1597 CODRONCHI, Giovanni Battista (1547 – 1628)
De vitiis vocis libri duo. In quibus non solum vocis definitio traditur, et explicatur, sed illius differentiae, instrumenta, et causae aperiuntur. Vltimo de vocis conseruatione, praeseruatione, ac vitiorum eius curatione tractatur. Opus ad vtilitatem concionatorum praecipuè editum. Cui accedit consilium de raucedine ac methodus testificandi in quibusuis casibus medicis oblatis, postquam formulae quaedam testationum proponantur.
Codronchi's Methodus testificandi, inquibusvis casibus medicis oblatis first published in the above (pp. 148-232), is considered the earliest significant work on forensic medicine. Digital facsimile from Google Books …
GMN 1718 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2988
1600 BONAVENTURA, Federico (1555 – 1602)
De natura partus octomestris adversus vulgatam opinionem libri decem ... In quo absolutissima de humani partus natura cognitio traditur; nimirum de conceptione, articulatione, maturitate, de partuum numero, pariendique terminis ac temporibus; utrum ante septimum mensem, ac post decimum, undecimique initium partus naturaliter edi possit. De septimestri, nonomestri, decimestri, undecimestrique partu, deque veris horum omnium causis plenissime Aristotele duce disputatur ... Item ejusdem auctoris compendiosa de eodem partu disceptatio ...
An encyclopedic work on ancient and contemporary medical, scientific and juridical opinion on premature birth and the period of gestation. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 6144.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7696
1602 FIDELE, Fortunato [Fortunato Fidelis; Fortunato Fedeli] (1550 – 1630)
De relationibus medicorum libri quatuor. In quibus ea omnia, quae in forensibus, ac publicis causis medici referre solent, plenissime traduntur.
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 1719 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2991
1621 –1661 ZACCHIA, Paolo [Zacchias] (1584 – 1659)
Quaestiones medico-legales. 9 vols.
Zacchias, a Papal physician, was one of the founders of medical jurisprudence. His treatise includes information concerning injuries of the eye, etc., and contains section on the medico-legal aspects of insanity. The …
GMN 1720 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2994
1630 SEBISCH, Melchior The Younger (1578 – 1674)
Disputatio medica de notis virginitatis.
Details the methods of previous and contemporary writers concerning the determination of virginity. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 1721 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2998
1660 WELSCH, Gottfried (1618 – 1690)
Rationale vulnerum lethalium judicium, in quo de vulnerum lethalium natura et causis, legitima item eorundem inspectione, ac aliis circa hanc materiam scitu dignis juxta, quam necessariis, agitur.
Welsch stressed the need for autopsy in medico-legal cases. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 1722 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3002
1667 WELSCH, Gottfried (1618 – 1690); GARMANN, Chistian Friederich (1640 – 1708)
De gemellis et partu numerosiore.
Medico-legal aspects of multiple births. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 1723 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3006
1667 SWAMMERDAM, Jan (1637 – 1680)
Tractatus physico-anatomico-medicus de respiratione usuque pulmonum.
Swammerdam’s earliest published work. In it he recorded his discovery that the lungs of newborn infants will float on water if respiration has taken place, an important medico-legal point.
GMN 1724 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3011
1684 BLÉGNY, Nicolas de (1652 – 1722)
La doctrine des rapports de chirurgie, fondées sur les maximes d’usage et sur la disposition des nouvelles ordonnances.
De Blégny explained the obligation of surgeons to report any suspicion of crime, and explained how to prepare expert opinion for presentation before the court.
GMN 1725 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3016
1689 BOHN, Johannes (1640 – 1718)
De renunciatione vulnerum, seu vulnerum lethalium examen.
“The best work on fatal injuries, with frequent references of medicolegal importance” (Nemec).
GMN 1726 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3020
1690 SCHREYER, Johannes (1655 – 1694)
Erörterung und Erläuterung der Frage: Ob es ein gewiss Zeichen wenn, eines todten Kindes Lunge im Wasser untersincket, dass solches in MutterLeiber gestorben sey? Zu Rettung seiner Ehre in Druck befördert.
Swammerdam’s discovery that the fetal lungs will float on water if respiration has taken place was first put to practical use by Schreyer, who thereby secured the acquittal of a girl accused of infanticide.
GMN 1727 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3022
1703 DEVAUX, Jean (1649 – 1729)
L'art de faire les raports en chirurgie, où l'on ensiegne la pratique, les formules & le stile le plus en usage parmi les chirurgiens commis aux rapports; avec un extrait des arrest, statuts & reglemens faits en consequence.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. (Thanks to Webb Dordick for this reference.)
GMN 14121 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16432
1722 VALENTINI, Michael Bernhard (1657 – 1729)
Corpus juris medico-legale.
This reprints Valentini’s Pandectae medico legales (1701) and Novellae medico-legales (1711) with the addition of Authentica iatro-forensia.
GMN 1728 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3026
1725 –1729 ALBERTI, Michael (1682 – 1757)
Systema jurisprudentiae medicae. 2 vols.
A work covering the whole field of medical jurisprudence as then understood, and ranking in importance with the work of Valentini. The first supplement was published in Halle, 1733. The much-expanded second edition, i…
GMN 1729 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3029
1725 LOEW VON ERLSFELD, Johann Franz Ritter [Johann Franz Löw] (1648 – 1925)
Theatrum medico-juridicum, continens varias easque maxime notabiles tam ad tribunalia ecclesiastico-civilia, quam ad medicinam forensem, pertinentes materias. Ex diversis optimorum authorum ... voluminibus excerptum .... Opus jctis, physicis, practicis, studiosis, chirurgis, aliisque utile et necessarium.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 11387 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13586
1742 WINSLOW, Jacques-Bénigne [Jacob Benignus Winsløw] (1669 – 1760)
An mortis incertae signa minus incerta a chirurgicis quam ab aliis experimenti?
Between the mid-1700s and the early 1900s many physicians lost confidence in their ability to declare legal death. This phenomenon was in part sparked by Winslow, whose dissertation claimed the existence of a death-li…
GMN 11407 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13606
1763 LOUIS, Antoine (1723 – 1792)
Mémoire sur une question anatomique relative à la jurisprudence; dans lequel on établit les principes pour distinguer, à l’inspection d’un corps trouvé pendu, les signes du suicide d’avec ceux de l’assassinat.
Louis was a pioneer of French medical jurisprudence. Above is a classic discussion on the differential signs of murder and suicide in cases of hanging.
GMN 1730 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3032
1764 LOUIS, Antoine (1723 – 1792)
Mémoire contre la légitimité des naissances prétendues tardives.
An attempt to set the minimum and maximum time limits of duration of human pregnancy. Supplement published in 1764.
GMN 1731 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3034
1784 HUNTER, William (1718 – 1783)
On the uncertainty of the signs of murder, in the case of bastard children.
This essay on the signs of murder in illegitimate children is, in Garrison’s view, the most important early contribution to forensic medicine by a British writer.
GMN 1732 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3047
1788 FARR, Samuel (1741 – 1795)
Elements of medical jurisprudence.
First textbook in English on medical jurisprudence.
GMN 1733 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3050
1799 FODÉRÉ, François-Emmanuel (1764 – 1835)
Les lois éclairées par les sciences physiques, ou traité de médecine légale et hygiène publique. 3 vols.
This important publication was for many years the authoritative textbook on the subject in France.
GMN 1734 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3055
1814 –1815 ORFILA, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure (1787 – 1853)
Traité des poisons tirés des règnes minéral, végétal et animal; ou, toxicologie générale. 2 vols, each in 2 parts.
Orfila, pioneer toxicologist, was the leading medico-legal expert of his time. He was born in Minorca, studied at Valencia, Barcelona, and Paris, and was one of the founders of the Académie de Médecine. Digital facsim…
GMN 2072 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2533
1817 HASLAM, John (1764 – 1844)
Medical jurisprudence as it relates to insanity, according to the laws of England.
The first English work on the forensic aspects of mental illness. Digital facsimile from Wellcome Forensics Collection, Internet Archive, at this link.
GMN 7108 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9275
1818 ORFILA, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure (1787 – 1853)
Secours à donner aux personnes empoisonnées ou asphyxiées, suivis des moyens propres à reconnaître les poisons et les vins frelatés et à distinguer la mort réelle de la mort apparente.
Translated into English by B. H. Black and published in 1819 as Directions for the treatment of persons who have taken poison, and those in a state of apparent death: Together with the means of detecting poisons and a…
GMN 9508 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11693
1821 –1823 ORFILA, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure (1787 – 1853)
Leçons de médecine légale. 2 vols.
Vol. 1, illustrated with 22 plates, of which 7 were hand-colored, was issued in 1823. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 13191 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15452
1823 BECK, Theodric Romeyn (Theodoric) (1791 – 1855)
Elements of medical jurisprudence. 2 vols.
First notable American text on forensic medicine.
GMN 1735 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3058
1823 PARIS, John Ayrton (1785 – 1856); FONBLANQUE, John Samuel Martin (1787 – 1865)
Medical jurisprudence. 3 vols.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 7361 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9533
1824 CHAUSSIER, François (1746 – 1828); MONTMAHOU, Etienne S. de (1793 – )
Manuel médico-légal des poisons, précédé de considérations sur l'empoisonnement, des moyens de le constater, du résultat d'expériences faites sur l'acétate de morphine et les autres alcalis végétaux; suivi d'une méthode de traiter les morsures des animaux enragés et de la vipère; d'un précis sur la pustule maligne; des secours à donner aux personnes empoisonnées, noyées ou asphyxiées, etc. Rédigé sous les yeux de M. le Professeur Chaussier, par E. Montmahou.
Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.
GMN 13408 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15680
1824 CHAUSSIER, François (1746 – 1828)
Receuil de mémoires, consultations et rapports sur divers objets de médecine légale.
Chaussier pioneered the practice of forensic medicine in France. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 13409 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15681
1825 HEINROTH, Johann Christian August (1773 – 1843)
System der psychisch-gerichtlichen Medizin, oder theoretisch-praktische Anweisung zur wissenschaftlichen Erkenntniss und gutachtlichen Darstellung der krankhaften persönlichen Zustände, welche vor Gericht in Betracht kommen.
The first important work exclusively on medico-legal aspects of insanity. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 1736 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3060
1826 CHAUSSIER, François (1746 – 1828)
Mémoire médico-légal sur la viabilité de l'enfant naissant.
Chaussier introduced a procedure for the revival of near-dead infants. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.
GMN 13410 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15682
1827 GÜNTZ, Eduard Wilhelm (1800 – 1880)
Der Leichnam des Menschen in seinen physischen Verwandlungen nach Beobachtungen und Versuchen.
The human corpse in its physical transformations according to observations and experiments.
GMN 14285 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16608
1831 ORFILA, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure (1787 – 1853); LESUEUR, M. O.
Traité des exhumations juridiques, et considérations sur les changemens physiques que les cadavres éprouvent en sepourrissant dans la terre, dans l’eau, dans les fosses d’aisance etdans le fumier. 2 vols.
The first book devoted entirely to exhumation and decomposition of bodies. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 9954 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12143
1835
Kaiser Karl’s des Fünften Peinlich Gerichtsordnung … Hrsg. von R. Schmid.
CONSTITUTIO CRIMINALIS CAROLINA
The Constitutio Criminalis of the Emperor Charles V (circa 1533) is probably the oldest European document of any importance dealing with medical jurisprudence. It authorized judges to call expert witnesses in medico-l…
GMN 1717 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2963
1836 GROSS, Samuel David (1805 – 1884)
Observations on manual strangulation, illustrated by cases and experiments.
After performing an autopsy on a strangulation case, Gross set out to study the physiology involved in manual strangulation. He set up a series of experiments on dogs for this purpose and provides autopsy reports on e…
GMN 1737 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3065
1836 TAYLOR, Alfred Swaine (1806 – 1880)
Elements of medical jurisprudence.
The standard English work on the subject for generations, translated, expanded and used worldwide; thirteenth edition, Principles and practice of medical jurisprudence, appeared in 1984. Digital facsimile of the first…
GMN 1738 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3082
1838 RAY, Isaac (1807 – 1881)
A treatise on the medical jurisprudence of insanity.
The first authoritative and comprehensive treatise in English on forensic psychiatry. Ray became the most influential American writer on forensic psychiatry in the 19th century. He put the above work through five edit…
GMN 1739 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6161
1843 WINSLOW, Forbes Benignus (1810 – 1874)
The plea of insanity in criminal cases.
One of the first attempts to outline criteria through which to determine the legitimacy of an insanity plea. The was resolved later in 1843 with the establishment of the M'Naghten Rules, (McNaghten) which this work un…
GMN 13250 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15515
1844 GUY, William Augustus (1810 – 1885)
Principles of forensic medicine.
GMN 1740 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3096
1848 TAYLOR, Alfred Swaine (1806 – 1880)
Poisons in relation to medical jurisprudence and medicine.
Taylor was the leading English toxicologist and medical witness of his time, and his works were revised, edited, and translated into other languages. He "performed an invaluable service in codifying legal precedents a…
GMN 10729 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12923
1850 CASPER, Johann Ludwig (1796 – 1864)
Gerichtliche Leichenöffnungen.
Casper was a great authority on forensic medicine. He also wrote on medical statistics. Above is an important compilation on judicial autopsies.
GMN 1741 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3097
1850 BOUISSON, Étienne-Frédéric (1813 – 1884)
Traité théorique et pratique de la méthode anesthésique appliquée a la chirurgie et aux différentes branches de l'art de guérir.
Of particular interest for the introductory chapter 2 on pain produced in surgical operations and chapter 3 on the history of the understanding and attempts at treatment of pain, surgical and otherwise, before ether a…
GMN 9383 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11566
1854 TARDIEU, Auguste Ambroise (1818 – 1879)
Dictionnaire d'hygiène publique et de salubrité ou répertoire de toutes les questions relatives à la santé publique, considérées dans leurs rapports avec les subsistances, les épidémies, les professions, les établissements et institutions d'hygiène et de salubrité, complété par le texte des lois, décrets, arrêtés, ordonnances et instructions qui s'y rattachen. 3 vols.
For the second edition (1862) Tardieu expanded the work to 4 volumes. Tardieu described the terrible working conditions of children in factories and mines. He also reported the ill consequences of theses conditions on…
GMN 8892 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11070
1855 HAMILTON, Frank Hastings (1813 – 1886)
Deformities after fractures.
Hamilton was a medical inspector of the U.S. Army and later became Professor of Surgery at Bellevue Hospital. See No. 4420.
GMN 1742 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3101
1856 BARBASTE, Mathieu (1814 – 1889)
De l'homicide et de l'anthropophagie.
One of the earliest works on cannibalism, and probably the first work to combine a discussion of homicide and cannibalism from the medical viewpoint. The author, who was very widely read on these subjects, searched fo…
GMN 11072 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13268
1856 TARDIEU, Auguste Ambroise (1818 – 1879)
Étude médico-légale sur l’avortement, suivie d’observations et de recherches pour servir à l’histoire médico-légale des grossesses fausses et simulées.
Perhaps the most widely revised and reprinted of all of Tardieu's works. 4th revised & enlarged edition, 1881; 7th revised and enlarged edition, 1904; new revised edition, 1907, 1925, 1939. Digital facsimile of the 4t…
GMN 13687 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15969
1857 –1858 CASPER, Johann Ludwig (1796 – 1864)
Practisches Handbuch der gerichtlichen Medicin. 2 vols. plus atlas of nine chromolithographed plates.
Casper was the greatest name in forensic medicine in his time. His book was published in English by the New Sydenham Society in 1861-65; it was unsurpassed for many years.
GMN 1743 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3103
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
1860 TARDIEU, Auguste Ambroise (1818 – 1879)
Etude médico-légale sur les sévices et mauvais traitements exercés sur des enfants.
The first medical-legal study of child abuse, including sexual abuse, incest, and the "battered child" syndrome. Tardieu described 32 cases in detail, 18 of which resulted in death. Digital facsimile from Google Books…
GMN 8890 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11068
1863 CASPER, Johann Ludwig (1796 – 1864)
Klinische Novellen zur gerichtlichen Medizin.
GMN 1744 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3107
![WINSLOW, Jacques-Bénigne [Jacob Benignus Winsløw] (1669 – 1760)](/media/portraits/708)
