1475 LIGNAMINE, Giovanni Filippo De [Johannes Philippus de Lignamine] (1428 – ); BENEDICT OF NURSIA, [Benedictus de Nursia, Benedetto da Norcia] (480 – 543)
De conservatione sanitatis. With additions by Johannes Philippus de Lignamine.
This medieval guide to health and hygiene is sometimes misattributed to Hugo Benzi. It was one of the earliest medical or health texts to appear in print, and is unusual in that the printer, who was not a physician, i…
GMN 9146 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11325
1476 SALICETO, Guglielmo da [WILLIAM OF SALICETO] (1210 – 1277)
Summa conservationis et curationis. Chirurgia.
Contains (Cap. cxl) his classic account of renal edema: De duritie in renibus, an English translation of which is in Major, Classic descriptions of disease, 3rd ed., 1945, p. 527. ISTC no. is00032000.
GMN 4204 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6214
1491 GAZIO, Antonio (Antonius Gazius) (1461 – 1528)
Corona florida medicinae, sive De conservatione sanitatis.
A popular guide to healthy living, dealing with such topics as sleep, exercise, sex, hygiene, drugs, and especially diet, with an emphasis on the qualities and properties of foods, including their cooking and preparat…
GMN 11871 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14075
1517 GALEN, [Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; Galen of Pergamon] (129 – 216); LINACRE, Thomas (Lynaker) (1460 – 1524)
Galeni de sanitate tuenda libri sex.
First separate dated Latin translation of Galen's De sanitate tuenda (On the preservation of health), which contained his views on maintaining health and hygiene and preventing disease. Translated from the Greek by Th…
GMN 6944 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9109
1531 IBN BUTLĀN, Abuʾl-Ḥasan Al-Mukhtār Ibn ʿAbdūn Ibn SaʿDūn. ابو الحسن المختار ابن عبدون ابن بطلان (Elluchasem Elimithar) ( – 1068); IBN AL-WAFID, Ali Ibn al-Husain (Abenguefit) (997 – 1074); AL-KINDĪ, Abu Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ ;أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي ( Alkindus) (801 – 873); WEIDITZ, Hans The Younger (1495 – 1537)
Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar Medici de Baldath, de sex rebus non naturalibus, earum naturis, operationibus, & rectificationibus, publico omnium usui, conseruandae sanitatis, recens exarati. Albengnefit De uirtutibus medicinarum, & ciborum. Iac. Alkindus De rerum gradibus.
A Christian physician of Baghdad, Ibn Butlān traveled widely, eventually settling in Antioch. His treatise on hygiene and dietetics, Taqwām al-sihhah (The Almanac of Health) presented a guide to medical regimen in tab…
GMN 7627 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9799
1544 PHAER, Thomas [PHAYER; PHAYR] (1510 – 1560); GOEUROT, Jean (1500 – 1551)
A new booke entyteled the regiment of lyfe.
Translation by John Phaer of a book by Jehan Goeurot published in 1530. Garrison states that it is a version of the Regimen Sanitatis.
GMN 1590 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1688
1547 BOORDE, Andrew [BORDE] (1490 – 1549)
The breviary of helthe, for all manner of syckenesses and diseases the whiche may be in man, or woman doth folowe.
This, probably the earliest “modern” work on hygiene, throws some light on the condition of that subject in the 16th century.
GMN 1591 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1691
1555 –1556 FUCHS, Leonhart (1501 – 1566)
Le benefice commun de tout le monde, ou commodité de vie d’vn chascun, pour la conseruation de santé: Remedes segretz tirées des plantes contre toutes maladies. 3 vols.
A vernacular guide for living a healthy life compiled from the writings of Fuchs. Includes herbal and dietary remedies, recipes for oils, pills and other preparations to treat maladies such as fever, plague and wounds.
GMN 9773 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11961
1558 CORNARO, Alvise (Luigi) (1467 – 1566)
Trattato de la vita sobria.
Garrison considered this “the best treatise on personal hygiene and the simple life in existence”. Cornaro was called the Apostle of Senescence. "When he was about 40, Cornaro found himself exhausted and in poor healt…
GMN 1592 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1695
1562 MARINELLO, Giovanni
Gli ornamenti delle donne: Tratti dalle scritture d'una reina greca per m. Giovanni Marinello et diuisi in quattro libri.
A comprehensive manual by a physician on female hygiene, beauty and adornment, containing hundreds of recommendations, advice on cosmetics, and more than two dozen recipes for dyes to bleach hair blond. Marinello reco…
GMN 11404 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13603
1596 HARINGTON, Sir John (1560 – 1612)
A new discourse of a stale subject, called the Metamorphosis of Aiax. Written by Misacmos to his friend Philostilpnos.
Harington invented a water-closet in which the disposal of excreta was for the first time controlled by mechanical means. He published several tracts on the device, the first appearing in 1596. These were elegantly re…
GMN 1594 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1707
1623 BACON, Francis (1561 – 1626)
Historia vitae & mortis. Sive, titulus secundus in historia naturali & experimentali ad condendam philosophiam: Quae est instaurationis magnae pars tertia.
This was Bacon's direct contribution to medicine or medical philosophy, with natural and experimental observations on the prolongation of life. Translated into English as The History naturall And experimentall, of lif…
GMN 10491 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12684
1682 TRYON, Thomas (1634 – 1703)
A treatise of cleanness in meats and drinks of the preparation of food, the excellency of good airs and the benefits of clean sweet beds also of the generation of bugs and their cure : to which is added, a short discourse of the pain in the teeth shewing from what cause it does chiefly proceed, and also how to prevent it.
Digital text from Early English Books Online at this link.
GMN 12612 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14852
1761 TISSOT, Samuel Auguste André David (1728 – 1797)
Avis au peuple sur la santé.
A tract on medicine written for the lay public; it ran through many editions and was translated into all European languages. It has been called "the greatest medical best-seller of the eighteenth century" (Singy, "The…
GMN 1597 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1713
1769 BUCHAN, William (1729 – 1805)
Domestic medicine or, the family physician: Being an attempt to render the medical art more generally useful, by shewing people what Is in their own power both with respect to the prevention and cure of diseases: Chiefly calculated to recommend a proper attention to regimen and simple medicines.
This pioneering medical self-help book was an instant success, selling 80,000 copies in Buchan's lifetime— a huge number for that time, and was translated into all the major European languages. Digital facsimile from …
GMN 9148 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11327
1776 DAZILLE, Jean Barthélémy (1733 – 1812)
Observations sur les maladies des nègres, leurs causes, leurs traitemens et les moyens de les prévenir.
Study of the health conditions and diseases of black slaves in the Americas. Digital facsimile of the 1776 edition from Google Books at this link. Second edition, expanded to two volumes. Paris: L'Auteur, 1792.
GMN 1601.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1723
1793 MAI, Franz Anton (1742 – 1814)
Medcinische Fastenpredigten, oder Vorlesungen über Körper und Seelendiätetik zur Verbesserung der Gesundheit und Sitten. 2 vols.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 9059 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11238
1797 HUFELAND, Christoph Wilhelm (1762 – 1836)
Die Kunst das menschliche Leben zu verlängern
Hufeland’s “Makrobiotik”, one of the most popular books of its time on personal hygiene. It was translated into all European languages. Hufeland was court physician at Weimar. English translation, 1797.
GMN 1602 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1724
1801 DUPLANIL, Jean-Denis (1740 – 1802)
Médecine du voyageur; ou avis sur les moyens de conserver la santé, et de remédier aux accidens et aux maladies auxquels on est exposé dans les voyages, tant par terre que par mer. Suivie d'un essai de médecine pratique sur les voyages, considérés comme remèdes. 3 vols.
Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.
GMN 13750 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16034
1803 PEALE, Charles Willson (1741 – 1827)
An epistle to a friend, on the means of preserving health, promoting happiness; and prolonging the life of man to its natural period. Being a summary view of inconsiderate and useless habits that derange the system of nature, thereby causing premature old age and death : with some thoughts on the best means of preventing and overcoming disease.
Written by the first great American painter. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 10445 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12638
1807 SINCLAIR, Sir John (1754 – 1835)
The code of health and longevity; or, a concise view of the principles calculated for the preservation of health, and the attainment of long life. 4 vols.
One of the most comprehensive works on gerontology ever written, with a bibliography of 1800 references, supplemented by abstracts, translated excerpts from ancient authors, national data, etc.
GMN 1602.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1727
1817 CARLISLE, Sir Anthony (1868 – 1840)
An essay on the disorders of old age, and on the means of prolonging life.
Carlisle, a distinguished surgeon and anatomist, advised young people to adopt a sound regimen early in life in order to secure longevity. Addressing himself directly to old people he described diseases common to the …
GMN 1604.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1858
1822 –1824 FODÉRÉ, François-Emmanuel (1764 – 1835)
Leçons sur les épidémies et l’hygiène publique. 4 vols.
GMN 1605 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1870
1835 DUNGLISON, Robley (1798 – 1869)
On the influence of atmosphere and locality; change of air and climate; seasons; food; clothing; bathing; exercise; sleep; corporeal and intellectual pursuits, &c. &c. on human health; constituting elements of hygiéne.
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 10108 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12297
1836 PARENT-DUCHÂTELET, Alexandre Jean Baptiste [Parent du Châtelet] (1790 – 1836)
Hygiène publique. 2 vols.
The first volume reprints the author's Essai sur les cloaques ou égouts de la ville de Paris (1824). Parent-Duchâtelet wrote that he had visited all the places which he described in the text: ”J’ai surmonté sans hésit…
GMN 1606 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1879
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
1839 GRAHAM, Sylvester (1794 – 1851)
Lectures on the science of human life. 2 vols.
The Reverend Sylvester Graham was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread. "Around 1829, Graham invented th…
GMN 9305 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11487
1855 LOMBARD, L.-M.
Le cuisinier et le médecin et le médecin et le cuisinier ou le cuisinier médecin et le médecin cuisinier ou l'art de conserver ou de rétablir sa santé par une alimentation convenable. Guide indispensable à toutes les personnes qu veulent connaitre leur tempérament, le gouverner en santé ou en maladie, selon les règles de l'hygiene, suivi d'un livre de cuisine d'économie domestique et d'hygiène alimentaire appliquée selon les divers tempéraments....les propriété à de toutes les substances alimentaires, des eaux minérales, leur influence sur les divers tempéraments, les maladies résultant des abus et excès, et le moyen de s'en préserver, par une Société médecins, de chimistes, du cuisiniers et d'officiers de bouche.
A comprehensive work, with a difficult and verbose title. The second printing, also published in 1855, included a frontispiece and an elaborate engraved title not illustrated in the BnF copy. Digital facsimile from Bn…
GMN 13338 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15606
1862 PETTENKOFER, Max Josef von (1818 – 1901)
Ueber eine Methode die Kohlensäure in der atmosphärischen Luft zu bestimmen.
Pettenkofer was the founder of experimental hygiene; he was the first to institute a laboratory for hygienic investigation.
GMN 1613 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1917
1862 MUSSEY, Reuben Dimond (1780 – 1866)
Health: Its friends and foes.
This work, which promoted vegetarianism and abstinence from tobacco along with other hygiene and overall health advice, was written as the author stated in his preface, "to meet the comprehension of the general reader…
GMN 11311 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13509
1864 PARKES, Edmund Alexander (1819 – 1876)
A manual of practical hygiene.
First important English treatise on hygiene.
GMN 1614 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1921
1869 VIRCHOW, Rudolf Ludwig Karl (1821 – 1902)
Ueber gewisse, die Gesundheit benachtheiligende Einflüsse der Schulen.
Improvements in school hygiene and the regular inspection of school children were brought about by the efforts of Virchow. English translation, New York, 1871. Virchow’s papers on public health were collected, annotat…
GMN 1617 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1932
1875 VIOLLET LE DUC, Eugène Emmanuel (1814 – 1879)
Histoire de l’habitation humaine depuis les temps préhistoriques jusqu'à nos jours.
Viollet-Le-Duc traced the history of domestic architecture among the different "races" of mankind. Translated into English by Benjamin Bucknall as Habitations of man in all ages (1876). Digital facsimile of the French…
GMN 1646 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2134
1876 STALLARD, Joshua Harrison
Female health and hygiene on the Pacific Coast.
This was probably the first book on female health and hygiene published in California and intended for the residents of the state. The book was written for women rather than for medical professionals. Little is known …
GMN 12089 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14298
1877 BOWDITCH, Henry Ingersoll (1808 – 1892); PICKERING, Henry Goddard (1848 – 1926)
Public hygiene in America: Being the centennial discourse delivered before the International Medical Congress, Philadelphia, September, 1876 by Henry I. Bowditch. With extracts from correspondence from the various states. Together with a digest of American sanitary law by Henry G. Pickering.
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 9160 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11339
1880 KELLOGG, John Harvey (1852 – 1943)
The home hand-book of domestic hygiene and rational medicine.
"Kellogg was not only a physician, surgeon, author, and administrator, but also an inventor. Although less discussed in comparison to his food creations, he designed and improved upon a number of medical devices that …
GMN 9306 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11488
1881 UFFELMANN, Julius August Christian (1837 – 1894)
Die öffentliche Hygiene im alten Rom.
GMN 1647 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2142
1883 COHN, Hermann Ludwig (1838 – 1906)
Die Hygiene des Auges in den Schulen.
Cohn did much to promote school hygiene. He advocated regular examination of the eyes of school children, an idea which was put into practice in 1885. An English translation of the book appeared in 1886.
GMN 1622 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1953
1885 PLUNKETT, H. M. (1826 – )
Women, plumbers, and doctors: or, household sanitation
Dedicated "To Dr. Henry I. Bowditch, whose early, persistent, and enthusiastic labors make him the apostle of sanitation in America." Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.
GMN 9159 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11338
1892 –1894 STEVENSON, Sir Thomas (1838 – 1908); MURPHY, Sir Shirley Foster (1848 – 1923)
A treatise on hygiene and public health. Edited by T. Stevenson and S. F. Murphy. 3 vols.
GMN 1629 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/1994
1892 ARLIDGE, John Thomas (1822 – 1899)
The hygiene, diseases, and mortality of occupations.
Remarkably comprehensive discussion, with an innovative classification, of a very wide range of occupations. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 7614 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9786
1905 FOREL, Auguste Henri (1848 – 1931)
Die sexuelle Frage.
Forel’s best work; translated into 16 languages; 16th edition in 1931.
GMN 1635 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2015
1905 RUBNER, Max (1854 – 1932)
Zur Vorgeschichte der modernen Hygiene.
GMN 1651 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2166
1906 DELAUNAY, Henri (1865 – )
L’hygiène publique à travers les âges.
GMN 1652 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2169
1908 KELLOGG, John Harvey (1852 – 1943)
The Battle Creek Sanitarium system: History, organization, methods.
"John Harvey Kellogg is best known for the invention of the famous breakfast cereal, Corn Flakes, in 1878. Originally, he called this cereal Granula, which he later changed to Granola in 1881. However, due to patent r…
GMN 9307 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11489
1911 –1913 RUBNER, Max (1854 – 1932); ET AL
Handbuch der Hygiene. 6 vols.
With Max Gruber and P. M. Ficker.
GMN 1639 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2039
1911 HARRIS, Henry Fauntleroy (1867 – 1926)
Health on the farm: A manual of rural sanitation and hygiene.
Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.
GMN 11837 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14041
1913 ROSENAU, Milton Joseph (1869 – 1946); WHIPPLE, George Chandler (1866 – 1924); WILBUR, Cressy Livingstone (1865 – 1928); SALMON, Thomas William (1876 – 1927)
Preventive medicine and hygiene by Milton J. Rosenau. With chapters on sewage and garbage by George C. Whipple...Vital statistics by Cressy L. Wilbur...The prevention of mental diseases by Thomas W. Salmon.
Digital facsimile of the 1913 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. There were numerous later revised editions.
GMN 1641 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2085
1986 GALMICHE, Jean-Marie (1943 – )
Hygiène et médecine: Histoire et actualités des maladies nosocomiales.
History of nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections.
GMN 9798 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11986
1996 HOY, Suellen (1942 – )
Chasing dirt: The American pursuit of cleanliness.
"Americans in the early 19th century were, as one foreign traveller bluntly put it, "filthy, bordering on the beastly"--perfectly at home in dirty, bug-infested, malodorous surroundings. Many a home swarmed with flies…
GMN 9162 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11341
![SALICETO, Guglielmo da [WILLIAM OF SALICETO] (1210 – 1277)](/media/portraits/6798)
![GALEN, [Κλαύδιος Γαληνός; Galen of Pergamon] (129 – 216)](/media/portraits/21)
