1477 SCOT, Michael [Michael Scotus] (1175 – 1232)
Liber phsionomiae [and other works].
"Composed between 1209 and 1226, the first of the two primary texts discusses human generation — anatomy, physiology, astrology, sexual behavior, conception and the health of the fetus. The second part, the Physiognom…
GMN 10725 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12919
1492 PETRUS HISPANUS, Pope John XXI (Pedro Hispano; Peter of Spain) (1226 – 1277); BENCIVENNI, Zucchero (1270 – )
Thesaurus pauperum. [Italian:] Tesoro de poveri. Tr: Zucchero Bencivenni.
One of the most popular medical books of the Middle Ages; first written about 1260. After its first printing about 1492 it was reprinted many times in the next 100 years. "Petrus Hispanus was the only practicing physi…
GMN 1960 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8804
1502 –1503 BONACCIOLI, Ludovico [Lodovico; Bonaciolus] (1475 – 1536)
Enneas muliebris.
This work was prepared for and dedicated to Lucrezia Borgia by her physician, Bonaccioli, who guided her through 14 pregnancies, the last of which was fatal to both mother and child. The first three chapters concern f…
GMN 9325 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11507
1597 PINEAU, Séverin ( – 1619)
Opusculum physiologum & anatomicum in duos libellos distinctum: In quibus primùm, de integritatis & corruptionis virginum notis, deinde, de grauiditate & partu naturali mulierum in quo ossa pubis & ilium distrahi, dilucidè tractatur ....
In 1595 Pineau demonstrated the vestigial foramen ovale in the adult heart, settling the question of the perviousness of the septum of the heart. His work was first published in 1597. He published this study in a fran…
GMN 802 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/163
1612 DUVAL, Jacques (1555 – 1615)
Traité des hermaphrodits parties génitales accouchements des femmes et traitement qui est requis pour les relever en santé, et bien élever leurs enfants. Où sont expliquez la figure des laboureur, et verger du genre humain, signes de pucelage, defloration, conception, et la belle industrie dont use nature en la promotion du concept et plante prolifique.
In 1601 the Rouen physician Duval was summoned by the Rouen parlement to examine Marie Le Marcis, who at the age of 20 had discovered she was a man and had determined to marry, only to be imprisoned for lesbianism and…
GMN 9518 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11703
1614 RIOLAN, Jean The Younger (1577 – 1657)
Discours sur les hermaphrodits. Où il est demonstré contre l'opinion commune, qui'il n'y a point de vrays hermaphrodits.
Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.
GMN 13381 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15652
1614 DUVAL, Jacques (1555 – 1615)
Responce au discours fait par le sieur Riolan docteur en medecine & professeur en chirurgie & pharmacie à Paris, contre l'Histoire de l'hermaphrodit de Rouen.
Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.
GMN 13382 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15653
1639 MEIBOM, Johann Heinrich (1590 – 1655)
De flagrorum usu in re veneria et lumborum renumque officio, epistola.
According to Havelock Ellis, Studies in the psychology of sex (1913) this is the earliest published work on flogging in "medicine" and for sexual gratification, giving accounts of a number of examples. "David Savran d…
GMN 11588 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13787
1642 SINIBALDI, Giovanni Benedetto (1594 – 1658)
Geneanthropeiae sive de hominis generatione decateuchon. Ubi ex ordine quaecunique ad humanae generationis liturgiam, ejusdemque principia, organa, tempus, usum, modum, occasionem voluptatem, aliasque omnes affectiones, quae in aphrodisiis accidere quoquomodo solent, ac possunt dedita opera plene methodice, & iucunde pertractantur.
An encyclopedic work on sexuality and physical love in all its aspects, practical and credulous, including the widest variety of possible positions, the anatomy and physiology of the sexual organs and varous aspects o…
GMN 7179 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9346
1650 BULWER, John (1606 – 1656)
Anthropometamorphosis: Man transform’d, or the artificial changeling. Historically presented, in the mad and cruel gallantry, foolish bravery, ridiculous beauty, filthy fineness, and loathesome loveliness of most Nations, fashioning & altering their bodies from the mould intended by nature. With a vindication of the regular beauty and honesty of nature, and an appendix of the pedigree of the English gallant.
Extensively illustrated treatise on varieties of body modifications, real or imagined, includes details on hair styles, tatoos, piercing, including sexual aspects. Digital facsimile of the 1653 edition from the Intern…
GMN 10490 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12683
1684 PSEUDO-ARISTOTLE
Aristoteles master-piece, or the secrets of generation displayed in all the parts thereof . . .
The first sex manual in English, neither by Aristotle or a "masterpiece", provided its readers with practical advice on copulation, conception, pregnancy and birth.This anonymous, inexpensively printed work proved to …
GMN 7030 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9197
1741 PARSONS, James (1705 – 1770)
A mechanical and critical enquiry into the nature of hermaphrodites.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 13383 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15654
1758 TISSOT, Samuel Auguste André David (1728 – 1797)
Dissertatio de febribus biliosis; seu historia epidemiae biliosae Lausannensis, An. MDCCLV. Accedit Tentamen de morbis ex manustupratione.
Tentamen de morbis ex manustupratione translated into French as L'onanisme; ou dissertation physique, sur les maladies produites par la masturbation.Traduit du Latin de Mr. Tissot. Et considerablement augementé par l'…
GMN 10478 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12671
1802 CELLI, Giorgio
Relazione, riflessioni e giudizio sul sesso di un individuo umano vivente chiamato e conosciuto sotto il nome di Giacoma Foroni. Prefazione di Giorgio Celli.
The text and accompanying plates reported the observations and conclusions of a deputation of the medico-surgical class of the Accademia Virgiliana, sent to determine on anatomical grounds the sex of twenty-two-year-o…
GMN 13898 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16190
1820 FEILER, Johann Nepomuk (1768 – 1822)
Ueber angeborne menschliche Missbildungen im Allgemeinen und Hermaphroditen insbesondere. Ein Beitrag zur Physiologie, pathologischen Anatomie, und gerichtlichen Arzneiwissenschaft.
Includes an account of the Prussian intersex man, Karl Dürrge (also known as Maria Dorothea Derrier: 1780–1835). With two hand-colored plates of hermaphroditic genitalia. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 13385 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15656
1826 CARLILE, Richard (1790 – 1843)
Every woman's book; or, what is love? Containing most important instructions for the prudent regulation of the principle of love and the number of a family.
This radical and progressive sex manual was the first book to specify methods of contraception, including the sponge, condoms, and withdrawal. It also took the position, radical at the time, that with respect to sexua…
GMN 7508 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9680
1832 KNOWLTON, Charles (1800 – 1850)
Fruits of philosophy, or the private companion of young married people,
First edition published privately and anonymously. Second edition, with additions, Boston, 1833. Many times reprinted. Republished by Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, 1891. Edited, with an introductory notice by No…
GMN 7036 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9203
1836 PARENT-DUCHÂTELET, Alexandre Jean Baptiste [Parent du Châtelet] (1790 – 1836)
De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris. 2 vols.
Traditionally viewed as a classic in public health, this work has also been characterized as the first scientific study in sexology. Third and most complete edition "complétée par des documents nouvelles et des notes"…
GMN 1607 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1882
1841 CRUZ, Francisco Ignacio dos Santos (1787 – 1859)
Da prostituição na cidade de Lisboa; ou considerações historicas, hygienicas e administrativas em geral sobre as prostitutas, e em especial na referida cidade: com a exposição da legislação portugueza a seo respeito, e proposta de medidas regulamentares, necessarias para a manutenção da saude publica, e da moral.
In this comprehensive study of prostitution in Lisbon Cruz analyzed the history of prostitution in Portugal and compared it to the practice in Japan, India, Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome, as well as a number of moder…
GMN 9063 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11242
1844 KAAN, Heinrich (1816 – 1893)
Psychopathia sexualis.
The first medical text exclusively devoted to sexuality, though Kaan's views reflected religious, and other prejudices of the time. Digital facsimile of the 1844 edition from staatsbibliothek-berlin.de at this link. T…
GMN 10132 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12321
1844 KOBELT, Georg Ludwig (1804 – 1857)
Die männlichen und weiblichen Wollust-Organe des Menschen und einiger Säugetiere.
Kobelt provided the first comprehensive and accurate description of the function of the clitoris.Digital facsimile from digi.ub.uni-heidelberg at this link.
GMN 11148 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13345
1845 ROSENBAUM, Julius (1807 – 1874)
Geschichte der Lustseuche. Erster Theil. Die Lustseuche im Alterthume.
French translation, 1847; English translation as The plague of lust, being a history of venereal disease in classical antiquity, and including: Detailed investigations into the cult of Venus, and phallic worship, brot…
GMN 2421 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2880
1845 HOLLICK, Frederick (1818 – 1900)
The origin of life: A popular treatise on the philosophy and physiology of reproduction, in plants and animals, including the details of human generation with a full description of the male and female organs. Illustrated by fine colored engravings on stone.
Digital facsimile of the 20th edition from Google Books at this link.
GMN 13761 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16046
1850 HOLLICK, Frederick (1818 – 1900)
The marriage guide, or natural history of generation; a private instructor for married persons and those about to marry, both male and female, in every thing concerning the physiology and relations of the sexual system and production or prevention of offspring; including all the new discoveries, never before given in the English language.
Digital facsimile of the 196th edition, much enlarged and improved from Google Books at this link. Sappol (2002) estimated that Hollick's works on sexuality and reproduction underwent at least 500 editions of between …
GMN 13760 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16045
1851 –1853 LA CROIX, Paul (1806 – 1884)
Histoire de la prostitution chez tous les peuples du monde depuis l'antiquité la plus reculée jusqu'a nos jours, par Paul Dufour. 6 vols.
Dufour was a pseudonym of the writer Paul Lacroix. Translated into English by Samuel Putnam as History of prostitution among all the peoples of the world, from the most remote antiquity to the present day, 3 vols., Ch…
GMN 1654.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2182
1852 ROOT, Harmon Knox
The people's medical lighthouse; a series of popular and scientific essays on the nature, uses, and diseases of the lungs, heart, liver, stomach, kidneys, womb and blood; also a key to the causes, prevention, remedies, and cure of pumonary and other kinds of consumption;....Marriage guide....
One of the more comprehensive American works on popular medicine from the mid-19th century, frequently reprinted. The author, who published the work himself from his address in New York City, describes himself as A.M.…
GMN 13308 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15574
1853 NICHOLS, Thomas Low (1815 – 1901)
Esoteric anthropology.
In this rather comprehensive popular and illustrated book on medicine and physiology Nichols explained sexual physiology in a level of detail radical for the time, and also advocated free love. Digital facsimile from …
GMN 13572 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15850
1855 DRYSDALE, George (1825 – 1904)
Physical, sexual and natural religion: by a student of medicine.
Drysdale emphasized that sexual intercourse should be pleasurable for both sexes, but believed that the ever-present possibility of pregnancy prevented it from being so. He also believed that overpopulation itself was…
GMN 7545 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9717
1857 TARDIEU, Auguste Ambroise (1818 – 1879)
Étude médico-légale sur les attentats aux moeurs.
“Extrait des Annales d’hygiène publique et de médicine légale, 2e série, tome VIII." Tardieu divided his book on "sexual crimes" into three parts: the first deals with indecent exposures, the second with rape, and the…
GMN 8891 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11069
1859 ASHTON, James
The book of nature : containing information for young people who think of getting married: on the philosophy of procreation and sexual intercourse, showing how to prevent conception and to avoid child-bearing : also, rules for management during labor and child-birth.
Possibly the most enlightened, and detailed book on sex, reproduction, and contraception published during this period; illustrated in color. In addition to outlining the era's five most reliable methods of contracepti…
GMN 7720 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9892
1863 JORDAN, Henry J.; BECK, Samuel
Catalogue of the New-York Museum of Anatomy No. 618 Broadway, New-York. Principals: Drs. Jordan & Beck No. 40 Bond Street. Open daily, for gentlemn only, from 10 A.M. till 10 P. M. Admission, 25 cents.
30-page catalogue of a commercial medical museum "for gentlemen only" and clearly operated as an advertisement for Jordan and Beck's medical practice. A great deal of the displayed material was intended to be titillat…
GMN 11318 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13516
c. 1865 JORDAN, Louis J.
Hand-book & descriptive catalogue of the Pacific Museum of Anatomy and Natural Science, now open at the Eureka Theatre, Montgomery St., between California and Pine, San Francisco.
A commercial medical and "natural science" museum operated by Jordan. This may have been the earliest commercial medical museum in California. Pages 50 onward describe what Jordan called the "Pathological Room, For re…
GMN 11316 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13514
1869 WESTPHAL, Carl Friedrich Otto (1833 – 1890)
Die Konträre Sexualempfindung.
The first "scientific" paper on homosexuality. In this paper the psychiatrist Westphal described two cases at length: "The first was of a young woman who from her earliest years liked to dress as a boy and engage in b…
GMN 7076 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9243
1872 MANTEGAZZA, Paolo (1831 – 1910)
Fisologia dell' amore.
Through many editions and translations of his three main works of sexuality (cited in this database) Mantagazza may have been the most widely read author on sexuality in the 19th century. He was also a widely publishe…
GMN 12503 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14736
1872 TARDIEU, Auguste Ambroise (1818 – 1879)
Question médico-légale de l’identité dans ses rapport avec les vices de conformation des organes sexuels contenant les souvenirs et impressions d’un individu dont le sexe avait été méconnu.
Includes the first printing of the memoirs of "Alexina B" a French intersex person whose actual name was Herculine Barbin. Digital facsimile of the revised second edition (1874) from Google Books at this link. Transla…
GMN 13380 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15651
1876 PELIKAN, Evgeny Ventseslavovich (1824 – 1884)
Gerichtlich-medicinische Untersuchungen über das Skopzenthum in Russland nebst historischen Notizen.
Pelikan, professor of forensic medicine in St. Petersburg, published this German version of his treatise on the fanatical Russian Christian sect Skoptsy, known for its practice of castration, clitoridectomies, and mas…
GMN 12995 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15244
1877 MANTEGAZZA, Paolo (1831 – 1910)
Igiene dell' amore
Digital facsimile of the Milan, 1891 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 12504 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14738
1883 HAMMOND, William Alexander (1828 – 1900)
Sexual impotence in the male.
One of the earliest serious medical studies of the subject from the anatomical, physiological, emotional, and psychological points of view. In the second edition (1887) retitled Sexual impotence in the male and female…
GMN 12752 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14998
1885 PLOSS, Hermann Heinrich (1819 – 1885); BARTELS, Maximillian Carl August (1843 – 1904); BARTELS, Paul Rudolf August (1874 – 1914); REITZENSTEIN, Ferdinand Freiherr von (1876 – 1925)
Das Weib in der Natur-und Völkerkunde. 2 vols.
Ploss incorporated a vast amount of data concerning every aspect of woman in the unillustrated first edition, and died the year it was published. He covered anthropology, psychology, aesthetics, physiology, sexuality,…
GMN 179 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3354
1885 MANTEGAZZA, Paolo (1831 – 1910)
Gli amori degli uomini. Saggio di una etnologie dell'amore. 2 vols.
Digital facsimile of the 1886 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link. Translated into English "from the latest Italian edition, as approved by the author, by Samuel Putnam, edited with an introduction by Victor Rob…
GMN 12502 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14735
1886 KRAFFT-EBING, Richard Freiherr von (1840 – 1902)
Psychopathia sexualis; eine klinisch-forensische Studie.
Krafft-Ebing revised the book through 12 editions. Digital facsimile of the first edition from wellcomecollection.org at this link. English translation as Psychopathia sexualis, with special reference to contrary sexu…
GMN 4944 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6228
1890 KRAFFT-EBING, Richard Freiherr von (1840 – 1902)
Neue Forschungen auf dem Gebiet der Psychopathia sexualis. Ein medicinisch-psychologische Studie.
Among other things, Krafft-Ebing introduced the terms sadism and masochism in this work. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.
GMN 13386 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15657
1891 REMONDINO, Peter Charles
History of circumcision from the earliest times to the present. Moral and physical reasons for its performance with a history of eunuchism, hermaphrodism, etc., and of the different operations practiced upon the prepuce.
Digital edition from Gutenberg.org at this link.
GMN 11124 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13320
1894 ELLIS, Henry Havelock (1859 – 1939)
Man and woman.
A study of the constitutional differences between man and woman.
GMN 187 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3437
1896 ELLIS, Henry Havelock (1859 – 1939); SYMONDS, John Addington (1840 – 1893); KURELLA, Hans (1858 – 1916)
Das konträre Geschlechtsgefühl von Havelock Ellis und J. A. Symonds. Deutsche Original-Ausgabe Besorgt unter Mitwirkung von Dr. Hans Kurella.
This work, translated into English as Sexual inversion in 1897, became the first English language medical textbook on homosexuality. It was published as the second volume of Ellis's Studies in the psychology of sex. D…
GMN 9007 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11186
1897 –1899 ELLIS, Henry Havelock (1859 – 1939); BEDBOROUGH, George; SEYMOUR, Henry Albert (1861 – 1938)
The adult: A journal for the advancement of freedom in sexual relationships. 3 vols.
When I created this entry in February 2017 there was, inexplicably, no digital facsimile of this rare periodical on the web; however, there was an exceptionally excellent and most comprehensive finding aid available f…
GMN 9005 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11184
1899 –1933 HIRSCHFELD, Magnus (1868 – 1935)
Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen. Edited by Magnus Hirschfeld.
"An annual publication of the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK), an early LGBT rights organization founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1897. The periodical featured articles on …
GMN 10848 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13044
1900 –1928 ELLIS, Henry Havelock (1859 – 1939)
Studies in the psychology of sex. 7 vols.
Ellis's Studies represent a lifetime of research devoted to the subject, at first in the face of bitter opposition.
GMN 4981 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6403
1903 TARUFFI, Cesare (1821 – 1902)
Hermaphrodismus und Zeugungsunfähigkeit: Eine systematische Darstellung der Missbildungen der menschlichen Geschlechtsorgane. Autorisierte deutsche Ausgabe von Dr. med. R. Teuscher.
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 13384 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15655
1904 HIRSCHFELD, Magnus (1868 – 1935)
Berlins drittes Geschlecht.
"Third sex" was Hirschfeld's provisional term for gays and lesbians. Translated into English by James J. Conway as Berlin's third sex, Berlin: Rixdorf Editions, 2017.
GMN 13379 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15650
![SCOT, Michael [Michael Scotus] (1175 – 1232)](/media/portraits/12461)
