An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

WARREN, John Collins

8 entries
  • 10067

The pharmacopoeia of the Massachusetts Medical Society,

Boston, MA: E. & J. Larkin, 1808.

The first state pharmacopeia issued in the United States. Jackson and Warren were the "Committee for the Pharmacopoeia." Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: PHARMACOLOGY › Pharmacopeias, Societies and Associations, Medical, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Massachusetts
  • 10602

Cases of organic diseases of the heart. With dissections and some remarks intended to point out the distinctive symptoms of these diseases.

Boston, MA: Thomas R. Wait and Company, 1809.

The first monograph on heart disease written and published in the United States. Digital text from Project Gutenberg at this link.



Subjects: CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › United States
  • 11728

A letter to the Hon. Isaac Parker, chief justice of the Supreme court of the state of Massachusetts, containing remarks on the dislocation of the hip joint, occasioned by the publication of a trial which took place at Machias, in the state of Maine, June, 1824. By John C. Warren. With an appendix of documents from the trial necessary to illustrate the history of the case.

Cambridge, MA: Printed by Hilliard and Metcalf, 1826.

This work, illustrated with 5 plates, contains several clear and minute descriptions of dislocation of the hip joint. In the course of the monograph Warrenproved the possibility of a type of dislocation that was denied by Astley Cooper, yet observed by several distinguished surgeons. Warren went to the trouble of publishing this monograph, not to disprove Astley Cooper, but to present his professional opinion in a malpractice case. 

"After realizing that his hip would never be right again, Charles Lowell decided to sue his local physicians (disregarding multiple doctors’ pleas to reconsider). He accused Hawkes of neglect and failing to initially reduce the dislocation, while he brought Faxon up on charges for having tried to manipulate the dislocation without the necessary medical training. Prior to 1987, defendants were not permitted to testify on their own behalf, and if Faxon had not been likewise accused, Hawkes could have easily put him on the stand to protect him as he was the only other medical practitioner present at the time of the incident (Harvey 1991, 175). The court case Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes was brought to trial on three occasions, and no concrete verdict was ever returned. The first trial, held in June of 1822 at the Superior Court for Washington County, Maine under Justice David Perham ruled in Lowell’s favor. The Judge charged Faxon and Hawkes $1962, who promptly appealed the case and brought it to the Supreme Court at Machias. The second trial, overseen by Chief Justice Prentiss Mellen, took place three months later in September of 1822. The jury, however, was highly influenced by outside politics not directly associated with case itself, and was unable to come to any agreement. They were divided, not only by the loyalties and biases between Massachusetts and Maine (the later had only seceded in 1820), but also on a more micro scale between Washington County in northern Maine and the surrounding areas (Spaulding 1910, 9). The doctors in this trial can be clearly grouped into opposing sides: all Bostonian doctors in favor of the plaintiff; all doctors from Maine supporting the defense. Amongst the smaller sphere of Maine residents, players can likewise be separated: Hawkes from Eastport (to whom whose residents felt a great sense of loyalty), and Lowell from outside the County lines. Consequently, the case was brought to court a final time in June of 1824. Once again, however, it came to a stale mate, and Justice Nathan Weston decided that “the best thing for all parties was for the plaintiff to accept a non-suit and the defendant to take no costs' (Spaulding 1910, 23)." Nobody wins. (https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/lowellhip/overview).

 Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.



Subjects: LAW and Medicine & the Life Sciences › Malpractice, ORTHOPEDICS › Orthopedic Surgery & Treatments › Hip, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Maine
  • 5742

On an operation for the cure of natural fissure of the soft palate.

Amer. J. med. Sci., 3, 1-3, 1828.

Operation in May 1824 – the first staphylorraphy in America – performed without direct knowledge of Roux’s operations. Nathan Smith (1762-1829) published an earlier paper on staphylorrhaphy in America: Am. med. Rev., 1826, 3, 396.



Subjects: PLASTIC & RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY › Cleft Lip & Palate
  • 11760

Address to the community, on the necessity of legalizing the study of anatomy. By order of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Boston: Perkins & Marvin, 1829.

The petition to the Massachusetts legislature to legalize "the procuring of subjects for anatomical dissections" (from George Hayward's printed notice on the verso of the title page). Nine members of the Massachusetts Medical Society signed their names in type to this petition, including John Collins Warren, who was largely responsible for the passage of the Massachusetts Anatomy Act of 1831. (No. 11759). Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 19th Century, LAW and Medicine & the Life Sciences › Legislation, Biomedical, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Massachusetts
  • 2611.1

Surgical observations on tumours, with cases and operations.

Boston, MA: Crocker & Brewster, 1837.

The first North American book on tumors, with 16 hand-colored plates by David Claypoole Johnston (1799-1865).



Subjects: Illustration, Biomedical, ONCOLOGY & CANCER
  • 11724

Physical education and the preservation of health.

Boston: William D. Ticknor, 1846.

An expanded version of a lecture first delivered and published as a pamphlet in 1830. This is the first edition in book form, and one of the first American works on the value of exercise for the preservation of health. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.



Subjects: PHYSICAL MEDICINE / REHABILITATION › Exercise / Training / Fitness, Sports Medicine
  • 11727

Etherization: With surgical remarks.

Boston: William D. Ticknor and Co., 1848.

Warren performed the first surgical operation under anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital on October 16, 1846. This work presents his experience with anesthesia in the year following. Digital facsimile from U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.



Subjects: ANESTHESIA › Ether