Isolation of Rickettsia akari, aetiologic agent of rickettsialpox. With W. L. Jellison and C. Pomerantz.

Rickettsialpox described.

Introduction of chloramphenicol, used in treatment of typhus.

Relationship of primary atypical pneumonia and Q fever.

The first medical description of smallpox was written by Rhazes, about the year 910… The above work is the first edition of the Arabic text with a parallel Latin translation by the English pharmacist and scholar, John Channing, concerning whom see E. Savage-Smith, "John Channing: Eighteenth-century apothecary and arabist," Pharmacy in history, 30 (1988) 63-80. For an English translation see Medical Classics, 1939, 4, 22-84. A translation was also published by the Sydenham Society, 1848. See Nos. 2527 & 5441. In his Treatise on the smallpox and measles, Rhazes stated that survival from smallpox infection prevented an individual from ever acquiring the disease again. His explanation for why the disease does not strike the same individual twice is the first theory of acquired immunity.

First authentic report on variolation.

The first medical publication of North America and the only one to appear in the 17th century. Only one copy of the original printing of this broadside survived, written by Thacher, a Boston minister.  The sheet was reprinted, with a bibliographical and biographical study of the reprints done in 1702 and 1721-22, by Henry R. Viets. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1937).

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.

A letter dated December, 1713 from Timoni of Constantinople to John Woodward, and read to the Royal Society in May, 1714, described the practice in that city of inoculation against smallpox. The letter aroused interest in inoculation in England. A fellow of the Royal Society since 1703, Timoni was the first to write on this subject for Western physicians, although Pylarini’s researches had commenced in 1701.

Inoculation was practiced in ancient times. In 1701 Pilarino inoculated three children at Constantinople with smallpox virus. He is credited with the “medical” discovery of variolation, and is thus the first immunologist. His book records his many researches on the subject.

This reprint of No. 5409.1 appeared in the same volume as Timoni’s paper. Both were republished in Latin: Tractatus bini de nova variolas per transplantationem excitandi methodo, Leyden, 1721. Digital facsimile of 1721 edition from Google Books at this link.

An abridgement of Nos. 5409 & 5410 together with Boylston’s remarks. From internal evidence this 24-page pamphlet would appear to be the first North American publication on inoculation. See No. 5415. Digital facsimile of the incomplete U.S. NLM copy from the Internet Archive at this link.

This work offers general support for the practice of Zabdiel Boylston, detailing some of Boylston’s cases, including accounts of occasions when patients died. Reprinted with additional material by Daniel Neal, as A narrative of the method and success of inoculating the small-pox in New England, by Mr. Benj. Colman…London, 1722.

Douglass at first opposed inoculation for smallpox, but by 1730 he had changed his views and had become an advocate of inoculation.

Mather republished reports of earlier writers on inoculation. He persuaded Boylston to adopt the practice in June 1721, and he supported Boylston during a period of great opposition to inoculation.

Maitland inoculated the children of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in 1721, and also inoculated six condemned prisoners as part of the so-called “Royal Experiment”. Success with these trials lead to his inoculation of the children of the Prince of Wales, and to the popularization of inoculation in England.

Boylston was the first in America to inoculate for smallpox, at Boston on 26 June 1721. 

"During a smallpox outbreak in 1721 in Boston, he inoculated about 248 people^[5] by applying pus from a smallpox sore to a small wound on the subjects, a method said to have been previously used in Africa. Initially, he used the method on two slaves and his own son, who was 13 at the time. This was the first introduction of inoculations to the United States. An African slave named Onesimus taught the idea to Cotton Mather, the influential New England Puritan minister.

"His method was initially met by hostility and outright violence from other physicians, and many threats were made on his life, with some even threatening to hang him on the nearest tree. He was forced to hide in a private place of his house for 14 days, a secret known only by his wife. During this hostility, his family was also in a dangerous situation. His wife and children were sitting in their home and a lighted hand-grenade was thrown into the room, but the fuse fell off before an explosion could take place. Even after the violence had subsided, he visited his patients only at midnight and while disguised.^[6] After his initial inoculations of his son and two slaves, he was arrested for a short period of time for it (he was later released with the promise not to inoculate without government permission). In 1724, with a letter of introduction to Dr. James Jurin by Cotton Mather^[7] , Boylston traveled to London, where he published his results as Historical Account of the Small-Pox Inoculated in New England, and became a fellow of the Royal Society two years later. Afterward, he returned to Boston" (Wikipedia article on Zabdiel Boylston, accessed 03-2018).

The second edition was published in Boston in 1730. Digital facsimile of the second edition preserved in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, from the Internet Archive at this link.

After its initial popularity, inoculation fell into disuse in England. Kirkpatrick, who became a prominent inoculator in England after experience in America, helped considerably in reviving its popularity. He attempted the attenuation of the virus by his arm-to-arm method of inoculation.

Includes a Latin translation of Rhazes’s commentary on smallpox. Mead favored inoculation, and his great authority and influence contributed to a more general acceptance of this measure. English translation entitled A discourse on the small pox and measles, London, 1748.

Thomson, a physician in Philadelphia, was the originator of the American method of inoculation against smallpox. Printed by Benjamin Franklin. Digital facsimile from dla.library.upenn.edu at this link.

Franklin’s statistical account of smallpox inoculation in Boston during the epidemic of 1753-54, showing the beneficial effects of the practice, was written for William Heberden, who contributed the “Plain instructions” mentioned on the title. Early in his life Franklin had actively opposed inoculation but he became one of its strongest advocates after the tragic death of his son from smallpox in 1736.

Dimsdale is notable as having inoculated Catherine of Russia and her son. For this he received a fee of £10,000 and a life pension. His reputation and the exalted rank of his patient helped in popularizing the measure in England. Dimsdale used material from the inoculated site of another patient.

Jenner established the fact that a “vaccination” or inoculation with vaccinia (cowpox) lymph matter protects against smallpox. He performed his first vaccination on May 14, 1796. The above work, describing 23 successful vaccinations, announced to the world one of the greatest triumphs in the history of medicine. Jennerian vaccination soon superseded the protective inoculation of material from human cases of small-pox, which had previously been in vogue. What is probably the first mention of anaphylaxis appears on p. 13 of the pamphlet. See W.R. Lefanu, A Bio-bibliography of Edward Jenner, 1749-1823, rev. 2nd. ed., Winchester, St. Paul’s Bibliographies, 1985. Several facsimile editions have been published. As a result of the success of Jenner’s vaccine natural smallpox was eradicated. The official declaration was made by the World Health Organization on May 8, 1980. See No. 5434.2. 

Waterhouse introduced Jennerian vaccination into the U.S.A. He vaccinated his own child as his first case. See J. B. Blake, Benjamin Waterhouse and the introduction of vaccination. A reappraisal. Philadelphia, 1957. Digital facsimile of pt 1 from U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link; of part 2 from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Coxe did much to destroy ignorant prejudice against vaccination; he was the first in Philadelphia to practice it. Like Waterhouse, he inoculated his own child as his first case.

Chauveau first used the term “elementary bodies” to describe the minute bodies inside the inclusions and which were the infective particles.

In the course of his important studies on smallpox, Weigert carried out the first successful staining of bacteria (see No. 2482). His fine description of the destructive effects of the smallpox virus on the skin led to the coining of the term “coagulation necrosis” as a name for the process causing the development of the lesions.

The “Paschen elementary bodies” (No. 5430) were first recognized and demonstrated by Buist. Republished as an appendix to his Vaccinia and variola, London, 1887.

Guamieri described bodies found in the specific lesions of smallpox. Cytorrhyctes variolae guarnieri, which he believed to be the causative organism of the disease. Guarnieri bodies are found in all poxvirus infections and their presence is diagnostic.^[4] 

Milroy Lectures, Royal College of Physicians, 1898. Copeman’s bacteriological studies permanently determined the validity of vaccination as a preventive of smallpox.

Inoculation of smallpox into the monkey. An earlier report of successful inoculation by W. Zuelzer (Zbl. med. Wiss., 1874, 12, 82) is not generally accepted.

“Paschen elementary bodies”; see also No. 5427.

Noguchi obtained a pure culture of vaccinia virus.

Paul’s test for the diagnosis of smallpox.

Medical Research Council Special Report No. 98; a summary of the more important additions to the knowledge of the subject.

Ledingham’s diagnostic test.

McKinnon’s diagnostic test.

Introduction of “Maitland’s medium”.

On 8 May 1980, the World Health Organization officially announced that “smallpox eradication has been achieved throughout the world”. The upper cover of this report reproduces an electron micrograph of a specimen of variola virus taken from the last case of endemic smallpox in the world, 26 October 1977. This was the successful conclusion of worldwide vaccination efforts initiated by Jenner in 1798. See No. 5423.

This very full history of the subject caused a good deal of controversy; see the review of it in Lancet, 1890, 1, 470-72. Crookshank was an opponent of vaccination.

A comprehensive summary, in tabular form.

The appendices contain the early histories of inoculation, a list of German doctoral dissertations on inoculation 1720-52, and a bibliography.

Reissued in 2002 with a new introduction as The greatest killer: Smallpox in history.

This treatise on tumors includes (p. 194) the first known description of an epidemic disease resembling scarlet fever. This was a malady prevalent in Italy, and was commonly called rossania or rossalia. Ingrassia was first to differentiate varicella (chicken pox) from scarlet fever (pp. 194-95). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In a paper read before the (Royal) College of Physicians on 11 August 1767, Heberden first definitely differentiated chickenpox from smallpox.

Original description of varicella gangrenosa.

Bokay was the first to suggest an etiological relationship between varicella and herpes zoster. See also his paper in Wien. klin. Wschr., 1909, 22, 1323-26.

Tyzzer was first to recognize inclusion bodies in varicella.

Isolation of the varicella-herpes virus.

With A. Ross, L. H. Miller, and B. Kuo.

Rhazes differentiated measles from smallpox. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 4, 22-84. For original publication see No. 5404. The first English translation appeared in No. 5417. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

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.

Experimental human transmission of measles (pp. 266-88). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

When only 26 years of age, Panum was sent by the Danish Government to investigate the epidemic of measles then raging in the Faroe Islands. His report on the subject was a valuable contribution to medical literature. A translation of his papers is in Med. Classics, 1939, 3, 829-86. It was also published in translation by the Delta Omega Society, New York, 1940.

Koplik, American pediatrician, was the first to note and report on “Koplik’s spots”, the buccal spots which are an important early diagnostic sign in measles.

Measles transmitted to animals.

Experimental human transmission of measles.

First use of convalescent serum in prophylaxis against measles.

Measles transmitted to monkeys.

Successful cultivation of measles virus.

Gamma globulin used for passive immunization against measles. With C. G. Jennings and C. A. Janeway.

Isolation of measles virus.

With M. V. Milovanovič.

Live virus vaccine. With M. V. Milovanovič, and A. Holloway.

The first important work on tropical diseases. Only six copies of the original edition of this book are known. It includes full accounts of malaria, typhoid, and scurvy, and the first accurate descriptions of yellow fever, amoebic hepatitis, dracontiasis, trichuriasis, and tungiasis. Abreu's description of scurvy was remarkably precise. He treated the disease with fresh milk and antiscorbutic syrups, particularly rose syrup- a rich natural source of ascorbic acid. For a study of the book see F. Guerra, Clio Medica, 1968, 1, 59-60. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Du Tertre, a priest, described (pp. 81, 99, 423) the outbreaks of yellow fever at Guadeloupe in 1635, 1640, and 1648.

Carey was a Philadelphia publisher and economist rather than a physician. In this little book, which passed through four editions in a few months, Carey left a graphic description of the great yellow fever epidemic of Philadelphia in 1793, which infected about 17,000 people and left 5000 people dead, out of a population estimated at 45,000-50,000. Carey gave a good clinical description of the disease, mentioning the efficacy and the failure of many forms of treatment. Regrettably Carey accused blacks of causing the epidemic and of taking advantage of victims while acting as nurses. Wide distribution of the pamphlet contributed to fears and hostility in the city in which members of the Free African Society had risked their lives as nurses and aides to the sick and dying. Digital facsimile of the third edition, 1793, from the Internet Archive at this link.

To the fourth edition of January 16, 1794 Carey appended the following: "Acounts of the plague in London and Marseilles; and a list of the dead, from August 1, to the middle of December, 1793." Digital facsimile of the 4th edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Benjamin Rush was the most eminent figure in Philadelphia medicine in his day. His description of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 is classic. He did magnificent work in treating the sick during the epidemic and in proposing measures to prevent a recurrence. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A refutation of slights by Matthew Carey in his Short account of the malignant fever, lately prevalent in Philadelphia (1793; No. 5451) to the important contributions of black people, many of whom served as nurses and gravediggers during the epidemic. The Narrative is followed by a letter to Mattthew Clarkson, mayor of Philadelphia, signed by Jones and Allen, with Clarkson's reply. One of the earliest medical publications written by African Americans; both Allen and Jones were black ministers in Philadelphia. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Medicine, Internet Archive, at this link.

Nott advanced the theory that yellow fever was caused by minute animalcula. Reproduced in part in R. H. Major, Classic descriptions of disease, 3rd ed., 1945, p. 122.

Beauperthuy was the first protagonist of the mosquito theory of the transmission of yellow fever. Reprinted in Beauperthuy’s La Obra, Caracas, 1963, pp. 260-70; French translation in Travaux scientifiques de Louis-Daniel Beauperthuy, Bordeaux, 1891, pp. 131-42. Digital facsimile of the 1891 edition from the Wellcome Library at this link.

The most important 19th century American monograph on yellow fever. La Roche’s work sketched the disease in its appearances from 1699 to 1854 at Philadelphia, which saw some of the worst yellow fever epidemics, and provided an excellent bibliography along with discussion of the pathology, aetiology and therapeutics of the disease. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Medicine, Internet Archive, at this link.

Finlay was the first to suggest that the Aedes aegypti mosquito was the vector of yellow fever. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. English translation by Rudolph Matas as "The mosquito hypothetically considered as an agent in the transmission of yellow fever poison," New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 9 (1882) 601-616. Digital facsimile of the English translation also from Google Books at this link.

Carter's determination of the incubation period yellow fever influenced the direction of Reed’s researches, and was instrumental in the discovery of the mode of transmission of the yellow fever virus.

First definite proof that the organism causing yellow fever is transmitted to man by the mosquito Aëdes aegypti. During the period spent by these workers in the investigation of the disease in Cuba Lazear and Carroll subjected themselves to the bite of infectious mosquitoes to test the theory that mosquitos were carriers of yellow fever. Lazear died from the yellow fever infection in 1900, but Carroll recovered and completed the research. He later died of the yellow fever infection in 1907. Reproduced in part in Major, Classic descriptions of disease, 3rd ed., 1945, p. 131. Further account in J. Hyg. (Camb.), 1902, 2, 101-19.  Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Yellow fever convalescent serum employed. With A. T. Salimbeni and P. L. Simond.

Franco, J. Martínez-Santamaria, and G. Toro-Villa described epidemics of yellow fever spread by mosquitoes other than Ae. aegypti. Later F. L. Soper, et al., Amer. J. Hyg., 1933, 18, 555-87, substantiated this.

First vaccine for immunization against yellow fever. Hindle devised a method for the transportation of frozen infected material from West Africa to London, making it possible to carry on experimental work in Britain.

Experimental infection of the monkey, Macacus rhesus, with the yellow fever virus. Stokes succumbed to yellow fever while investigating the disease. With J. H. Bauer and N. P. Hudson.

The intracerebral protection test in mice, a test for the diagnosis of yellow fever and for the determination of its past existence in a community, was made possible by Theiler’s discovery that white mice are susceptible to the intracerebral inoculation of the virus. 

Intraperitoneal protection test.

These workers devised an immune serum for prophylactic inoculation against yellow fever. With S. F. Kitchen and W. D. M. Lloyd.

Yellow fever virus grown in tissue culture.

Intracerebral protection test.

Immunization without the use of immune serum. 

In 1951 Theiler was awared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of an effective vaccine against yellow fever." This was the first Nobel Prize awarded for a virus vaccine. See also Nos. 5463 and 5465.1.

Haemagogus sp. shown to be vectors of yellow fever. With L. Whitman and M. Frania.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bylon described an epidemic of dengue which appeared in the Dutch East Indies in 1779, the first definite description of the disease. O. H. P. Pepper published a photographic reproduction of the article in Ann. med. Hist., 1941, 3rd ser., 3, 363-68. Digital facsimile of the 1780 edition from Google Books at this link.

One of the first important accounts of dengue (“breakbone fever”). Rush described the Philadelphia outbreak of 1780.

Bancroft was the first to produce evidence that Aëdes aegypti is a vector of dengue.

Proof that the causal organism of dengue is a filterable virus. Published also in J. infect. Dis., 1907, 4, 440-75.

These workers proved that Aëdes aegypti (Stegomyia fasciata) is capable of transmitting dengue fever. See also J. Hyg. (Camb.), 1918, 16, 317-418. With C. H. Bradley and W. McDonald.

Proof that Aëdes albopictus is a vector of dengue. See also the earlier paper in the same journal, 1930, 41, 215-29. With J. H. St. John and F. H. K. Reynolds.

Successful propagation of dengue in mice and production of a vaccine.

This is generally regarded as the first description of pappataci fever.

Doerr showed the relation of phlebotomus fever to the sandfly, Phlebotomus.

Doerr and Russ suggested that the virus of phlebotomus fever may be transmitted from one generation of infected Phlebotomus papatasii to another.

An Austrian military commission consisting of R. Doerr, K. Franz, and S. Taussig proved that the causal organism of pappataci fever was a virus and that Phlebotomus papatasii was the vector.

Cultivation of the virus of phlebotomus fever. With R. S. Rao and C. S. Swaminath.

Zinke transmitted rabies from a rabid dog to a normal one, and to a rabbit and a hen, by injection of saliva and proved the disease to be infectious. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

A full account of rabies, summarizing current knowledge, with a bibliography of about 300 items.

Galtier demonstrated the transmissibility of rabies from dog to rabbit to rabbit in a series, a matter of considerable interest to Pasteur.

Galtier immunized sheep by inoculating rabid saliva in the veins; this did not produce the disease and protected the animals from a further inoculation. His work aroused the interest of Pasteur.

This paper marks the beginning of Pasteur’s studies on rabies. English translation in R. Suzor, Hydrophobia: An account of M. Pasteur’s system…London, 1887.

Demonstration in the blood of the rabies virus. English translation in R. Suzor, Hydrophobia: An account of M. Pasteur’s system…London, 1887.

Pasteur’s papers describing his rabies vaccine, and the results he attained with it gave further proof of the value of attenuated virus as a protective inoculum against infective diseases in man and animals. This is considered Pasteur’s greatest triumph. A grateful public subscribed two and a half million francs and made possible the erection of the Institut Pasteur, Paris. English translation in R. Suzor, Hydrophobia: An account of M. Pasteur’s system.… London, 1887.

Discovery of the “Negri bodies” in rabies, the size of which makes viewing possible with a light microscope, and allows prompt microscopic diagnosis. German translation in Z. Hyg. InfektKr., 1903, 43, 507-28. 
Even though Remlinger proved in 1903 that rabies is a virus, until 1909 Negri tried to prove that the intraneuronal inclusions named after him corresponded to steps in the developmental cycle of a protozoan.

Fermi was the first to use chemical treatment of tissue suspensions of fixed rabies virus for the preparation of vaccine (Fermi vaccine). He introduced the use of carbolic acid for this purpose.

Webster and Clow succeeded in growing rabies virus in tissue culture.

Cultivation of rabies virus in the chick embryo. Soon afterwards I. J. Kligler and H. Bernkopf, Nature, 1939, 143, 899, made a similar report.

Human diploid cell vaccine. With S. A. Plotkin and D. W. Grella. See also Develop, biol. Standard., 1978, 40, 3-9.

Glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis) was first described by Filatov under the name of idiopathic adenitis (“Filatov’s disease”). A German translation of his book appeared in 1895-97.

“Pfeiffer’s disease”. He is sometimes credited with the original description of infectious mononucleosis, ascribed to Filatov. Pfeiffer’s paper is a most comprehensive discussion of the clinical aspects of the disease.

Classic account, with first use of the term “infectious mononucleosis”.

The Paul–Bunnell test for the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis.

The Henles and Diehl showed that Epstein-Barr virus is the aetiological agent in infectious mononucleosis. 

Pfeiffer discovered a bacillus, Haemophilus influenzae, “Pfeiffer’s bacillus”, which he believed to be the causal organism of influenza.

Forms Bd. IV, Teil 1 of Nothnagel’s Specielle Pathologie und Therapie.

Reports on Public Health and Medical Subjects, No. 4. The most widespread and serious pandemic of influenza occurred in 1918-19. It spread throughout Europe, Russia, Canada, S. America, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, India, China, and Japan. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

"The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919.  In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. The number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States" (https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html, accessed 3-2020).

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Isolation in pigs of influenzavirus A or influenza A virus. Full text available from PubMedCentral at this link.

Smith,  Andrewes, and Laidlaw first isolated the influenza A virus in humans. They successfully infected ferrets with filtered throat-washings from influenzal patients by intranasal instillation.

Annals of the Pickett Thomson Research Lab., Monograph 16. "In two massive volumes Thomson and Thomson reviewed the literature on influenza up to 1934" (Spink).

Cultivation of the influenza virus.

First record of successful passage of influenza from animal to man. The ferret had previously been infected with a virus from a case of influenza.

Recovery of influenza B virus.

Recovery of influenza B virus.