frogs, jellyfish and turtles," Circulation 76 (1987) 493-500.

Romanes’ work with electro-stimulation directly influenced W. H. Gaskell in his artificial production of heart block, the name for which Gaskell based on an expression of Romanes. See No. 829.

Millar promoted mathematical methods for computing the comparative success of different methods of cure. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Griffth was probably the first American woman to publish in the sciences outside of materia medica and childcare. This article was probably her earliest non-geological publication. See Robt S. Cox, "A spontaneous flow: The geological contributions of Mary Griffith, 1772-1846," Earth Sciences History, 12, 187-195.

Bacot and Martin demonstrated the method by which the rat flea (primarily Xenopsylla cheopis) transmits the plague bacillus from rat to man.

First record of the clinical use of cod liver oil in England.

This book, which showed Pott’s extensive knowledge of surgical literature, systematized the treatment of head injuries. It shows what a variety of injuries of the head could be sustained even before the advent of the motor-car. Includes the first description of “Pott’s puffy tumor”. Pott was bom in Threadneedle Street, where the Bank of England now stands; he succeeded Cheselden as the greatest surgeon of his day. The book was altered and re-published under a different title in 1768.

Blackall predated Bright in detecting albuminuria in association with edema. His book, of which the second edition is more important than the first, includes reports on cases of angina pectoris.

Pringle was a strong advocate of better ventilation in prisons and hospitals as a means of preventing typhus, which he showed to be identical with “hospital fever”.

“First important English work on neurology after Willis” (Garrison).

Discovery, in 1831, of the cell nucleus. First issued as a separate pamphlet: Observations on the Organs and Mode of Fecundation in orchideae and asclepiadeae ... [with:] Additional remarks ... London, [privately
printed] ‘For Distribution’, Oct. 1831.

Classic early account of osteomyelitis. Smith trephined for bone necrosis. Reproduced in Med. Classics, 1937, 1, 820-38.

Hallpike and Cairns were first to describe the characteristic histological changes in Menière’s disease. Also published in J Laryng. Otol., 1938, 53, 625-55.

Reid’s base line – the anthropometric base line on the skull.

Osler described his four-part classification of anemias of pregnancy: anemia from post-partum hemorrhage, severe anemia of pregnancy, post-partum anemia, and the acute anemia of post-partum sepsis. This was Osler's last substantial scientific publication; it appeared the year he died.

First paper in English giving a detailed account of the development of S. japonicum in the snail and its subsequent development in man. Atkinson, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, was a member of Scott’s Antarctic expedition. He was in command of the expedition's base at Cape Evans for much of 1912, and led the party which found the tent containing the bodies of Scott, "Birdie" Bowers and Edward Wilson. Atkinson was subsequently associated with two controversies: that relating to Scott's orders concerning the use of dogs, and that relating to the possible incidence of scurvy in the polar party. 

Monro discovered the communication between the lateral ventricles of the human brain with each other and with the third ventricle, the “foramen of Monro”. Alexander secundus was the greatest of the three Monros.

Burns was the first to suggest (p. 31) ligature of the innominate artery. His book describes “Burns’s space”, the fascial space at the suprasternal notch.

The first recorded case of chloroma (myeloid sarcoma, granulocytic sarcoma, extramedullary myeloid tumor), a manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia, is found on p. 396 of this book. This was of course, about 30 years before leukemia was understood as a disease.

Porter was Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The above includes a description of “Porter’s sign”, tracheal tugging in aortic aneurysm.

King, sometimes referred to as the “father of endocrinology”, antici-pated the endocrine action of the thyroid.

Brodie first operated for varicose veins in 1814.

The first human to human transfusion in which the patient did not die. Blundell established the most fundamental points in transfusion, including the incompatibility of interspecies transfusion and the method of indirect transfusion. With his descriptions of about ten cases over a ten-year period, Blundell revived interest in blood transfusion after a century-long hiatus.

Thomas Young is regarded as one of the most versatile of all scientists. In the above work he showed that the act of accommodation is due to a change of curvature of the crystalline lens, whereby light rays of various lengths can be brought to a focus on the retina.

Report of two cases of fatal peritonitis due to perforation of the appendix. Of this paper, H. A. Kelly says, “It at once established a definite place for lesions of the appendix in the category of recognized diseases”.

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

Arthur Jacob, Professor of Anatomy and physiology in Dublin, described “Jacob’s ulcer”, rodent ulcer attacking the face, especially the eyelid.

Pariset and Mazet distinguished themselves combating an outbreak of yellow fever in Spain. Pariset's colleague was apparently not involved with publication of the book, and died in a yellow fever outbreak in Barcelona in 1821, very soon after the book's publication, as Pariset's dedication is dated December, 1820. Some copies have an inserted plate honoring his memory. This is probably the most elaborately produced, and strangely beautiful book on yellow fever published during the 19th century with 5 full-page hand-colored lithographs by le Comte de Lasteyrie, pioneer lithographer in France. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

"Méry became closely associated with the comparative-anatomical work led by Claude Perrault and J.-G. Duverney. As a member of this group, Méry made contributions to their joint publications, in which each man’s specific contributions usually cannot be determined. Méry worked closely with Duverney until about 1693, when their differing interpretations of mammalian fetal circulation estranged them. The coolness that resulted was apparent to Martin Lister, when he visited Paris in 1698. Méry probably did more to retard than to aid the understanding of this problem. Méry claimed that the blood flowed from the left to the right through the foramen ovale in the interatrial septum. This view was prevalent enough that Haller look time to refute it. Méry initially formulated his theory from a false analogy between a tortoise heart and a fetal mammalian heart. Ultimately he based his theory of fetal circulation on a comparison of the cross sections of the pulmonary artery and the aorta, concluding that not all of the blood passing through the pulmonary artery and returning to the heart by the pulmonary vein could pass into the aorta. Instead, he thought, a portion of that blood passed through the foramen ovale from the left to the right side of the heart.

"Méry erred in assuming that the cross section of an artery is the only factor determining the amount of blood that can flow through it. He compounded this error by his method of measuring the relative cross sections of the arteries. He may have used fresh preparations for his measurements on cows and sheep. For those on human beings, he probably used preserved specimens, dried ones as a rule. The results were inconsistent at best. For example, Martin Lister described a fetal heart that he saw in Méry’s collection which had no valve for the foramen ovale, and which was open in both directions and had a diameter nearly equal to that of the aorta. For two decades numerous arguments were presented on both sides of the controversy between Méry’s views and the traditional views dating back to Harvey and Lower. Méry held his views against all opposition to the end" (DSB). See Kenneth J. Franklin, “Jean Méry (1645–1722) and His Ideas on the Foetal Blood Flow,” in Annals of Science, 5 (1945), 203–338.

Frère Jacques Beaulieu, the work of which the first part of Méry's book refers, was a notorious quack travelling lithotomist.

Mallein reaction for the diagnosis of glanders.

Primarily concerning the diseases of black slaves. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Levret, who improved the obstetric forceps, was a famous teacher in Paris.

Includes description of pituitary obesity.

Study of the health conditions and diseases of black slaves in the Americas.  Digital facsimile of the 1776 edition from Google Books at this link. Second edition, expanded to two volumes. Paris: L'Auteur, 1792.

Description of venous obstruction and edema.

Discovery of urea, independently of Boerhaave. Rouelle isolated urea as the alcohol-soluble substance from urine. He was the first to present proof of the high nitrogen content of urea.

Dance’s important early description of parathyroid tetany followed closely on that of Steinheim.

Diarrhoea was one of the chief causes of child mortality in Great Britain at the turn of the century. Peters begins with a statistical study of age incidence, prevalence, and fatality of the condition and then in successive chapters examines clinical features, immunity, social relations, sanitation, food, and epidemiological features. The final chapters touch on possible methods of prevention and treatment and offer a general summary of conclusions. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Jameson was surgeon to Baltimore Hospital for 20 years. This essay described some of the earliest multiple animal experiments used in American medical research.

Includes Ruysch's catalogue of the extent of his medical museum in 1691. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Fabricius’s most important work; it was the best collection of case-records available for many years. Among other things, Fabricius used a magnet to extract an iron splinter from the eye – an idea suggested to him by his wife – and he described the first field-chest of drugs for army use. He was first to remove a gallstone from a living patient (1618).

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 flexion contracture deformity of the fingers (“Dupuytren’s contracture”) in Liber I, p. 140. On p. 13 he provided the first description of an intracranial tumor —a meningioma. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

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

Schenck was the greatest compiler of his day. His Observationes form the easiest source-book for the pathological observations of Sylvius, Vesalius, and Columbus, and represent a lifetime of medical reading and experience. They were first published at Basle, 1584-97.

Pietro de Marchetti was Professor of Surgery at Padua. His book contains many valuable observations in surgery.\\

Janet was the first to describe psychasthenia.

79 essays with historical accounts, excerpts from sources, etc.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The most famous American textbook of obstetrics.

The first book on the history of spectacles. Manni gave credit for the invention to the Florentine Armati (fl. 1300).

The first microscopical section in biology is discussed and illustrated in Odierna’s study of the fly’s eye, which is also the first description of the faceted eye of an arthropod.

An English summary of two earlier Dutch works by D. Schoute, 1929-1936.

The first general treatise on occupational medicine published in the United States. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Written under the auspices of the Industrial Medical Association, this history emphasizes 20th century achievements.

Calluses, other dermatological and physical signs of professions and occupations illustrated and described, with an annotated bibliography that includes some historical references.

Streptodornase. See also W. S. Tillett et al., Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. (N. Y.), 1948, 68, 184-88.

"WordCat is world's largest network of library content and services....WorldCat.org lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world. WorldCat grows every day thanks to the efforts of librarians and other information professionals."

WorldCat is a service of OCLC which originated in 1967. "As of March 2015, the OCLC database contained over 336M records with 2.2 billion cataloged items, and is the world's largest bibliographic database covering 72,000 libraries."^[24] http://www.worldcat.org/

In this, the first printed edition of Rerum medicarum libri quatuor by the late antique Byzantine physician Theodorus Priscianus, his work was misattributed to Octavianus Horatianus. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. It may be somewhat ironic that Priscianus's work, of relatively limited value from a period in which there was little or no medical advance, was published together with Albucasis' surgery, a work of the greatest practical value.

"Priscianus was a pupil of the physician Vindicianus, fixing the period of his life in the fourth century. He is said to have lived at the court of Constantinople, and to have obtained the dignity of Archiater. He belonged to the medical sect of the Empirici, but not without a certain mixture of the doctrines of the Methodici, and even of the Dogmatici^{[1][2]" (Wikipedia).}

Photographs by Diane Beeston.

The earliest printed book on ophthalmology. Grassi was the most celebrated ophthalmic surgeon of the Middle Ages. English translation by Casey A. Wood, 1929. ISTC No. ig00352000.

Includes the first complete history of early microscopes.

Scheiner, a Jesuit astronomer, was a pioneer in physiological optics. He demonstrated how images fall on the human retina, noting the change in curvature of the lens during accommodation, and devised the pin-hole test (“Scheiner’s test”) to illustrate accommodation and refraction.

Bechterev’s disease – ankylosing spondylitis, previously described by Strümpell. A German translation of the paper is in Neurol. Zbl., 1893, 12, 426-34.

Owen’s first large-scale original work covered the whole range of the toothed vertebrates, living and fossil, and discussed in detail the micrsocopic structure of the teeth and the physiology of dentition. Includes 168 plates. His comprehensive investigation of the morphology of mammalian teeth led him into palaeontology, of which he soon became one of the masters. Owen, son-in-law of William Clift, was from 1836-56 Hunterian professor at the Royal College of Surgeons. During the 1860s he was one of the most virulent opponents of Darwinism. Some copies of this work were issued on large paper.

Outstanding descriptions, with beautiful color illustrations, of some of the greatest classics in the history of dentistry in the library of the Svenska Tandläkare-Sällskapet (Swedish Dental Society).

Delabarre was one of the first to systematize occlusal anomalies through description and illustration of individual kinds. He also developed some of the earliest orthodontic appliances using bands. 

Order of authorship in the original publication: Carey, Wang, ... Carlson. The authors showed that besides CO2, the odorant receptors in the malaria mosquistoes Anopheles gambiae are sensitive to other "mostly sweat" organic compounds like "1-octen-3-ol", which is very common in human and animal odor. These receptors play a central role in human recognition in the human host-seeking behavior of these mosquitoes.

Digital facsimile from PubMedCentral at this link.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

A Greek alphabetical dictionary of the vocabulary of the Hippocratic writings, based on an exhaustive investigation of all ancient medical texts.

The best book of the century regarding military sanitation.

Jones developed this thesis based on Freud's comments on the play, as expressed to Wilhelm Fliess in 1897,^[2] before Freud published the ideas in Chapter V of The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). Jones later developed the paper more fully; It was published in book form as Hamlet and Oedipus (1949). Full text of the 1910 paper from Wikisource at this link.

Introduction of dienoestrol. With L. Gol[d]berg, W. Lawson.

Isolation of hexoestrol. With E. C. Dodds and W. Lawson.

Introduction of stilboestrol, the first synthetic estrogen. With L. Gol[d]berg, W. Lawson,

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. In Remarques et observations sur l’opération de l’anévrisme (Vol. 2,  553-80) he described his technique of tying blood vessels for the treatment of aneurism.  Desault was Xavier Bichat’s teacher, and Bichat edited the first edition of this set.
In the second edition (3 vols., 1801-3) volume 3, which concerns urological diseases, was edited by P. J. Roux. With Chopart, Desault founded urological surgery, and was one of the first to have a clear understanding of urological disease. Vol. 1 was translated into English as A Treatise on Fractures, luxations and other affections of the bones, Philadelphia, 1805. The translation of vols. 2 & 3 was entitled The Surgical Works, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1814. Desault edited the first journal specifically on surgery: Journal de chirurgie, 4 vols., 1791-92. 

The best edition of Paré’s works, edited by Malgaigne. An English translation of Pare's Oeuvres by Thomas Johnson appeared as early as 1634. See also No. 5565. Janet Doe published A bibliography of the works of Ambroise Paré, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1943 and F. R. Packard published Life and times of Ambroise Paré.,. New York, 1921. Malgaigne's comprehensive historical introduction to his edition was translated by Wallace Hamby as Surgery and Ambroise Paré, Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

The above bilingual edition was the result of 22 years of continuous labor, remains the most significant edition overall. For a detailed bibliography of modern editions and translations see Paul Potter, Short handbook of Hippocratic medicine, Quebec, 1988. Digital facsimile of the Littré edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Between 1932 and 1934 Javal and Bourdeaux and Javal and Leblanc of Paris published an illustrated edition of the Littré translation in 4 volumes, with 64 color plates by Kuhn-Régnier in the art-deco style. This may be the only art book style illustrated edition of Hippocrates' complete works ever published.

Greek text with facing French translation and study of four short treatises of the Hippocratic Collection on anatomy and traumatology of different periods and origins: On sores (probably 5th cent. BCE), On the nature of bones (probably late 5th cent. BCE), On the heart (possibly between 300 and 250 BCE), and On anatomy (late 5th century or 4th century BCE).

Jacques and Paul Contant were Huguenot apothecaries in Poitiers, and notable collectors. There were among the first in France to assemble a cabinet of curiosities or Wunderkammer. The first work, a commentary on Dioscorides, was written by Jacques, who died in 1588. It was revised for publication by his son Paul. The fifth part of this work, Le jardin et cabinet poétique, first appeared in 1609; the other four works were published here for the first time.

The Constants' text is devoted to the most remarkable plants, animals, spices, minerals, and natural wonders and oddities mentioned by Dioscorides, with a commentary on their unusual features and properties. The frontispiece and plates illustrate 120 of these different specimens. They are keyed with a page number referring to the text. Schnapper, Le géant, la licorne, la tulipe. Collections françcaises au XVIIe siècle, 222-225.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Paré was the greatest of the army surgeons before Larrey. Born in poor circumstances, he became the most famous surgeon in France. He is particularly remembered for his abandonment of boiling oil and the cautery (No. 2139), for his revival of podalic version (No. 6140), his re-introduction of the ligature and his invention of many new surgical instruments. He was the first to suggest that syphilis is a cause of aneurysm. He popularized the truss, introduced artificial limbs, and (in dentistry) reimplantation of the teeth. See also No. 59. This folio is the first edition of his collected works, reprinting texts that Paré previously published separately in octavo format. The fifth and most complete edition of the Oeuvres, containing the first printing of Paré’s final revisions, was published in Paris, 1598. English translation (from the 1582 Latin translation of the second [1579] edition) by botanist and apothecary Thomas Johnson, London, 1634. Digital facsimile of the 1575 edition from BnF Gallica at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1649 second edition in English from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Vicq d’Azyr has been called the greatest comparative anatomist of the 18th century. The mammillo-thalamic tract is named the “bundle of Vicq d’Azyr”. See No. 401.2. Digital facsimile of from the Internet Archive at this link.

Oribasius was a compiler of existing knowledge rather than an original writer. His output was immense; he compiled the Synagoge, an encyclopedic digest of medicine, hygiene, therapeutics, and surgery from Hippocrates to his own times, in 70 volumes. The unwieldiness of the work was probably the reason why he also wrote a synopsis of it. Only 17 volumes survived. Vols. 5 & 6 were completed and issued by Auguste Molinier after the death of Bussemaker and Daremberg. Digital facsimiles of the set from Google Books at this link.

Stahl was responsible for the re-introduction of the idea of a “sensitive soul”, propounded by van Helmont. The Stahlian “animism” considered the body to be composed of passive or “dead” substance, which became animated by the soul during life, returning to passivity or “death” on the departure of the soul from the body.

Greek–French edition containing all the extant works of Rufus, as well as fragments collected from a wide range of ancient and medieval sources. Digital facsimile fro the BnF at this link. The treatise On the interrogation of the patient was published as Corpus Medicorum Graecorum Supplement IV, Berlin, 1962, and Diseases of the Kidney and Bladder as CMG III, 1, Berlin, 1977. The 1977 edition is available online  from the CMG at this link.

Original description of facial neuralgia. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 100-06.

First recorded successful appendectomy. Amyand was Sergeant-Surgeon to George II and first principal surgeon to Westminster Hospital. See also the paper in Surg. Gynec. Obstet., 1953, 97, 643-52, which reproduces part of the text.

Catesby was one of the first ornithologists to study bird migration. Digital facsimile from the Royal Society at this link.

First description of aortic insufficiency. Reproduced in Willius & Keys: Cardiac classics, 1941, pp. 109-14.

On the history and aetiology of hay fever.

The first accurate study of the electrical organs of the torpedo fish were made by Walsh, who was given the Copley Medal of the Royal Society for his work on the subject. Walsh proved that the shock of the torpedo was electrical, and that the fish could only send the shock through a conductor.

The first clinical demonstration of the placebo effect, specifically in the context of Perkins' metallic tractors. Haybarth  demonstrated the placebo effect caused by the tractors by obtaining the same results with wooden ones. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A classic description of nyctalopia. Report of a single case.

In his preface Drake credited the surgeon, anatomist and artist, William Cowper, for valuable aid in both the text and illustrations this work. Drake also included a chapter, "Of the Nose" written by Cowper which described the operation Cowper pioneered to empty the surgical treatment of diseases of the maxillary sinus. “In order to empty Highmore’s antrum of deposits and to be able to carry out the necessary irrigations, he extracted in most cases the first permanent molar, and then penetrated through its aveolus into the sinus with a pointed instrument” (Guerini).

In this work on drug action or pharmacodynamics Boyle argued that remedies composed of only one or two ingredients were preferable to more complex drugs for two reasons. First, because the patient would experience fewer side effects, and second because the physician could more readily verify the effects of a specific drug upon his patient.

Digital text from Early English Books Online at this link.

"This apparently first-ever full essay on palliative care is tightly reasoned and carefully crafted—an innovative classic that attests to years of first-hand experience in the care of gravely ill and dying persons" (Vanderpool, Palliative care [2015] 26). Digital facsimile of the full text in the Philadelphia, 1816 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

First successful resection of the pylorus for cancer, the Billroth I operation.

This is the first publication of Jeremy Bentham's essay on "Paederasty," written about 1785. Bentham suppressed the essay during his lifetime, for fear of public outrage at his views on liberalizing the laws concerning homosexual activity.

"The essay which runs to over 60 manuscript pages, is the first known argument for homosexual law reform in England. Bentham advocates the decriminalization of' sodomy, which in his day was punished by hanging. He argues that homosexual acts do not "weaken" men, or threaten population or marriage, and documents their prevalence in ancient Greece and Rome. Bentham opposes punishment on utilitarian grounds and attacks ascetic sexual morality. In the preceding article (Journal of Homosexuality, 3(4), 1978, p. 383-387) the editor's introduction discussed the essay in the light of 18th-century legal opinion and quoted Bentham's manuscript notes that reveal his anxieties about expressing his views." Full text from columbia.edu Stonewall and Beyond: Lebian and Gay Culture at this link.

https://history.nih.gov/

"The Office of NIH History at the National Institutes of Health exists to advance historical understanding of biomedical research within the NIH and the world. Through preserving records of significant NIH achievements, innovative exhibits, and educational programs, the Office of NIH History explores the past to enhance present understanding of the health sciences and the National Institutes of Health."

Of special online interest are the various virtual exhibits available at: https://history.nih.gov/exhibits/nirenberg/index.htm

The site also offers many oral histories available at https://history.nih.gov/archives/oral_histories.html#a

Digital facsimiles from the Internet Archive at this link.

Of the 71 editions of Cicero's classical work on aging and death printed in the 15th century, Cato major de senectute, the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue cites 71, indicating the extreme popularity of Cicero's works in the early years of printing. This is the earliest edition with a definite date, and this and two other editions that might have been printed slightly before 1469 represent some of the very first works with a medical aspect that were printed. ISTC ic00579500. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The first work on pediatric ear diseases, dedicated to the author's teacher, Adam Politzer. Alexander "was assassinated on the street between his home and the Poliklinik by Johann Sokoup, a Czechoslovakian former patient who had tried to assassinate him 22 years earlier^[4]" (Wikipedia).

Gwathmey produced anesthesia by injection into the rectum of liquid ether with olive oil dissolved in it (synergistic anesthesia). Faulconer & Keys report that by 1930 Gwathmey was able to report 20,000 successful cases of the use of rectal ether in midwifery.

Analysis, illustrated with Woodburytype photographs, of data collected by the "Collective Investigation Committee" of the British Medical Association. Note that in the 1880s attaining the age of 80 was considered worth documenting. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A guide to the chief medical papyri, with particular attention to therapeutics.

Reprinted London, Minerva Press, 1972.

Macer glosses, Pseudo-Apuleius, Herbarium, Macrobius, etc. 12th century.

"A composite manuscript which comprises four parts, Parts 1 and 2 contain items in English, Part 3 contains Macrobius, "Saturnalia" and Part 4 includes Cotton's notes (see, British Library Catalogue, and Doane 1994, pp. 20-25).

Part 1, fols 5-10, contains text copied in s. xii hands: Fols 5r-10: Peter of Poitiers, Compendium Historiae in Genealogia Christi. Fol. 10v, chapter titles of Macer, De viribus herbarum. Chapters 10, 11, 13-19, 22 and 37 are glossed in English in a different hand, s. xii, to that of the main text. There are also some annotations in Anglo-Norman (see, Doane 1994, p. 21; Ker 1957, p. 283; Gough 1974, pp. 285-87; Bierbaumer 1976, p. xxi).

Part 2, fols 11-85: the table of contents, the translation of the enlarged Herbarius Apuleii and of the Medicina de quadrupedius are from s. xi1. Part 2 also contains: Fol. 11r, s. xii, annotations around a hole (Doane 1994, p. 21; Voigts 1976, p. 258). Fols 12r-18v, table of content of the 'Herbarius', followed by 185 chapters of the translation of Herbarius Apuleii, titled '[H]ERBARIVM | APVL[EI] [P]LAT[ONICI] | QVOD AC[CE]PIT AB E|SCOLA[P]IO ET [A] CH[I]RONE CENTAVRO: MAGISTRO | ACHILLIS' on fols 19v-74v, and a translation in Old English of Medicina de quadrupedibus beginning 'SAGAÐ ÐÆT ÆGYP | ta cyning idpartus Æ¿æs haten' on fols 75-82v (de Vriend 1984 and Cockayne 1864-66). A s. xii hand probably added the chapters in the table of contents: I- CLXXIX and, as Ker 1957 notes, the chapter numbers in the upper margin of most pages are also in this hand.

Fol. 17v contains a note in Old English, s. xii, 'Se unbrade þistel he havat | Æ¿iplete (?) hauod' (Ker 1957, p. 284, and Doane 1994, p. 22). Fol. 18v is partially blank and contains recipes in Old English Ad uertiginem, 'Num betonica Ë¥ Æ¿æll sÆ¿yðe on Æ¿in | oþþa on ald ealað' and Ad pectoris dolorem, 'Num horsellens Ë¥ eft geÆ¿ænen bare' s. xi2 (Ker 1957, p. 284, Cockayne 1864-66, 1, 378). Fols 82v-83 contain four recipes in Old English in three hands. The first two recipes, fols 82v/21-83r/11, 'Ðis is seo seleste eah salf' and, fol. 83r/12-19, 'Ðis mæg to eah salfe', are in the same hand as that of the recipes on fol. 18v. Fols 83r/20-31, the third recipe is in a s. xi hand, 'Æ¿ið lungen adle' (Cockayne 1864-66, 1, 374). Fols 83r/1-15, the fourth is in a s. xii hand 'Æ¿ið fot adle' (Cockayne 1864-66, 1, 376). On fol. 83, eight Latin recipes, and two chams in a s.xiiiin hand. On fol. 83r/27, 'warantiÄ™' is glossed 'Æ¿ret' (Ker 1957, pp. 284-85 and Doane 1994, p. 22)" ( http://www.le.ac.uk/english/em1060to1220/mss/EM.BL.Vite.C.iii.htm , accessed 04-2017).

In 2017 the British Library published a digital facsimile of Cotton Vitellius C III online at this link. The modern English translation is by van Arsdall No. 8879). 

First edition of the earliest Old French herbal in verse— "a surprisingly comprehensive work (3188 octosyllables), based on an eleventh-century Latin treatise 'De viribus herbarum' attributed to a certain 'Macer'. It occupies a significant place in the development of herbals and is an interesting witness to writing in Western France in the thirteenth century and to the unusual syntax and concentrated style of its author. Some one hundred and twenty-five plants are described together with their medicinal uses, which cover a remarkable range of ailments. For ease of recognition the sections of text which do not seem to be based on the received text of 'Macer' are printed in italics. Quotations from the principal source and from parallels are given in the notes" (publisher).

Schüffner and Vervoort introduced oil of chenopodium for the treatment of ankylostomiasis as early as 1900.

First clinical description of adenoid growths. For an English translation of the paper see Med. -chir. Trans., 1870, 53, 191-215

Finsen was the founder of modern phototherapy. He demonstrated the value of invisible light, the actinic or chemical ray, the ultra-violet ray, as therapeutic measures. He received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1903.

Holmgren introduced the wool-skein test for the diagnosis of color-blindness.

Boeck, eminent Norwegian dermatologist and syphilologist, was the first to describe Norwegian itch, scabies crustosa (“Boeck’s scabies”).

Remak, Owen, and Virchow had previously noted the presence of what may have been parathyroids; the first systematic account of them was given by Sandström. An English translation of this paper appeared in Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., Baltimore, 1938,6, 192-222; a translation was also published in book form at Baltimore, 1938.

Bloch was first to employ the two-stage (Mikulicz) operation for cancer of the colon. See also No. 3527.

A serious railway accident in Sweden in 1875 was believed by Holmgren to be due to color-blindness, and resulted in the above important paper dealing with the condition and its relation to railway and maritime traffic. Translation in Rep. Smithsonian Inst., 1877. Washington, 1878, 131-200.

Retzius introduced the method of classifying races according to the cranial or cephalic index. A German translation of his paper is available in the Arch. Anat. Physiol. wiss. Med., 1845, 84-129.

Steenstrup is responsible for the theory of the “alternation of generations”. He showed that certain animals produce offspring which never resemble them but which, on the other hand, bring forth progeny which return in form and nature to their grandparents or more distant ancestors. An edition in German was also published in 1842. An English translation of the book was published by the Ray Society of London in 1845.

Tuberculous aneurysm of the lung (“Rasmussen’s aneurysm”). English translation in Edinb.med.J.,1868, 14,385-401, 486-503; 1869, 15,97-104, 228-36.

Lange was the first to use a mixture of drugs containing lithium carbonate for the preventive treatment of periodic depression. This work contains the “first unequivocal account of prophylactic drug treatment for an exclusively psychiatric–as distinct from physical–condition” (Johnson).

First demonstration of retinal action currents.

SeeNo. 2624.

First modern description of leprosy (“Danielssen-Boeck disease’’). Danielssen, physician to the leprosy hospital at Bergen, was the founder of scientific leprology. The extremely rare Atlas  consists of 24 plates and two pages of text. French translation, Paris, J. B. Baillière, 1848; the atlas was also reproduced in French, Rio de Janeiro, in 1946.

Petersen issued a second book, "On herbal extracts" in 1534. According to Stokker, Remedies and rituals: Folk medicine in Norway and the new land (2007) p. 111, Pedersen's two works together contained "250 medical herbs, 140 of them domestic."

A collection of eight separate tracts, most with their own title page, by seven authors, all edited, and some with commentary by Gesner. The work is relevant for the history of "natural history" for containing Kentmann's Catalogus, the earliest printed catalogue of a mineral collection. This was probably also the earliest printed catalogue of any private collection in natural history. Though Kentmann's collection may have existed only in a cabinet, and was not formally a museum, because of the very early date, I think it is worthwhile to include his collection in this bibliography.

Supposedly Kentmann's catalogue was also published separately, but because no copies appear to exist with their own title page, I suspect that separate publication was doubtful. On the other hand, Kentmann's catalogue of calculi (No. 11489) was clearly issued with its own title page, and was thus probably available both in Gesner's collection and as a separate work.

Curtis Schuh's online Biobibliography of Minerology has this to say about Kentmann's minerology catalogue:

Catalogus rerum fossilium Io. Kentmani numerous folii puncto praeeunte, faciem priorem indcat:sequente, posteriorem. 

"This early catalog describes the "fossils" or "things dug from the earth" collected by Johannes Kentmann. Although some petrified remains of animal and plants are included in the descriptions, it is essentially a portrait of a fifteenth century mineral collection. This treatise is therefore the earliest work to catalog mineralogical items in their own right.

"The text gives a detailed inventory of 1,608 individual specimens, with an unusual feature for the period of providing accurate locality information for each sample described. As would be expected, over 1,100 of the specimens originated from the region around Saxony where Kentmann flourished. Yet a suprising aspect are the 472 specimens described as having come from foreign lands. This indicates the vigor and great expense Kentmann used to acquire material for his ever growing collection. Unfortunately, none of the specimens was illustrated. However, a major novelty of the work was a woodcut illustration of the actual mineral cabinet used to store the collection. The picture shows thirteen drawers that were used to segragate the specimens. This closely follows the method of classification outlined in the text.

"The system devised by the author is based principally on the work of Georg Agricola, but modified and enlarged upon Gesner's insistance. It consists of twenty-six major divisions with headings such as earths, stones, flourites, hard-bodied minerals, marbles, ores of gold, silver, copper and lead, pyrites, antimony, iron, etc. Each division was then subdivided according to the kind of species. For example, this separation included male and female loadstone, which respectively, attracted or repeled iron particles. A good modern translation and analysis of Kentmann's work is provided in Prescher, H., J. Helm and G. Fraustadt, "Johannes Kentmanns Mineralienkatalog, aus dem Jahre 1565," Abhandlungen des Staatlichen Museums für Mineralogie und Geologie zu Dresden, 30 (1980), 5-152."

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

 (Thanks to Arnaud Mignan, medium.com, for drawing my attention to this work.)

Constantine was a Muslim from North Africa who converted to Christianity. His writings were first published with those of Isaac Judaeus in the above edition which includes many separate texts. Many of the writings of Constantine were translations into Latin of Greek, Arabic and Jewish writers. Through his translations he placed Muslim thought and culture at the disposal of European medicine from the 12th to 17th centuries. For a time he taught at the School of Salerno. Digital facsimile of the Lyon 1515 edition from the Herzog August Bibliothek at this link. Digital facsimile of the Basel, 1536 edition of Constantine's works from Google Books at this link. 

An early work on memory disorders and aids to memory. ISTC no. ia00210000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

In Omphalos, published in 1857, two years before the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, Gosse attempted to reconcile the paleontological record with creationist religious beliefs by arguing that the fossil record was not evidence of evolution, but an act of creation by God to make the world appear older than it actually is. This tautology parallels how Gosse chose to explain why Adam, who could have had no mother, had a navel: Though Adam would have had no need of a navel, God gave him one anyway to give him the appearance of having human ancestry. Following this argument, the title of Gosse's book, Omphalos, means "navel" in Greek.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Abdominal section and ileostomy for intestinal obstruction; surgeon’s report on pp. 130-35.

First important account of syringomyelia.

First successful operation in Britain for treatment of volvulus, performed 20 February, 1883.

Jackson here described the syndrome consisting of paralysis of half the tongue, the same half of the palate, and of one vocal cord – “Jackson’s syndrome”.

In their classic account of xanthoma multiplex, Addison and Gull believed they were describing a new disease, but Rayer had been the first to mention it. (See No. 3989; see also the later paper by Gull, Guy’s Hosp. Rep., 1852, 2 ser., 8, 149.)

Hastings Gilford gave progeria its name; it was first fully reported by him in Practitioner, 1904, 73, 188-217. Digital facsimile of the 1897 paper from PubMedCentral at this link.

Gull was among the first to point out the cause of myxedema, of which the above paper gives a classic description. Gull was associated with Guy’s Hospital, London, for most of his life.

Tinea nodosa (trichorrhexis nodosa, “Paxton’s disease”) first described.

“Rendu–Osler–Weber disease.” Multiple hereditary telangiectasis was first described by Legg (No. 2707) in 1876 and later by Rendu (No. 2710) and Weber (No. 2714). Reprinted in Medical Classics, 1939, 4, 243-53.

Paget was at one time Sergeant Surgeon to Queen Victoria. His classic description of osteitis deformans led that condition to be called “Paget’s disease”. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1936, 1, 29-71.

“Still’s disease”, chronic articular rheumatism in children. See also Nos. 4499 and 6356.

First description of African Swine Fever. Montgomery was "Veterinary Adviser to the Government of Uganda, formerly Veterinary Pathologist to the East Africa Protectorate."

Independently of Demarquay (No. 5344.3) and Wucherer (No. 5344.6), Lewis found microfilariae in the urine and blood in chyluria. He was first to use the term Filaria sanguinis hominis for the parasite.

Demonstration that L. donovani is capable of reproduction in Phlebotomus. With R. O. Smith.

“Huxley’s layer” and “membrane” of the root sheath of hair follicles.

While serving in India as a veterinary surgeon, Evans discovered parasites in the blood of horses suffering from surra; this was the first pathogenic trypanosome to be described.

Stephenson suggested the oil immersion lens system to Abbe, who developed it.

While a student at the London Hospital, Cumming, by shading the eye of a fellow student from the light, was able to look directly into it and obtain both the retinal reflex and the white light from the entrance of the optic nerve. He made the first suggestion for the construction of a device for examining the fundus.

Martin devised a form of perfusion of the isolated mammalian heart – one of the greatest single contributions ever to come from an American physiological laboratory. This made possible his later work on the heart. See W. Bruce Fye,  "H. Newell Martin and the isolated heart preparation: The link between the frog and open heart surgery," Circulation , 73 (1986) 857-864.
Also in 1881 Martin published a different account: "A new method of studying the mammalian heart," Studies from the Biological Laboratory, 2 (1881) 119-130, with an engraved plate drawn by Martin.

First modern description of mycetoma of the foot – “Madura foot”, “Carter’s mycetoma”. It was mentioned by E. Kaempfer in his Amoenitates exoticae, Lemgo, 1712, p. 561. Colebrook at the Madura Dispensary is said to have given it the name “Madura foot” in 1846. See also No. 4066.

“Fielding’s membrane”, the tapetum of the retina.

Moore and Murchison introduced the method of treating aneurysm by passing wire into the aneurysmal sac.

Smith found that dead virus can induce immunity against the living virulent virus. Although Smith made the discovery on his own, his supervisor, D.E. Salmon, usurped credit. See Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988) 31-32.

Lister’s work on the antiseptic principle in surgery. He believed that bacteria could enter wounds and cause suppuration and putrefaction and that it was necessary to kill the bacteria already in wounds and to apply dressings impregnated with some bactericidal substance. He finally hit on carbolic acid for this purpose. When this work was done it had not yet been proved that bacteria were the cause of disease. The above work is reprinted in Med. Classics, 1937, 2, 28-71.

Marshall Hall’s method of artificial respiration.

First description of the neurotic spinal arthropathies.

Bence Jones described the myelopathic albumosuria (Bence Jones proteinuria) seen in Macintyre’s patient (No. 4327). Preliminary notes in Lancet, 1847, 2, 88, and Proc. roy. Soc. Lond., 1847, 5, 673.

First report of otosclerosis as a separate clinical entity.

Airy, Britain's Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881, was the first to devise a sphereocylindrical lens for correcting astigmatism, a condition from which he himself suffered in his left eye. Airy's method is still used today. 

Jackson drew attention to alcoholic neuritis – arthrodynia a potu. Jackson was professor at Boston Medical School.

Sharpey was the first occupant of the chair of anatomy and physiology at University College, London, this chair being the first official recognition of physiology in any English medical school. He wrote a memorable paper on cilia and ciliary motion. Through his students Sharpey was the founder of the British school of physiology. Among his pupils were Michael Foster, Burdon-Sanderson and Edward Schäfer.

By means of a special camera of his own invention French improved the method of photographing the larynx.