c. 900 APOLLONIOS OF KITION (OR APOLLONIUS OF CITIUM; ἈΠΟΛΛΏΝΙΟΣ Ὁ ΚΙΤΙΕΎΣ) (-50 – )

The Nicetas codex.

The earliest surviving illustrated surgical codex was written and illuminated in Constantinople for the Byzantine physician Niketas (Nicetas) about 900 CE. It contains 30 full-page images illustrating the commentary o…

GMN 6817 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8980

1544 GUIDI, Guido [VIDIUS] (1508 – 1569)

Chirurgia e graeco in latinum conversa.

This elegantly printed and illustrated small folio included 210 text woodcuts, most probably after drawings by the school of Francesco Salviati (Francesco de'Rossi). It was issued from the press operated by Pierre Gau…

GMN 4406.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6142

1563 WÜRTZ, Felix [WIRTZ] (1510 – 1590)

Practica der Wundartzney.

Würtz was a friend of Gessner and an admirer of Paracelsus; his book went through many editions and was translated into English, French, and Dutch. It describes the treatment of gunshot wounds, fractures, and dislocat…

GMN 5563 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6933

1575 FALLOPPIO, Gabriele [FALLOPPIUS] (1523 – 1562); COITER, Volcher (1534 – 1576)

Lectiones Gabrielis Falloppi de partibus similaribus humani corporis, ex diversis exemplari eus a Volchero Coiter summa cum diligentia collecta. His accessere diversorum animalium sceletorum explicationes iconibus artificiosis, et genuinis illustratae.

Coiter, a pupil of Fallopius and Eustachius, became town physician of Nuremberg. His book on comparative osteology, contained in his edition of the lectures of Fallopius, extended his studies begun in his work of 1572…

GMN 284 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8820

1614 PLATER, Felix [PLATTER] (1536 – 1614)

Observationum in hominis affectibus plerisque, corpori & animo, functionum laesione, dolore, aliave molestia & vitio incommodantibus, libri tres.

First known report of a case of death from hypertrophy of the thymus, in an infant, is reported on p. 172; it is reproduced on p. 239 of J. Ruhräh’s Pediatrics of the past, New York, 1925. Platter first described flex…

GMN 3789 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4706

1650 GLISSON, Francis (1597 – 1677); BATE, George (1608 – 1668); REGEMORTER, Ahasuerus (Assuerus Regimorter) (1614 – 1650)

De rachitide sive morbo puerili, qui vulgo The Rickets dicitur tractatus.

Although anticipated by Whistler and others in the description of infantile rickets, Glisson’s account was the fullest that had till then appeared. He was first (Chap. 22) to describe infantile scurvy. Glisson’s book …

GMN 3729 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4509

1668 MEEKEREN, Job Janszoon van (1611 – 1666)

Heel- en geneeskonstige aanmerkingen.

Van Meekeren was first to record a bone graft. He states (Chap. 1) that he read a report of it in a letter received by the Rev. Engebert Sloot of Slooterdijk from John Kraanwinkel, a missionary in Russia, where the op…

GMN 5735 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6519

1679 YONGE, James (1646 – 1721)

Currus triumphalis, è terebinthô. Or an account of the many admirable vertues of oleum terebinthinae. More particularly, of the good effects produced by its application to recent wounds, especially with respect to the hemorrhagies of the veins, and arteries, and the no less pernicious weepings of the nerves, and lymphaducts. Where also, the common methods, and medicaments, used to restrain hemorrhagies, are examined, and divers of them censured. And lastly, A new way of amputation, and a speedier convenient method of curing stumps, than that commonly practised, is with divers other useful matters recommended to the military surgeon.…

Describes how Yonge used turpentine to arrest hemorrhage, and presents the first account of a flap amputation. It also shows that Yonge was familiar with tourniquets. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

GMN 4436 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6326

1691 HAVERS, Clopton (1657 – 1702)

Osteologia nova, or some new observations of the bones.

Havers discovered the Haversian canals and made important observations of the physiology of bone growth and repair. The Haversian lamellae, glands, and folds, are also named after him. The Haversian canals were observ…

GMN 387 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/615

1693 CONNOR [O’CONNOR], Bernard (1666 – 1698)

Lettre écrite à Monsieur le Chevalier Guillaume de Waidegrave …contenant une dissertation physique sur la continuité de plusieurs os, à l’occasion d’une fabrique surprenante d’un tronc de squelette humain, où les vertebres, les côtes, l’os sacrum, & les os des iles, qui naturellement sont distincts & separés, ne font qu’un seul os continu & inseparable.

First description of ankylosing spondylitis. The British Museum copy of the title page of this work has been mutilated, apparently deliberately, in two places; the author’s surname may originally have appeared as “O’C…

GMN 4298 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5451

1700 MALPIGHI, Marcello (1628 – 1694)

Opera posthuma.

Page 68: first description of leontiasis ossea.

GMN 4299 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5453

1705 PETIT, Jean Louis (1674 – 1750)

L’art de guérir les maladies des os. Ou l'on traite des luxations & des fractures, avec les instrumens necessaires & une machine de nouvelle invention pour les reduire: ensemble des exostoses & des caries, des anchyloses, des maladies des dents, & de la charte ou rachitis, maladie ordinaire aux enfans.

Petit was the first director of the Académie de Chirurgie, Paris. He is particularly remembered for his work on bone diseases. He invented the screw tourniquet, gave the first account of osteomalacia, and was first to…

GMN 4300 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5454

1733 PARK, Henry (1744 – 1831)

An account of a new method of treating diseases of the joints of the knee and elbow.

This was originally a letter to Pott. Park became famous for his operation of excision and arthrodesis as a treatment for destructive joint disease. The title page is misprinted “MDCCXXXIII”; the letter is dated 1783.…

GMN 4438 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6333

1736 NESBITT, Robert (1700 – 1761)

Human osteogeny explained in two lectures.

Nesbitt pointed out that bones may develop in membrane as well as cartilage, an observation which was ignored until the 19th century. He left an outstanding description of bone growth.

GMN 395.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/675

1738 BELCHIER, John (1706 – 1785)

An account of the bones of animals being changed to a red colour by aliment only.

Belchier fed animals with madder, noting that new bone formed subsequent to its ingestion was stained red. This was the earliest attempt at vital staining, and is also important as making possible the study of osteoge…

GMN 584 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/408

1741 ANDRY, Nicolas (1658 – 1742)

L’orthopédie ou l’art de prévenir et de corriger dans les enfans, les difformités du corps. 2 vols.

The first book specifically on orthopedics, which term Andry himself introduced. He advised attention to proper posture in the prevention and correction of spinal curvature; he had a practical knowledge of body mechan…

GMN 4301 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5456

1744 PLATNER, Johann Zacharias (1694 – 1747)

De iis, qui ex tuberculis gibberosi fiunt.

Platner affirmed the tuberculous nature of humpback, which had earlier been surmised by Hippocrates and confirmed by Galen.

GMN 4302 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5460

1745 CADWALADER, Thomas (1708 – 1779)

An essay on the West-India dry-gripes… to which is added, an extraordinary case in physick.

Cadwalader, an American pupil of Cheselden, left a classical account of lead colic and lead palsy. This was later shown by Benjamin Franklin, printer of the above work, to be due to the consumption of Jamaica rum whic…

GMN 2094 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2586

1751 DU VERNEY, Guichard-Joseph (Guichard Joseph Duverney) (1648 – 1730)

Traité des maladies des os. 2 vols.

Contains a description of the eponymous "Duverney fracture" and the first full description of osteoporosis. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

GMN 7490 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9662

1754 SORANUS OF EPHESUS (ΣΩΡΑΝΌΣ) (100 – 150); ORIBASIUS (ὈΡΕΙΒΆΣΙΟΣ), [Oreibasius] (320 – 403); COCCHI, Antonio (1695 – 1757)

Graecorum chirurgici libri Sorani unus de fracturarum signis. Oribasii duo de fractis et de luxatis e collectione Nicetae ab antiquissimo et optimo codice Florentino descripti conversi atque edited ab Antonio Cocchio.

A scholarly edition of the Nicetas Codex containing various texts on fractures and luxations. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

GMN 12175 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14385

1762 WHITE, Charles (1728 – 1813)

An account of a new method of reducing shoulders (without the use of an ambe) which have been several months dislocated, in cases where the common methods have proved inefficient.

White’s method of reducing shoulder dislocations by means of suspending the patient from the affected arm. This method either reduced the dislocation entirely, or moved the head of the humerus into a position where it…

GMN 4407 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6145

1766 MORAND, Sauveur-François (1697 – 1773)

Sur un enfant auquel il manquoit les deux clavicules, le sternum et les cartilages, qui dans l’état naturel l’attachent aux côtes.

First description of cleido-cranial dysostosis.

GMN 4302.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5465

1768 POTT, Percivall (1714 – 1788)

Some few general remarks on fractures and dislocations.

The methods outlined by Pott in his classic work on fractures and dislocations were eventually adopted all over the world. He described (pp. 57-64) “Pott’s fracture” in this book, and he stressed the necessity for the…

GMN 4408 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6150

1770 WHITE, Charles (1728 – 1813)

An account of a case in which the upper head of the os humeri was sawed off, a large portion of the bone afterwards exfoliated, and yet the entire motion of the limb was preserved.

First recorded excision of the head of the humerus.

GMN 4437 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6329

1779 DAVID, Jean Pierre (1737 – 1784)

Dissertation sur les effets du mouvement et du repos dans les maladies chirurgicales.

Includes a description of Pott’s disease, with post-mortem findings, better than Pott’s own account. This is an important early work on the effect of movement and of rest in the treatment of joint conditions. English …

GMN 4303 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5469

1779 POTT, Percivall (1714 – 1788)

Remarks on that kind of palsy of the lower limbs, which is frequently found to accompany a curvature of the spine.

“Pott’s disease”. Percival Pott, surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital for more than 40 years, left a classic description of spinal curvature due to tuberculous caries and causing paralysis of the lower limbs. He did …

GMN 4304 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5473

1781 CAMPER, Petrus (Pieter) (1722 – 1789)

Dissertation sur la meilleure forme des souliers.

Classic discussion of childhood shoe-induced deformities. There was also an edition in Dutch published the same year. Digital facsimile of the edition in French from the Internet Archive at this link. English translat…

GMN 4305.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5484

1783 –1788 BELL, Benjamin (1749 – 1806)

A system of surgery. 6 vols.

Bell studied under the Monros at Edinburgh. He was surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, for 29 years. He improved the methods of amputation, introducing the “triple incision of Bell”. Above is his best work.

GMN 5579 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7004

1788 EKMAN, Olaus Jacob

Dissertatio medica descriptionem et casus aliquot osteomalaciae sistens.

In his doctoral thesis Ekman gave an account of osteogenesis imperfecta in three generations. For extensive translation see No. 4404.1. K.S. Seedorff, Osteogenesis imperfecta, Copenhagen, 1949.

GMN 4304.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5474

1788 VENEL, Jean-André (1740 – 1791)

Description de plusieurs nouveaux moyens mécaniques propres à prevénir, borner et même corriger dans certains cas les courbures latérales et la torsion de l’épine du dos.

Venel stressed the necessity for prolonged periods of recumbency, rather than exercise, in the correction of spinal curvature. He invented a corset and extension bed for treating spinal deformities. His extension bed …

GMN 4305 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5479

1789 CAMPER, Petrus (Pieter) (1722 – 1789)

Dissertatio de fractura patellae et olecrani.

GMN 4409 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6165

1791 SOEMMERRING, Samuel Thomas von (1755 – 1830)

Abbildungen und Beschreibungen einiger Misgeburten.

Achondroplasia is first described on page 30 and pictured on plate 11. English translation in No. 2241.

GMN 4306 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5488

1791 –1792 FOURCROY, Antoine François, comte (1755 – 1809)

La médecine éclairée par les sciences physiques. 4 vols.

This work edited by Fourcroy contains in vol. 4 (pp. 85-88) the first description of Chopart’s method of partial amputation of the foot. This is in the form of a note by Lafiteau: “Observation sur une amputation parti…

GMN 4439 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6336

1794 RUSSELL, James (1755 – 1836)

A practical essay on a certain disease of the bones termed necrosis.

One of the first attempts at a complete and detailed description of necrosis. Russell was the first Professor of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh.

GMN 4307 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5493

1798 –1799 BICHAT, Marie François Xavier (1771 – 1802); DESAULT, Pierre-Joseph (1744 – 1795)

Oeuvres chirurgicales de P. J. Desault....ou tableau de sa doctrine & de sa pratique dans le traitement des maladies externes. Ouvrage publié par Xav. Bichat, son èlève. 3 vols.

Desault was one of the first professors at the École Pratique de Chirurgie, Paris. He made many suggestions regarding the treatment of fractures and dislocations and is one of the founders of modern vascular surgery. …

GMN 2927 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7007

1803 SCARPA, Antonio (1752 – 1832)

Memoria chirurgica sui piedi torti congenita dei fanciulli.

First accurate description of the pathological anatomy of congenital club-foot. English translation, Edinburgh, 1818.

GMN 4308 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5497

1803 HEY, William (1736 – 1819)

Practical observations in surgery.

Hey is remembered for “Hey’s saw” and “Hey’s internal derangement of the knee,” a phrase that he coined. He was an outstanding surgeon in his day; he founded and was senior surgeon of the General Infirmary, Leeds. He …

GMN 4308.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5506

1803 MOREAU, P. F.

Observations pratiques relatives à la résection des articulations affectées de carie.

Excision and arthrodesis in joint disease. Moreau was the first to excise the elbow. English translation, Glasgow, 1806. See No. 4438.

GMN 4440 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6340

1804 PHYSICK, Philip Syng (1768 – 1837)

A case of fracture of the os humeri, in which the broken ends of the bone not uniting the usual manner, a cure was effected by means of a seton.

The first paper on orthopedic surgery published in the United States. Physick introduced the use of the seton in the treatment of ununited fractures.

GMN 4409.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6169

1810 WACHTER, Georg Heinrich (1790 – 1864)

Diss. de articulis exstirpandis, imprimis de genu exstirpato.

GMN 4441 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6341

1810 JÖRG, Johann Christian Gottfried (1779 – 1856)

Ueber die Verkrümmungen des menschlichen Körpers und eine rationelle und sichere Heilart derselben.

Valentin considered this work on the correction of deformities of the spine, neck, rickets, clubfoot, etc. one of the first "scientific" treatises on orthopedics. Digital facsimile from digitale-bibliothek-mv.de at th…

GMN 13756 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16040

1812 –1817 LARREY, Dominique Jean (1766 – 1842)

Mémoires de chirurgie militaire, et campagnes. (Vol. 5 entitled Relation médicale de campagnes et voyages.) 5 vols.

Larrey was the greatest military surgeon in history. Of him Napoleon said: “C’est l’homme le plus vertueux que j’ai connu”. He was present at all Napoleon’s great battles and one of the few who stood by him on his abd…

GMN 2160 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/888

1813 BAYNTON, Thomas (1761 – 1820)

An account of a successful method of treating diseases of the spine.

By his advocacy of absolute rest in the horizontal position without the aid of caustics and setons, Baynton can be said to have introduced the modern treatment of spinal caries in England. The book is dedicated to Edw…

GMN 4309 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5509

1814 COLLES, Abraham (1773 – 1843)

On the fracture of the carpal extremity of the radius.

Colles’s description of fracture of the carpal end of the radius led that type of fracture to be named “Colles’s fracture”. He was Professor of Surgery at Dublin for more than 30 years. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 194…

GMN 4410 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6172

1815 LISFRANC DE ST. MARTIN, Jacques [Lisfranc] (1790 – 1847)

Nouvelle méthode opératoire pour l’amputation partielle du pied dans son articulation tarso-métatarsienne.

“Lisfranc’s amputation” of the foot.

GMN 4443 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6346

1817 ROMBERG, Moritz Heinrich (1795 – 1873)

De rachitide congenita.

Classic description of achondroplasia. Romberg’s graduation thesis. English translation (Sydenham Society), 1853.

GMN 4310 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5513

1818 BRODIE, Sir Benjamin Collins (1783 – 1862)

Pathological and surgical observations on the diseases of the joints.

Brodie’s best work. It includes his description of hysterical pseudo-fracture of the spine and the first clinical description of ankylosing spondylitis. The fifth edition, 1850, gives (p. 77) a description of “Brodie’…

GMN 4311 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5515

1819 DUPUYTREN, Guillaume, Le Baron (1777 – 1835)

Mémoire sur la fracture de l’extrémité inférieure du péroné, les luxations et les accidens qui en sont la suite.

“Dupuytren’s fracture”, of the ankle, described in a learned 212-page review of ankle fractures, and of the normal anatomy and function of the ankle joint. “Of especial interest is the description of experimental frac…

GMN 4411 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6175

1820 DUPUYTREN, Guillaume, Le Baron (1777 – 1835)

Observation sur une résection de la mâchoire inférieure.

Dupuytren was the first successfully to excise the lower jaw, in 1812, as recorded in his Leçons orales, 1829, 2, 421-53. The above paper deals with a later operation of the same type.

GMN 4444 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6348

1820 GUTHRIE, George James (1785 – 1856)

A treatise on gun-shot wounds. 2nd. ed.

Successful amputation at the hip-joint, after the battle of Waterloo, 7 July, 1815.

GMN 4445 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6350