The Code of Hammurabi was found among the cuneiform tablets of the library of Ashurbanipal. It is now in the Louvre. It was first published in Scheil, "Textes élamites-sémitiques. Deuxième série: accompagné de 20 planches hors texte," Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse, Paris, 1902, 4, 4-162. The Code mentions the fees payable to a physician following successful treatment; these varied according to the station of the patient. Similarly, the punishment for the failure of an operation is set out. At least this shows that in Babylon 4,000 years ago the medical profession had advanced far enough in public esteem to warrant the payment of adequate fees. Digital facsimile of the 1904 translation from the Internet Archive at this link, of the 1902 edition in French at this link.  See also The Hammurabi code and the Sinaitic legislation. With a complete translation of the great Babylonian inscription discovered at Susa, by Chilperic Edwards (London, 1904). Digital facsimile of the Edwards version from the Hathi Trust at this link. 

The Ebers Papyrus dates from about 1552 BCE. It measures 20.23 m. in length and 30 cm. in height, and is, along with the Edwin Smith Papyrus, one of the two most important surviving medical papyri. It was written in hieratic script and contains the most complete surviving record of Egyptian medicine, and dentistry, referring to diseases of the teeth and offering various toothache remedies. Like the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the Ebers Papyrus came into the possession of Edwin Smith (1822-1906) in 1862. The source of the papyrus is unknown, but it was said to have been found between the legs of a mummy in the Assassif district of the Theban necropolis. The papyrus remained in the collection of Edwin Smith until at least 1869 when it apeared in the catalog of an antiquities dealer, described as "a large medical papyrus in the possession of Edwin Smith, an American farmer of Luxor." It was purchased by Egyptologist Georg Ebers in 1873-74, who published the first edition of the text in facsimile with an introduction in 1875. It was translated into German as Papyros Ebers. Das älteste Buch über Heilkunde. Aus dem Aegyptischen zum erstenmal vollständig übersetzt von H. Joachim (Berlin, 1890). The papyrus was translated into English by B[endix Joachim] Ebell as The papyrus Ebers. The greatest Egyptian medical document. (Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard: London: Oxford University Press, 1937). It was retranslated by Paul Ghalioungui and published in 1987. See No. 8315. Digital facsimile of vol. 1 of the 1875 edition from Heidelberger historische Bestände at this link; of vol. 2 from the same source at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1890 German translation from Heidelberger historisch Bestände-digital at this link.

The Ebers Papyrus dates from about 1552 BCE. It measures 20.23 m. in length and 30 cm. in height, and is, along with the Edwin Smith Papyrus, one of the two most important surviving medical papyri. It was written in hieratic script and contains the most complete surviving record of Egyptian medicine, and dentistry, referring to diseases of the teeth and offering various toothache remedies. Like the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the Ebers Papyrus came into the possession of Edwin Smith (1822-1906) in 1862. The source of the papyrus is unknown, but it was said to have been found between the legs of a mummy in the Assassif district of the Theban necropolis. The papyrus remained in the collection of Edwin Smith until at least 1869 when it apeared in the catalog of an antiquities dealer, described as "a large medical papyrus in the possession of Edwin Smith, an American farmer of Luxor." It was purchased by Egyptologist Georg Ebers in 1873-74, who published the first edition of the text in facsimile with an introduction in 1875. It was translated into German as Papyros Ebers. Das älteste Buch über Heilkunde. Aus dem Aegyptischen zum erstenmal vollständig übersetzt von H. Joachim (Berlin, 1890). The papyrus was translated into English by B[endix Joachim] Ebell as The papyrus Ebers. The greatest Egyptian medical document. (Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard: London: Oxford University Press, 1937). It was retranslated by Paul Ghalioungui and published in 1987. See No. 8315. Digital facsimile of vol. 1 of the 1875 edition from Heidelberger historische Bestände at this link; of vol. 2 from the same source at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1890 German translation from Heidelberger historisch Bestände-digital at this link.

The Greater German Papyrus (Brugsch Papyrus) dates from about 1300 BCE. The above facsimile reproduction and translation forms vol. 1 of the Medizin der alten Aegypter series. Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

A hieratic papyrus of the 13th-12th century BCE. It is a fragment of a monograph on diseases of the anus. The papyrus was reproduced with transcription by A. H. Gardiner in 1935. See No. 8318.

Cuneiform medical texts from the library of Ashurbanipal, together with German translations. A valuable paper on this subject is M. Jastrow’s "The medicine of the Babylonians and Assyrians," Proceedings Royal Society of Medicine. 1913-14, 7, Sect. Hist. Med., 109-76. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link

Facsimiles of the texts of 660 cuneiform medical tablets, many of which were hitherto unpublished, from the library of Ashurbanipal. The tablets date back to the seventh century B.C. No translations are included, but Thompson interpreted and systematized many of the texts in a later work (Proceedings Royal Society of Medicine, 1924, 17, Sect. Hist. Med., 1-34; 1926, 19, Sect. Hist. Med., 29-78). Digital facsimile from Stony Brook University at this link.

Ayurveda is the most ancient system of Hindu medicine; only fragments of the original remain. The early Hindus believed it to be of divine origin and ascribed it to Brahma. It dates from circa 1400-1200 BCE. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Sanskrit text. Authorities vary as to the date of Charaka. He is said to have lived at times varying between 800 BCE and 78 CE. The Samhita, or Sanhita, is one of the most ancient and complete systems of Hindu medicine to have survived. It is arranged in the form of dialogues between master and pupil and is divided into eight books. Charaka’s writing is superior to that of Susruta in the accuracy of his descriptions. What Susruta is to surgery, Charaka is to medicine.

Edited and published with translations in Hindi, Gujerati and English. The Charaka Samhita is the oldest known Hindu text on Ayurveda (life sciences). It was followed by the Sushruta Samhita. Except for some topics and their emphasis, both discuss many similar subjects such as General Principles, Pathology, Diagnosis, Anatomy, Sensorial Prognosis, Therapeutics, Pharmaceutics and Toxicology, with Sushruta Samhita providing the foundation of surgery, while Charaka Samhita is primarily a foundation of medicine.

First translation of the Suśruta Samhitā into Latin, and the first publication of this text in the West. Suśruta is said to have lived in the 6th or 5th centuries, BCE. The principal medical contribution of the ancient Hindus was in the field of surgery, and the greatest early Hindu surgeon was Suśruta, a quasi-legendary character about whose dates there is some confusion. His collection, or "Samhitā," is one of the two foundation works of ancient Indian medicine, the other being the Charaka Samhitā, a work devoted to medicine.

The Suśruta Samhitā includes the earliest description of plastic surgery; this is contained in chapter XVI of the first volume, which is devoted to the repair of torn earlobes and damaged noses, and includes the first recorded description of the pedicle flap method, subsequently named the "Indian" method. Suśruta is also credited with the description of 127 surgical instruments, and his descriptions of the operative techniques for abscesses, lithotomy, amputation, treatment of fractures and dislocations, hernia reduction and removal of foreign bodies were especially useful.

"The Suśruta-samhitā, in its extant form, in 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. The text discusses surgical techniques of making incisions, probing, extraction of foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, tooth extraction, excisions, and trocars for draining abscess, draining hydrocele and ascitic fluid, removal of the prostate gland, urethral stricture dilatation, vesicolithotomy, hernia surgery, caesarian section, management of haemorrhoids, fistulae, laparotomy and management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines and accidental perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principles of fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, apposition and stabilization including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetic. It enumerates six types of dislocations, twelve varieties of fractures, and classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery" (Wikipedia article on Sushruta, accessed 05-2017).

The Sanskrit text was published as: Suśruta Samhita. The system of Hindu medicine taught by Dhanwantari. Compiled by Suśruta. Edited by Pandit-Kulapati Jibananda Vidyasagara. 5th ed. Calcutta: Vidyasagara, Pandit-Kulapati Jibananda Vidyasagara, 1909.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive 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.

Francis Adams, surgeon of Banchory, Scotland, prepared this partial translation to acquaint his contemporaries with “the opinions of an author, whom I verily believe to be the highest exemplar of professional excellence which the world has ever seen”. It was both the first English translation of 18 "genuine" works from the Hippocratic corpus, and the last English edition of the Hippocratic writings intended to serve as actual medical instruction. Other works of the corpus remained untranslated into English until the resumed publication of the Loeb Classical Library edition beginning in 1988. The first four Loeb volumes were published in 1923–1931, and six further volumes between 1988 and 2012. Digital facsimile of the 1849 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

This Greek edition, originally planned to include the whole collection in seven volumes, was abandoned in 1907 with the founding of the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum series.  Both editions employ manuscripts and methods unknown to Littré to achieve a decisive improvement on his text.

Greek–English edition in the Loeb Classical Library. 

This collection of translations was partly reprinted with an introduction by G.E.R. Lloyd, and the addition of three new translations by I.M. Lonie as Hippocratic Writings, Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1978.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Aristotle, at one time tutor to Alexander the Great, was, among other things, the first observational biologist, and the founder of comparative anatomy. His views had a profound influence in determining the direction of biological thought, as well as scientific thought in general. The Augsburg 1479 edition is the first of ten printed editions of Aristotle's works in Latin issued in the 15th century, and like all of them, it represents selections rather than his complete works. The 1479 edition is ISTC No. ia00960000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link. 

De motu animalium. De incessu animalium. In his Works, edited by J.A. Smith and W.D. Ross, 5, 698a-714b., Oxford, 1912. 

De Anima. In his Works… translated into English. Edited by J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross. 3, 402a-35b., Oxford, 1931.

Aristotle, regarded as the founder of psychology, meant by anima or psyche the living principle which characterizes living substance.

The first comprehensive presentation of the ancient evidence for the achievements of Herophilus and his school, including edited versions of all original Greek and Latin texts plus English translations, with in-depth commentaries. In most cases these are the first English translations of the texts concerned. Considered the first anatomist, Herophilus was the first scientist to perform scientific dissections of human cadavers. He recorded his findings in over nine works, none of which survived. He was an early pioneer of the scientific method. Together with Erasistratus, he is regarded as a founder of the medical school of Alexandria.

The writings of Heraclides are frequently quoted by Galen, who regarded Heraclides as a reliable authority. Unfortunately, only a few fragments of Heraclides's works survived; his work is mainly known through quotations from Galen, Caelius Aurelianus, and others.

After the fall of Corinth (146 BCE), Greek physicians migrated to Rome. There, before the advent of Asclepiades, Greek physicians were despised and distrusted. Asclepiades may be said to have established Greek medicine in Rome on a respectable footing. His remedies included change of diet, bathing, and exercise. Gumpert preserved what is left of his writings in the above Greek edition. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

De Medicina is the oldest Western medical document after the Hippocratic writings. Written about 30 CE, it remains the greatest medical treatise from ancient Rome, and the first Western history of medicine. Celsus’s superb literary style won him the title of Cicero medicorum. De medicina deals with diseases treated by diet and regimen and with those amenable to drugs and surgery. The surgical chapters contain the first accounts of the use of ligature, excellent descriptions of lateral lithotomy and herniotomy, and the earliest discussion of the surgical remedies for mutilations -- what we now call plastic surgery, including plastic operations for restoration of the nose, lips, eyelids, ears, etc. Celsus also included numerous important contributions to dentistry, including some of the earliest Western accounts of the treatment of toothache, oral surgery, tooth extraction, and fractures of the jaw.

The text of De Medicina seems to have been neglected at some point during the Middle Ages, and when it was no longer copied, it was eventually lost. A copy was discovered in Milan in 1443. ISTC no. ic00364000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Loeb Classical Library. Text in Latin and English. This edition is based on the scholarly text of F. Marx published as Corpus Medicorum Latinorum I, Leipzig, 1915.

Aretaeus left many fine descriptions of disease; in fact Garrison ranks him second only to Hippocrates in this respect. In the printed editions of this bibliography, before the present online version, the Adams edition was cited no less than 12 times for individual diseases, plus its first citation in "Collected Works" (No. 22.) This number of citations is, of course, greater than any other specific work by any other author, though the number of citations may be a reflection of idiosyncracies of the compilers rather than a proportionate measure of the significance of Aretaeus in the history of medicine. The citations are as follows:

3162. On angina, or quinsey. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams, 249-52, 404-07.

3163. On pleurisy. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams, 255-58, 410-16.

2433. On elephas, or elephantiasis. In his Extant works, ed. by F. Adams, 366-73, 494-98. Classic description of “elephantiasis Aretaei”, nodous leprosy.

5046. On ulcerations about the tonsils. In hiis Extant works, ed. F. Adams, 253-55. Aretaeus’s description of ulcerations about the tonsils, which he called “ulcera Syrica”, clearly referred to diphtheria, of which it was the first unmistakable description. For his treatment of the disease, see pp. 409-10 of the same work.

5089. On dysentery. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams. 353-57. Prior to Lösch’s discovery of E. histolytica, all forms of dysentery were differentiated only on clinical grounds.

4915. Extant works. Ed. F. Adams. Aretaeus wrote important accounts of melancholy (298-300, 473-78) and madness (301-04).

5146. On tetanus. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams,  246-49, 400-04. Aretaeus left a full account of tetanus.

4484,  On arthritis and sciatica. In his Extant works, ed. by F. Adams,  362-65, 492-93,

3612. On jaundice, or icterus. In his Extant works, ed F. Adams, 324-28.

4510. On paralysis. In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams.

4808. On epilepsy, in his Extant works, ed F. Adams,  243, 296, 399, 468. Aretaeus was well acquainted with hemi-epilepsy from local injury in the opposite half of the brain; partly from this knowledge he formulated the “decussation in the form of the letter X” of the motor path. He first described epilepsy resulting from a depressed fracture of the skull. In his excellent description he made the first mention of the aura.

3925. On diabetes.In his Extant works, ed. F. Adams. 338-40, 485-86. The first accurate account of diabetes, to which Aretaeus gave its present name; he insisted on the part which thirst plays in the symptomatology. 

According to the Wikipedia article on Headache, Aretaeus also provied the first recorded classification system for headaches: "He made a distinction between three different types of headache: i) cephalalgia, by which he indicates a shortlasting, mild headache; ii) cephalea, referring to a chronic type of headache; and iii) heterocrania, a paroxysmal headache on one side of the head." 

Digital facsimile of Adams's Greek and Latin edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

First printed edition in Greek, edited by Jacques Goupyl. Rufus was a Greek physician who lived during the rule of Trajan. He wrote  wrote treatises on dietetics, pathology, anatomy, and patient care. His De partibus corporis humani is is the earliest treatise on the anatomical nomenclature of the human body. In his description of diseases of the kidneys he made a concerted effort to correlate structure and function, and to provide a rational explanation of the altered function of the kidneys in disease. The section of his monograph "On Hardening of the Kidneys" constitutes the first description of morbid and clinical features of the end-stage kidneys. In his day Rufus stood out among his contemporaries as a great surgeon. He is particularly remembered for his work on hemostasis; he also wrote a treatise on gout. Rufus is mentioned by Chaucer’s doctor.Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliiothek at this link.

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.

Written about 100 CE, On Medicine (Ιατρικα) is partially preserved in a papyrus in the British Library (PBrLibr inv. 137 = P.Lit.Lond. 165). It is the most important surviving ancient Greek medical papyrus, a key source of information about the history of ancient Greek medical thought. 

"While only fragments survive of some portions of the text, the papyrus containing the work of Anonymus Londinensis is exceptionally well preserved, with 3.5 meters of the roll largely intact, containing almost 2,000 lines of text in 39 columns. It seems to be an unfinished draft (breaking off in mid-column) in the hand of the author, who compiled, digested, and manipulated various sources as he wrote, so that we may even observe the process of his thinking as he writes. The text consists of three parts: a series of definitions related to the affections of the body and soul (cols. 1-4), a doxographical part (cols. 4-20), and a physiological part (cols. 21-39)" (Wikipedia article on Anonymus Londonensis, accessed 06-02-2015).

It contains extracts from a lost collection of the opinions of earlier Greek physicians. It was found in 1891 and first described by Sir Frederick Kenyon in 1892, with the Greek text first edited and published by Hermann Diels. It was first translated into German by Heinrich Beckh and Franz Spät as Anonymus Londinensis. Auszüge eines unbekannten aus Aristoteles-Menons Handbuch der Medizin und aus Werken anderer älterer Aerzte. (Berlin, 1896). Digital facsimile of the 1893 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1896 edition in German from Google Books at this link.

Greek editio princeps of Galen's complete works in Greek, edited by the Paduan professor G. B. Oppizzoni [Opizo] with the help of John Clement , Edward Wotton, William Rose (ca. 1490-1525), and Thomas Lupset, all Engishmen and followers of Thomas Linacre, and the Saxon Georg Agricola of De re metallica fame. The work was published by Andrea Torresano, a printer who operated the Aldine press for Aldus's sons, who were then too young to run the press.

A Greek physician working in Rome, Galen's many writings in Greek dominated Byzantine, Arabic, medieval and even Renaissance medicine for over a millenium, being superseded in anatomy only with Vesalius, in physiology with Harvey, and in pathology with Boerhaave. The surviving writings of Galen also represent 25% of all that remains of ancient Greek literature.

Issuing this set in one year must have been an absolutely immense challenge for the publisher. The first volume was devoted to Galen's writings on physiology and anatomy, the second to pharmacology, the third to diagnostic, prognostic and "internistic" treatises, the fourth to therapy and hygiene, and the fifth to comments on Hippocratic texts.  For more information see HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

This Greek–Latin edition, edited by C. G. Kühn, is reprinted from much earlier editions, and leaves much to be desired with respect to scholarship. However, it remained the standard edition for about 100 years.

As of 1990 about twenty volumes containing perhaps a fifth of the Corpus were published. Although the principles of the edition varied somewhat over the 75 year course of the project, all volumes represent a decisive advance over Kühn (No. 28). Important treatises accompanied by English translations include: Galen on the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, edited and translated by Phillip De Lacy, C.M.G. V, 4, 1, 2, 3 vols., 1978-84. Galen on Prognosis, edited and translated by Vivian Nutton, C.M.G. V, 8, 1, 1979. Galen on examinations by which the best physicians are recognized, edited in Arabic and translated by Albert Iskandar, C.M.G. Supplementum Orientale IV, 1988.

Antyllus, a Greek surgeon who lived in Rome during the second century CE. is particularly remembered for his work on the surgery of aneurysm. He was first to recognize two forms of aneurysm–one caused by dilatation and the other following wounding of an artery. Much of his writing is available to us only through the industry of Oribasius who included it in his compilations. A German version of Antyllus is in Janus, 1847, 2, 298-329, 744-71; 1848, 3, 166-84. Digital facsimile from Google Books 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.

Contains selections from the writings of physicians, the originals of some of whose works no longer exist, and who would have been forgotten, but for the compilations of Oribasius. Writers included are Agathinus, Antyllus, Apollonius, Archigenes, Athenaeus, Ctesias, Dieuches, Diocles, Dioscorides, Herodotus, Justus, Lycus, Menemachus, Mnesitheus Atheniensis, Mnesitheus Cyzicenus, Oribasius, Philagrius, Philotimus, Philumenus, Sabinus, Xenocrates, Zopyrus. 

"Born in Pergamum, he [Oribasius] studied medicine at Alexandria under Zeno of Cyprus, and practised in Asia Minor. He became the personal physician of Julian, who took him to Gaul (355). Closely involved in the proclamation of Julian as emperor (361), Oribasius accompanied him until his death in Mesopotamia (363). Banished for a time to foreign courts, Oribasius was soon recalled by the emperor Valens and continued to practise his profession until an advanced age. His principal works are a collection of excerpts from Galen—now lost—and the Collectiones medicae, a vast compilation of excerpts from earlier medical writers, from Alcmaeon of Croton (c.500 bc) to Oribasius' contemporaries Philagrius and Adamantius. Both of these works were written at the behest of Julian. Of the 70 (or 72) books of the Collectiones only 25 survive entire; but the rest can be in part reconstructed from the Synopsis ad Eustathium, and the treatise Ad Eunapium, epitomes of the Collectiones in 9 books and 4 books respectively made by Oribasius himself, and from various excerpts and summaries, some of which are still unpublished. Oribasius was a convinced pagan, and his medical encyclopedia is a product of the vain effort of Julian and his circle to recall the classical past. For the medical historian its importance lies in the large number of excerpts from lost writers—particularly those of the Roman period—which it preserves, usually with a precise reference to the source; Oribasius adds nothing of his own. His work was constantly quoted and excerpted by early Byzantine medical writers, the Synopsis and the Ad Eunapium were twice translated into Latin in Ostrogothic Italy, and Syriac and Arabic translations of portions of Oribasius' work form one of the principal channels by which knowledge of Greek medicine reached the Islamic world" (Robert Browning & Vivian Nutton, Oxford Reference; http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100254300)

Digital facsimiles from Corpus Medicorum Graecorum at this link

First printed edition in the original Greek of the first half of the Tetrabiblion,  issued in Venice by the heirs of Aldus Manutius. In the Tetrabiblion Aetius collected together works of other men which might have been forgotten but for him. Among them are Rufus of Ephesus, Antyllus, Leonides, Soranus, and Philumenus. This work also includes Aetius’s own original work on the treatment of aneurysm by ligation of the brachial artery above the sac. Aetius also left an exhaustive treatise on diseases of the eye. Although he did not describe cataract, he was familiar with 61 different affections of the eye. Most of his work consists of compilations of earlier writers, but he recorded his own observations on ophthalmic therapeutics. Julius Hirschberg translated the section of Aëtius's text on ophthalmology into German, Berlin, 1899. This was translated into English by Richey L. Waugh as The ophthalmology of Aëtius of Amida. Digital facsimile of the 1534 edition from BIUSanté, Paris at this link. The standard Greek edition of books 1-8 is A. Olivieri, Corpus Medicorum Graecorum VIII, 1-2, Berlin, 1935-50. 

First printing of an incomplete medieval Latin translation by Jacques Despars of the main medical work of Alexander, a Byzantine physician from Tralles in Lydia, Asia Minor (now  Aydin, Turkey). Digital facsimile  from Google Books at this link. 

Includes the first printed edition of the Greek text and Latin translation by Mercuriale of Alexander's De vermis epistola.  Alexander's original description of worms and vermifuges make him the first parasitologist. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Paul of Aegiina was the most famous physician and surgeon in the Byzantine Empire during the seventh century, and probably thereafter. According to Eugene F. Rice, "Paulus Aegineta", Catalogus translationum et commentariorum IV (1980) p. 146, more codices of his works prior to the 13th century survived than any other Greek texts except the Bible and some patristic works, indicating that Paul's writings continued to be recopied and widely read. Paul gave original descriptions of lithotomy, trephining, tonsillectomy, paracentesis and amputation of the breast. The first clear description of the effects of lead poisoning also comes from him, indicating that lead poisoning was known in antiquity.

The work also contains extensive discussion of oral health including preservatives of teeth and dentrifices, affections and inflammations of the teeth and gums, on loosening teeth and removing them, on tongue-tied afflictions, and fracture of the jaws.

Paul's work, which did not have a formal title, was first published in print in the original Greek by the Aldine Press in 1528, edited by F. Torresani [Asulanus]. The manuscript on which Torresani based his text was copied by the scribe Manuel Pancratios in 1312. It is preserved in the Bibliòtheque Nationale de France (Par. gr. 2210), and bears Torresano's ownership inscription.

Three Latin translations were published in 1532. The first, entitled Opus divinum was translated from the Aldine edition by A. Torinus, and published by A. Cratander. It included books 1-5 and 7. The second, entitled De medica materia… published in Venice by L. Giunta, included the sixth book on surgery. The third, entitled Opus de re medica, published in Paris by S. de Colines, was based on a new, improved text and included all seven books in the translation of Johann Guinter von Andernach. 

Standard Greek text.

Text and translation from a copy made for Budge of a 12th century codex---one of the most extensive early medical manuscripts in Syriac. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The Almansor, so named after the prince to whom it was addressed, was a popular textbook and one of the first general medical texts to be printed. Rhazes ranks with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the founders of clinical medicine. Six copies of this work are recorded by the ISTC: London: British Library (purchased by William Osler in 1915 and bequeathed by him); Munich: UB; Florence: Facoltà di Medicina, Padova: C; Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, Dibner Library; St. Petersburg, Russia:. Aka.  ISTC No. ir00181500. When Osler purchased his copy it was thought to be the only copy surviving. For its full collation see the Bibliotheca Osleriana, No. 451.

Salani de Negris, whose commentary on Rhazes is included in this edition, and whose name is cited in this spelling by the ISTC, appeared to be virtually unknown except for this edition when I attempted to identify him further in July 2020.

The best edition of the Opuscula of Rhazes, containing the second printing of the celebrated Liber ad Almansorem, not to be confused with Liber nonus ad Almansorem, as well as De aegritudine puerorum (No. 6313), and other works by Rhazes. This edition also contains the first edition of Rhazes’ De proprietatibus membrorum et nocumentis sexaginta animalium. 

The Liber ad Almansorem first appeared in its entirety in 1481 with 14 other titles, including the first printed edition of Hippocrates On Airs, Waters, and Places, a pioneering work in anthropology. When republished in 1497, additional works by Rhazes, Maimonides and Avenzoar were included for a total of 23 separate titles. (Works by Hippocrates, Mesue, and Maimonides also included here were previously published in 1489, a later edition of which was issued in 1500, and 1508.)  ISTC No. ir00176000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this ink. 

The Al-Hawi, or Continens, a great encyclopedia of medicine. The above first Latin translation by Feragius Salernitanus is the largest and heaviest of the medical incunabula. The original manuscript was in Arabic. ISTC No. ir00178000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The Almaleki, or Liber regius, of Haly Abbas was the leading treatise on medicine for a hundred years, when it was displaced by Avicenna’s Canon. This was the only edition printed in the 15th century.  ISTC No. ih00003000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

Avicenna is said to have written more than 100 books, most of which have perished. He wrote on the etiology of epilepsy and described diabetes, noticing the sweetish taste of the urine. His Canon is one of the most famous medical texts ever written; a complete exposition of Galenism. Neuburger says: “It stands for the epitome of all precedent development, the final codification of all Graeco-Arabic medicine”. It dominated the medical schools of Europe and Asia for five centuries. The above is a Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona.  ISTC no. ia01417500.  ISTC no.  ia01417700 describes another printing of the same translation issued in Strassburg by Adolf Rusch (the R printer), also in 1473. Digital facsimiles of all five volumes of that edition are available from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek; volume 1 at this link.

Title transliterated. Text and title page (except imprint) are in Arabic. This is the first printing of the text in Arabic of Book V of al-Qānūn. See also S. M. Afnan, Avicenna, his life and works. London, 1958.

This translation of Book I of the Canon accompanied by a large number of valuable notes and comments on the text, which bring out the close connection between Arabic and Chinese medicine, and the influence which Avicenna had upon many medieval scholars. A translation direct from Arabic into English by H. A. Hameed et al. was published in New Delhi, 1970.

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. 

This is a Latin translation from a Hebrew version dating from 1280. Avenzoar, the greatest Muslim physician of the Western Caliphate, described the itch-mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, serous pericarditis, mediastinal abscess, pharyngeal paralysis and otitis media. He was the first to attempt total extirpation of the uterus. He anticipated the modern stomach tube and advocated rectal feeding. He carefully described, but did not perform, lithotomy, and was apparently the first to mention a lithotrite. Avenzoar's text was translated from the Arabic by Jacob probably into the Venetian vernacular, from which it was translated into Latin by Paduan physician Paravicius in 1281. ISTC no. ia01408000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

The Kitab-al-Kullyat or Colliget (Book of Universals) was an “attempt to found a system of medicine upon the neo-Platonic modification of Aristotle’s philosophy” (Garrison, p. 132). Averroës was the greatest Arab commentator upon Aristotle, and scholars still turn to him for the interpretation of obscure passages in the great philosopher’s writings. ISTC No. ia01411000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The School of Medicine at Salerno dispelled the stagnation of medicine which had persisted throughout the early Middle Ages. Its masters were the first medieval physicians to cultivate medicine as an independent science. Many of the documents compiled at the School are included in the above work, having been found in the Breslau Codex Salernitanus of the mid 12th century, discovered in 1837. The Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum was among the earlier medical works printed, its first edition appearing in Cologne, about 1480. It underwent at least 25 editions in the 15th century. The School at Salerno was eclipsed by the rise of Montpellier and Bologna to the front rank; it was suppressed by Napoleon in 1811. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Reproduction of some of the texts produced at the School of Salerno. In all, it is believed that the total output from the School numbered 100 texts, including the famous poem Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, or Flos Medicae. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A collection of Greek, Roman and Byzantine texts on medicine, written in Latin, that was mainly used as medical school textbook or reference manual between the 13th and 16th centuries. The Articella grew around a synthetic exposition of classical Greek medicine written in Baghdad by the Nestorian Christian Hunayn bin Ishaq (Johannitius), who frequently translated from Greek to Syriac to Arabic. His synthesis was based on Galen's Ars medica (Techne iatrike; Questions on medicine for students) and thus became known in Europe as Isagoge Ioannitii ad tegni Galieni. The collection includes works of Hippocrates, Galen,Theophilus Protospatharius, Johannitius, and the Byzantine physician Philaretus. As a medical library in one convenient volume, which underwent six editions in the 15th century and many other editions in the first half of the 16th century, the work reflects changing attitudes to various ancient texts and translations through the evolution of its contents.  ISTC no. ia01142500. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

An edition of the Latin translation of Maimonides’ Aphorismi (first published, Venice, 1489), together with a compilation of the works of Mesue, Avenzoar, Galen, etc. Page for page reprint, Venice, 1508. See No. 6495.7. ISTC No. im00078000.

Contains selections from the writings of Celsus, Plinius Secundus, Soranus, Apuleius, Barbarus, Musa, Priscianus, Trotula, Macer, Caelius Aurelianus, Marcellus Empiricus, Scribonius Largus, Serenus Samonicus, Strabus Gallus.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This collection of Roman, Late Antique, and Byzantine medical works, written after Hippocrates and Galen, was edited and published by Henri Estienne. The unusually worded title page states that it contains Latin translations of works by Aretaeus, Rufus of Ephesus, Oribasius, Paul of Aegina, Aetius, Alexander of Tralles, and other works including Actuarius, and Nic. Myrepsus. It also contains the Latin texts of Celsus, Scribonius Largus, Marcellus Empricus, Oribasius, Sextus Philosophicus, Aetius, Philaretus, Theophilus, Actuarius Zach. fil., Nicholaus Myrepsus Alexandrinus, Celsus, Scribonius Largus, Marcellus Empiricus, Quintus Serenus Samonicus.

Digital facsimile of Sudhoff's copy from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link. On the title page of that copy an early reader added page references to the various texts, and also wrote in the names of various other authors not mentioned on the title page by Estienne, including Demetrios Pepagomenos, whose work on gout appeared here for the first time.

An anthology of ancient Greek and more recent medical texts edited by Crassi. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Paracelsus, a much-travelled man, was one of the most remarkable figures in medicine. He was first to write on miners’ diseases, to establish the relationship between cretinism and endemic goitre and to note the geographic differences in diseases. Sudhoff studied Paracelsus exhaustively. J. Hargrave published a biography in 1951. See also W. Pagel’s Paracelsus, Basel & New York, Karger, 1958.

Osler said that Paracelsus was “the Luther of medicine, for when authority was paramount he stood out for independent study”.

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.

De Baillou, “the first epidemiologist of modern times”, foreshadowed much that was afterwards taught by Sydenham. He first described whooping-cough and is often credit with introducing the term “rheumatism”. Baillou was Court physician during the reign of Henri IV of France. See the article on Baillou by E. W. Goodall in Annals of Medical History, 1935, 7, 409-27. (According to Webb Dordick, the antiquarian bookseller Emil Offenbacher pointed out in his catalogue 28, item 94, a use of the word rheumatism as early as 1577: Petrus Pichotus. De rheumatismo . . . , Bordeaux, 1577.)

The collected works of the “father of German surgery”. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBiliothek at this link.

German translation: Wund-Artzney, gantzes Werck und aller Bücher, so viel deren vorhanden, welche theils vor diesem getruckt, theils anjetzo erst an das Tagliecht kommen. Mit einem vollkommenen Register aller denckwürden Sachen und Wörter Alle von dem Authore auffs new übersehen, an vielen Orthen so wohl mit Sendschreiben vortrefflicher Leut, als newen Warnehmungen, Exempeln und vielen raren Instrumenten vermehret: mit einem vollkommenen Register. Aus dem Lateinischen in das Teutsche übersetzt, durch Friderich Greiffen. Hanaw, Getruckt bey Johann Aubry, Frankfurth am Mayn, In Verlegung Johann Beyers, 1652. Digital facsimile of the 1652 edition from Google Books at this link.

Besides giving early accounts of scarlatina and rubella, Sennert added to the knowledge of scurvy, dysentery and alcoholism. He was an able clinician and also a believer in witchcraft. His Opera was first published in 1641; the edition given above is regarded as the best.

See Sir Geoffrey Keynes’s Life of William Harvey, Oxford, 1966, (2nd printing, with corrections, 1978) and his Bibliography of the writings of William Harvey, 3rd ed., revised by Gweneth Whitteridge and Christine English, Winchester, St. Paul’s Bibliographies, 1988.

Spieghel succeeded Casseri in the chair of anatomy at Padua. This edition of his collected writings contains the second printing of the 97 copperplates first printed in Casseri’s Tabulae anatomicae (No. 381) plus 9 exquisite plates also by Valesio and Fialetti from Casseri’s treatise, De formatu foetu, and a tenth plate representing the hymen. This splendid volume contains the second edition of No. 5229, and, in addition to Spigelius’s writings, contains the 4th edition of Aselli (No. 1094), and the 5th edition of Harvey (No. 759).

Willis was remarkable for his careful clinical observation. He was second only to Sydenham in his day. To him we owe the original descriptions of several conditions. Digital facsimile of the Lyon, 1681 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Sydenham has been called the “Father of English Medicine”. His reputation rests on his first-hand accounts of such conditions as the malarial fevers of his times, gout, scarlatina, measles, etc. A better edition of the above (editio altera) appeared in 1846. The original work, printed in 1685, is called editio altera; although no earlier edition is known to exist. An edition of Sydenham’s Opuscula was published in Amsterdam, 1683. See K. Dewhurst’s Dr Thomas Sydenham, his life and original writings., London, Wellcome Institute, 1966. Digital facsimile of the 1844 edition from the Internet Archive at this link; of the 1846 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Best English translation of Sydenham’s works.

Redi was a leading physician in Italy. He is best remembered for his experiments discrediting the theory of spontaneous generation and for his pioneer work in the field of parasitology (see No. 2448.1); see also the article on Redi by R. Cole in Annals of Medical History 1926, 8, 347-59.

Malpighi was the founder of histology. In 1660 he was the first to see the capillary anastomosis between the arteries and the veins, thus contributing to the completion of Harvey’s work on the circulation. Malpighi was also a great embryologist; his name is perpetuated in the “Malpighian bodies”, “Malpighi’s layer” of the epidermis, “Malpighi’s (splenic) corpuscles”. Malpighi was an excellent draughtsman but a poor writer. See No. 534.1 Marcello Malpighi and the evolution of embryology, by H. B. Adelmann.

Leeuwenhoek, one of the first and also one of the greatest of the microbiologists, communicated many of his discoveries to the Royal Society in London. This set is a collection in Dutch of many contributions that van Leeuwenhoek sent to the Royal Society, which were first published in English translation in Philosophical Transactions. Leeuwenhoek was first to describe spermatozoa, and the red blood corpuscles; he discovered the crystalline lens, and was the first to see protozoa under the microscope. He introduced staining in histology in 1719 (saffron for muscle fibers). He also discovered protozoa and bacteria. He is said to have had 250 microscopes and 419 lenses, many of them ground by himself. (See also Nos. 98, 265, 860.) An English translation of his works, omitting all references to spermatozoa, appeared in 2 vols, in 1798-1807. Clifford Dobell’s study, Antony van Leeuwenhoek and his ‘little animals“ (London, 1932), revealed many new facts about the man, and included a bibliography. 

Digital facsimile from loc.gov at this link.

Baglivi, Professor of Anatomy at Rome, had a short but brilliant career. He wrote Praxis medica and De fibra motrice, and originated the so-called “solidar” pathology; he also devoted much time to experimental physiology. Baglivi was a strong advocate of specialism.

Stahl tried to explain vital phenomena by mystical means. He was the head of the so-called Animistic School which explained disease as caused by misdirected activities on the part of the soul. A three-volume German translation of the above was published in Berlin in 1831-33.

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.

Lancisi's collected works edited by Pietro Assalti. Lancisi was the first to describe cardiac syphilis; he was also notable as an epidemiologist, with a clear insight into the theory of contagion. He was physician to Pope Clement XI, who turned over to him the forgotten copper plates executed by Eustachius in 1552. Lancisi published these with his own notes in 1714. (See No. 391.) Note that Lancisi’s posthumous De aneurysmatibus published in 1728 (No. 2973) appears only in later collected editions. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Hoffmann of Halle was the most important of the Iatromechanists. He believed an ether-like “vital fluid” to be present in the nervous system and to act upon the muscles, giving them “tonus”.

Boerhaave created of the modern method of clinical teaching. His writings had an enormous influence during his lifetime. Haller, Cullen, Pringle, van Swieten and de Haen were among his pupils. See Lindeboom, Herman Boerhaave, the man and his work, London: Methuen, 1968.

Huxham, a Devonshire man, was a pupil of Boerhaave. His most important contributions to medicine were in connection with fevers and infectious diseases.

Werlhof, a contemporary and friend of Haller, is remembered for his classic description of purpura haemorrhagica (see No. 3052). He was Court physician at Hannover.

Cullen was the most conspicuous figure in the history of the Edinburgh Medical School during the 18th century. He was an inspiring teacher and was instrumental in founding the Glasgow Medical School in 1744. His clinical lectures were notable as being the first given in the vernacular instead of in Latin.

Camper, an artist of skill, made his mark as an anthropologist and craniologist. He discovered the processus vaginalis of the peritoneum and the fibrous structure of the eye, and made several other important contributions to medical science. English translation, 1794.

Hunter gave a great impetus to the study of morbid anatomy; he was the veritable founder of experimental and surgical pathology. He was responsible for the commencement of some of the greatest medical museums; the Hunterian museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England was based on his own private collection; much of it was destroyed during an air raid in World War II. Vol. I of the above work includes Drewry Ottley’s Life of Hunter. A list of the books written by Hunter, and their location in British libraries, was published by W. R. LeFanu in 1946. The biography by Jessie Dobson, Edinburgh, 1969, includes a chronological list of Hunter’s writings. For a detailed analysis of his scientific works within the context of his life see John Hunter…by George Qvist, London, [1981].

Hewson was a pupil of the Hunters. In 1769 his memoir on the lymphatics in fishes won for him the Copley Medal of the Royal Society. See also Nos. 863, 1102. The editor of this edition provided a detailed historical introduction, a biography of Hewson and a bibliography of Hewson's writings. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Rush was considered the ablest American clinician of his time. He was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His many writings are distinguished for their classical style.

Purkynĕ was Professor of Physiology at Breslau and Prague. Eminent as physiologist and microscopist, he was first to use the microtome. See Kruta, V. J.E. Purkynĕ, Physiologist. A short account of his contributions…with a bibliography of his works. (Prague, Academia Publishing House, 1969).

An annotated edition and translation, including the texts of Semmelweis’s works on puerperal fever as a septicemia (No. 6275) and on the etiology of puerperal sepsis (No. 6277) as well as other gynecological papers and articles on Semmelweis by Hebra and Skoda, among others. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

One of the founders of bacteriology, Pasteur's work on fermentation, the doctrine of spontaneous generation (which he exploded), virus diseases and preventive vaccinations, was fundamental. Digital facsimile of the complete works from BnF Gallica at this link. An early classic biography is René Vallery-Radot (1853-1933), La Vie de Pasteur, Paris, 1900. English translation, 2 vols., 1901. More recent scholarship includes Gerald Geison, The private science of Louis Pasteur (1995). One of the best modern biographies is Patrice Debré, Louis Pasteur, Paris: Flammarion, 1994. English translation by Elborg Forster, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998.

Charcot, famous teacher at La Salpêtrière, created there the greatest neurological clinic of his time. He was a pioneer of psychotherapy and left many memorable descriptions of nervous disorders. Pierre Marie, who died in 1940, was a pupil of Charcot. Digital facsimile from the Internet archive at this link.  An extensive bibliography of Charcot's works with links to digital facsimiles of many of his publications may be found on the Charcot website of Serge Nicolas at https://sites.google.com/site/jeanmartincharcot18251893/home (accessed 12-2016).

Lister, a pupil of Sharpey, became Professor of Surgery successively at Glasgow, Edinburgh and King’s College, London. He was the first medical man in Britain to be raised to the peerage. The founder of the antiseptic principle, his work had a profound effect upon modern surgery and obstetrics. It is to be remembered that Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ignaz Semmelweis had both, before Lister, striven without success to obtain the adoption of antisepsis in obstetrics. Because Lister never wrote any books, his Collected papers remain his lasting monument. Lister's collected works were "prepared for the press by a Committee consisting of:" Sir Hector C. Cameron, Sir. W. Watson Cheyne, Rickman J. Godlee, C. J. Martin, Dawson Williams.

Sir Rickman Godlee’s biography of Lister appeared (2nd ed.) in 1918. A shorter biography was published by H. C. Cameron in 1948, and another by D. Guthrie in 1949. See also R. Fisher, Joseph Lister, New York: Stein & Day, 1977. Digital facsimile of the 1909 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

For his work on tuberculosis Koch received the Nobel Prize in 1905. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. See T.D. Brock, Robert Koch: A life in medicine and bacteriology, Madison, WS: Science-Tech Publishers, 1988.

Vol. 1: Pathology and preventive medicine. Vol. 2: Bacteriology. Vol. 3: Medical education, history, miscellaneous subjects, and Welch's bibliography. Introduction by Simon Flexner. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

In spite of an addiction to cocaine hydrochlorate from experimentation with it as a surgical anesthetic in 1884 until his death, Halsted was among the greatest of all surgical innovators and teachers. While pioneering important new procedures, he developed the modern system of residency training and was the first to use rubber gloves in surgery. Like Lister, Halsted never wrote any books; his collected papers remain his lasting monument. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Vol. I: Histology, biochemistry, and pathology, Vol. 2: Immunology and cancer research; Vol. 3: Chemotherapy. Most texts are in German. English translations are also published when available. The set includes new English translations of a few items. Volume 4, intended to contain Ehrlich’s collected letters and a complete bibliography, was never published. See M.M. Marquardt’s Paul Ehrlich, 1949, and E. Bäumler’s, Paul Ehrlich, scientist for life, G. Edwards transl., [1984].

This series sets as its goal the scholarly edition of all extant ancient Greek medical texts, including those lost in the original language but preserved in medieval translations. These are numbered as follows: I. Hippocrates, II. Aretaeus, III. Rufus, IV. Soranus, V. Galen, VI. Oribasius, VII. Alexander of Tralles, VIII. Aetius of Amida, IX. Paulus of Aegina, X. Minor Writers, XI. Minor commentators on Hippocrates and Galen. Miscellaneous works are included in Supplementa and Supplementa Orientalia. Many editions in the series are available online at this link. 

As of 1990 eight volumes were published (*). The completed series would include: I. Celsus*; II. Scribonius Largus, Quintus Serenus* etc.: III. Plinius Secundus Iunior*; IV. Antonius Musa, Pseudo-Apuleius, Sextus Placitus, etc.*; V. Marcellus*; VI. Cassius Felix, Theodorus Priscianus; VII. Caelius Aurelianus*; VIII. Anthimus*, Mustio, etc.

See also: Abstracts of the standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, edited by Carrie Lee Rothgeb, with an introduction on reading Freud by Robert R. Holt. (New York: Jason Aronson, 1973). For biography see Ernest Jones, Sigmund Freud, life and work, 3 vols., London, 1953-57; and Peter Gay, Sigmund Freud: A life for our time, New York, 1988. For iconography see E. Freud, L. Freud, & I. Grubrich-Simitis, Sigmund Freud: His life in pictures and words, New York, [1978].

Empedocles was a Greek philosopher, statesman, physician and reformer. His poem on Nature originally ran to 5,000 lines, of which only 400 are now left. He believed in four ultimate elements—fire, air, water and earth, these being brought into union and parted by the two powers, love and hate. Digital facsimile of the Chicago, 1908 edition in book form from the Internet Archive at this link.

A student of Aristotle, Theophrastus succeeded his teacher as head of the Athens Peripatetic School. This is the earliest work of scientific botany, a subject not addressed in any of the writings of Aristotle. Theophrastus collated and systematized the existing botanical knowledge and described about 500 plants. His system of botanical classification was analogous to the zoological system in Aristotle’s Historia animalium. Part of the book is devoted to plant-lore and the gathering of drugs for medicinal purposes. Theophrastus noted the principle of drug tolerance, observing that the power of a drug taken over a long period diminishes in people who become accustomed to taking it. He was also aware of individual differences in assimilation.

 First edition in Greek in Aristotle, [Opera omnia], Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1495-98. ISTC No. it00155000. Digital facsimile of the 1483 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

The work is a reasoned system of philosophy written in verse. Book V attempts an explanation of the origin of the universe and life, and the gradual advance of man from the savage state. All these topics are treated from the viewpoint that the world is not itself divine nor directed by a divine agency. Definitive edition with translation, commentary, apparatus criticus and prolegomena by Cyril Bailey, 3 vols., London, Oxford University Press, 1947. ISTC No. il00332900.

The most ancient Western encyclopedia extant, Pliny’s Historia contained essentially all that was known in his time concerning geography, mineralogy, anthropology, botany, zoology and meteorology. Books XX-XXXII deal with medicine. Because of its practical value, Historia naturalis was one work of classical antiquity which, despite the sometimes unreliable nature of its material, was frequently copied, and read steadily throughout the Middle Ages. Pliny's botanical errors were not corrected until 1492 (Leoniceno, see No. 1798).

Pliny’s work was one of the very first scientific texts to be printed. The first English translation by Philemon Holland appeared in 1601. The modern English translation of the Natural History with parallel Latin text is that of W.H.S. Jones, H. Rackham, and D.E. Eichholz in the Loeb Classical Library, 10 vols., Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1948-63. The 1469 edition is ISTC No. ip00786000; Digital facsimile from Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, Paris, at the Internet Archive, at this link.

A condensed encyclopedia of what was then understood by natural science. The work was probably written about the middle of the 13th century. It was one of the most widely read scientific works of the Middle Ages. Caxton is said to have learned to print from this book. ISTC No. ib00131000. Digital facsimile from Heinrich Heine Universität Dusseldorf at this link.

This English translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus was made by John of Trevisa in 1398. Bibliographically it is of interest as being one of the earliest books printed in London, one of the finest of the 15th century, and the first book printed on paper made in England. See also On the properties of things. John Trevisa’s translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus’ De proprietatibus rerum. A critical text edited by M. C. Seymour, 2 vols., London, 1975.  ISTC No. ib00143000.

The scientific study of the mechanics of flight begins with Leonardo’s investigations on birds, undertaken during his attempts to build a flying machine. At the time of publication Sabachnikoff owned the manuscript. After publishing this facsimile he donated the original to Umberto I, who turned it over to the Royal Library of Torino. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

2nd edition, 1956 (reprinted London, Cape, 1977).

The first herbal printed in Germany, and the prototype for most of the herbals printed during the remainder of the 15th century. It also contains some fanciful pictures of animals. With text in Latin and with German synonyms, this is often called the Latin Herbarius. It was the first printed book issued with a title page bearing a complete imprint, and it is also known as “Herbarius Moguntinus". It was probably compiled by Johann Wonnecke von Kaub from the works of earlier writers. ISTC No. ih00062000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link.

Nine different versions of the Herbarius latinus were issued during the 15th century, with the language of the synonyms changed to reflect the language of the countries where published. There was also a Dutch translation issued in Holland with Latin synonyms, and two Latin editions issued without synonyms. See No. 1796.

First edition of an herbal and general treatise on natural history which became very popular; based on the unusually large number of surviving copies in institutions it must have also been a bestseller. The plant illustrations in this work are for the most part copied from the Gart der Gesundheit (No. 1796). 150 illustrations of animals and minerais are new or borrowed from models in manuscripts or playing cards, etc. Despite its quaint and often fanciful woodcuts of animals and plants, it stimulated other more scientific treatises on botany and zoology. Available in facsimile in W. L. Schreiber’s Die Krauterbücher des XV und XVI Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1924. An English translation of circa 1521 (S.T.C. 22367) was reprinted London, Quaritch, 1954, edited by N. Hudson. ISTC No. ih00486000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek at this link. The ISTC lists 7 editions, including a French translation.

In the first scientific study of spontanteous generation Redi’s experiments dealt the first real blow to the ancient doctrine. In these experiments Redi made use of what we now term “controls”. English translation, 1909.

First experimental demonstration of the sexuality of plants. Camerer showed that in flowering plants the anthers are male organs, and that the ovary with style and stigma are female, and that pollen is required for the production of viable seeds. Until his work, the continuity of reproductive processes in plants and animals had been a matter of speculation; after it, the scientific study of fertilization and hybridization became possible. Second edition in Valentini's Polychresta exotica (1700). Digital facsimile of the 1700 edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

In Systema naturae Linnaeus developed the first logical and modern classifications of plants, animals and minerals. Its most valuable feature, the binomial nomenclature (genus and species), was probably devised in the first place by Joachim Jung, about 1640. Jung never published his system during his lifetime, and its posthumous publications were relatively obscure.

Linnaeus issued the first edition of this work as a series of large charts printed on both sides of seven sheets, or as a series of charts printed on one side only of twelve sheets. The most important edition of the Systema naturae is the tenth, published in 2 vols., 1758-59.

In this work Linnaeus introduced his full binomial naming system for plants (binomial nomenclature).  Describing about 8,000 plant species from all over the world, the book demonstrated the value of a binomial system of nomenclature for biology generally, and was the stimulus to the development of this type of classification throughout the field.  Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.