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
1803 MICHAUX, André (1746 – 1802); REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759 – 1840)
Flora Boreali-Americana, sistens caracteres plantarum quas in America septentrionali collegit et detexit Andreas Michaux, Instituti Gallici Scientiarum, necnon Societatis Agriculturae Caroliniensis socius. Tabulis Aeneis 51 ornata [after Pierre-Joseph Redouté]. 2 vols.
"The French government sent Michaux to the United States to collect North American seeds, shrubs, and trees ; he landed at New York City on 1 October, accompanied by his son [François-André Michaux] and a gardener. In…
GMN 12399 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14629
1803 LARREY, Dominique Jean (1766 – 1842)
Rélation historique et chirurgicale de I’expedition de l'Armée d’Orient, en Egypte et en Syrie.
Larrey's history of his experiences with Napoleon and Napoleon's armies during the Egypt campaign. Includes a reprint of Larrey's treatise on trachoma, which was first published at Napoleon's press in Cairo. Digital f…
GMN 12942 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15189
1803 BALME, Claude (1766 – 1850)
Observations et réflexions sur le scorbut, d'après celui qui a régné parmi les troupes françaises formant la garnison d'Alexandrie (en Egypte), pendant le Blocus et le Siége de cette ville, en l'an IX (1801), par les Armées combinées des Turcs et des Anglais.
The author was a military surgeon on Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link. (32pp.)
GMN 13611 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15891
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
1805 VIEUSSEUX, Gaspard (1746 – 1814)
Mémoire sur la maladie qui a régné à Genève au printemps de 1805.
First definite description of cerebrospinal meningitis. Partial English translation in No. 2241.
GMN 4674 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/940
1805 DONOVAN, Edward (1768 – 1837)
An epitome of the natural history of the insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific oceans: Including the figures and descriptions of one hundred and fifty-three species of the more splendid, beautiful, and interesting insects, hitherto discovered in those countries, and which for the most part have not appeared in the works of any preceding author. The figures are correctly delineated from specimens of the insects; and with the descriptions are arranged according to the Linnæan system, with reference to the writings of Fabricius and other entomologists.
"Apart from occasional excursions in England and Wales Donovan never left London. His Insects of New Holland is based on specimens collected by Joseph Banks and William Bayly an astronomer on the second and third voya…
GMN 9085 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11264
1805 GRIFFITHS, John
Travels in Europe, Asia Minor, and Arabia.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 12483 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14716
1806 VINCENT, DE MARCIAC, J.
Dissertation sur la fièvre-jaune qui a régné épidémiquement à Saint-Domingue, et qui a fait tant de ravages dans l'Armée expéditionnaire, en l'an X et en l'an XI, et sur les causes qui l'ont rendue si funeste.
Describes the yellow fever epidemic that swept through French troops on the island of Saint Domingue (Haiti) in 1802. In the midst of the slave uprising that led to the island’s independence, Napoleon sent an expediti…
GMN 13161 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15420
1807 BARD, Samuel (1742 – 1821)
A compendium of the theory and practice of midwifery.
First significant textbook on obstetrics written by an American. Bard gave an excellent description of the mechanism of labor, and of pre-eclampsia. Woodcut illustrations were engraved by American physician and illust…
GMN 6163.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7749
1807 EWELL, James (1773 – 1832)
The planter's and mariner's medical companion: treating, according to the most successful practice, I. The diseases common to warm climates and on ship board. II. Common cases in surgery, as fractures, dislocations, &c. &c. III. The complaints peculiar to women and children. To which are subjoined a dispensatory, shewing how to prepare and administer family medicines, and a glossary giving an explanation of technical terms.
Ewell, then practicing in Savannah, Georgia, wrote this self-help book for southern residents, directing his book toward plantation owners. It was "the constant friend of a large number of slave-masters. In emergencie…
GMN 7049 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9216
1807 –1834 HUMBOLDT, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von (1769 – 1859); BONPLAND, Aimé Jacques Alexandre (1773 – 1858)
Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804. 34 vols.
In 1799 Humboldt and Bonpland embarked on a six-year tour of research through South America and Mexico, a trip which would afterwards be called, justifiably, "the scientific discovery of America." The two amassed exha…
GMN 7452 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9624
1807 CURTIS, Charles
An account of the diseases of India, as they appeared in the English fleet, and in the naval hospital at Madras, in 1782 and 1783; with observations on ulcers, and the hospital sores of that country, &c. & c. To which is prefixed a view of the diseases of an expedition and passage of a fleet and armament to India, in 1781.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 8814 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10992
1808 –1814 WILSON, Alexander (1766 – 1813); ORD, George
American ornithology; or, the natural history of the birds of the United States: Illustrated with plates engraved and colored from original drawings taken from nature. 9 vols.
Considered the "father of American ornithology," Wilson was the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon. Wilson died with the 7th volume in press, and the 8th and 9th volumes were completed by Wilson's friend G…
GMN 9498 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11683
1808 GILBERT, Nicolas-Pierre (1751 – 1814)
Tableau historique des maladies internes de mauvais caractère qui ont affligé la grande armée dans la campagne de Prusse et de Pologne, et notamment de celles qui ont été observées dans les hôpitaux militaires et les villes de Thorn, Bromberg, Fordon et Culm, dans l'hiver de 1806 à 1807, le printems et l'été de 1807, suivi de réflexions sur les divers modes de traitement de ces maladies adoptés par les médecins français et allemands.
Digital facsimile from biusante.parisdescartes.fr at this link.
GMN 13355 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15626
1809 GOMES, Bernardino António (1769 – 1823)
Memoria sobre a canella do Rio de Janeiro offerecida ao Principe do Brazil nosso senhor: pelo Senado da Camara da mesma cidade no anno de 1798.
The earliest monograph on medicine published in Brazil. Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.
GMN 9064 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11243
1809 COURTIN, Charles (1777 – 1855)
Recueil général des lois, réglemens, décisions et circulaires sur le service des hôpitaux militaires. 2 vols.
On the organization and administration of French military hospitals during the Napoleonic era, and probably the most comprehensive account published up to this time on the administration of military hospitals in gener…
GMN 10267 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12458
1809 WARREN, John Collins (1778 – 1856)
Cases of organic diseases of the heart. With dissections and some remarks intended to point out the distinctive symptoms of these diseases.
The first monograph on heart disease written and published in the United States. Digital text from Project Gutenberg at this link.
GMN 10602 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12795
1809 –1840 HOFFMANNSEGG (HOFFMANSEGG), Johann Centurius Graf von (1766 – 1849)
Flore portugaise ou description de toutes les plantes qui croissent naturellement en Portugal. 2 vols.
The most spectacular illustrated book on the flora of Portugal. The delicate illustrations, mostly stipple-engraved and colored by hand, based on the travels of Hoffmannsegg through Portugal between 1797 and 1801, wer…
GMN 12798 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15044
1809 DESCOURTILZ, Michel Étienne (1777 – 1835)
Voyages d'un Naturaliste, et ses observations. Faites sur les trois règnes de la Nature, dans plusieurs ports de mer français, en Espagne, au continent de l'Amerique septentrionale, à Saint-Yago de Cuba, et à St.-Domingue, où l'Auteur devenu le prisonnier de 40,000 Noirs révoltés, et par suite mis en liberté par une colonne de l'armée française, donne des détails circonstanciés sur l'expédition du général Leclerc. Dédiés à ... le Comte de Lacépède. 3 vols.
One of the more unusually titled travel accounts including the mention that "the author became the prisoner of 40,000 black revolutionaries, and was rescued by the French army." "Following his marriage to the daughter…
GMN 12827 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15073
1810 GOMES, Bernardino António (1769 – 1823)
Ensaio sobre o cinchonino, e sobre sua influencia em a virtude da quina, e de outras cascas.
Gomes obtained a substance, which he named cinchonino, from cinchona bark. That it contained the active principle of cinchona was later proved by Pelletier and Caventou. For an English translation of the paper, see Ed…
GMN 1840 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2272
1811 LINNAEUS, Carl (Linné) (1707 – 1778); SMITH, Sir James Edward (1759 – 1828)
Lachesis Lapponica, or a tour in Lapland, now first published from the original manuscript journal of the celebrated Linnaeus; by James Edward Smith. 2 vols.
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 7321 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9491
1811 TYLER, Mary Hunt Palmer (1775 – 1866)
The maternal physician; a treatise on the nurture and management of infants, from the birth until two years old. Being the result of sixteen years' experience in the nursery. Illustrated by extracts from the most approved medical authors
The first American book on pediatrics, in the tradition of "advice books" or childcare manuals for mothers. This was the first American printed book on a medical subject written by a woman. Pages 248-75 publish a list…
GMN 7801 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9973
1811 BRIGHT, Richard (1789 – 1858); HOLLAND, Sir Henry (1788 – 1873); HOOKER, Sir William Jackson (1785 – 1865); MACKENZIE, Sir George Steuart (1780 – 1848)
Travels in the island of Iceland, during the summer of the year MDCCCX.
Only Mackenzie is credited with authorship on the title page. Holland and Bright accompanied Mackenzie on this voyage and exploration. On p. xi of the Preface Mackenzie indicates that he benefitted from Hooker's notes…
GMN 13755 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16039
1811 HOOKER, Sir William Jackson (1785 – 1865)
Journal of a tour in Iceland in the summer of 1809.
"In 1809 he went to Iceland to make a botanical survey for [Sir Joseph] Banks; his collections were lost in a fire at sea on the way home but with the aid of Banks’s notes from his own journey there in 1772 Hooker was…
GMN 13762 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16047
1812 RUSH, Benjamin (1745 – 1813)
Medical inquiries and observations upon the diseases of the mind.
The first American textbook on psychiatry, and, considering the state of that science in Rush’s time, one of the most noteworthy. It underwent four editions.
GMN 4924 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6121
1812 FRANK, Louis (1761 – 1825)
Collection d'opuscules de médecine pratique, avec un mémoire sur le commerce des nègres au Kaire.
Frank was with Napoleon in Egypt; this volume contains numerous reports on aspects of medicine during that campaign. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 12196 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/14406
1813 TUKE, Samuel (1784 – 1857)
Description of The Retreat, an institution near York, for insane persons…
The pioneer work by an Englishman advocating humane treatment of the mentally ill. Tuke set out in this work the successful results of his experience with the “mild system of treatment” which had been instituted at Th…
GMN 4925.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6135
1813 –1817 RICHTER, Wilhelm Michael von (1767 – 1822)
Geschichte der Medicin in Russland. 3 vols.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 6566 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8267
1813 AINSLIE, Whitelaw (1767 – 1837)
Materia medica of Hindoostan, and artisan’s and agriculturist’s nomenclature.
The first book in English on the materia medica of India, and a pioneering work in the field of Indian medical history. Ainslie joined the British East India Company as an assistant surgeon in 1788 and spent the next …
GMN 6975 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9141
1813 JOHNSON, James (1777 – 1845)
The influence of tropical climates, more especially the climate of India, on European constitutions; the principal effects and diseases thereby induced, their prevention or removal, and the means of preserving health in hot climates, rendered obvious to to Europeans in every capacity: An essay .
Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. Enlarged and retitled second edition: The influence of tropical climates on European constitutions: to which is added tropical hygiene, or the preservation of …
GMN 8211 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10387
1813 LEPAGE, François-Albin (1793 – )
Recherches historiques sur la médecine des chinois.
The first Western history of Chinese medicine. Lepage, a pupil of Pierre Sue, was a friend and colleague of pioneer sinologist Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat. In his medical thesis Lepage presented an overview of what was t…
GMN 14178 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16493
1814 PURSH, Frederick Traugott (1774 – 1820)
Flora Americae septentrionalis; or, a systematic arrangement and description of the plants of North America. Containing, besides what have been described by preceding authors, many new and rare species, collected during twelve years travels and residence in that country. 2 vols.
The first survey of all plants of North America above Mexico, including more than 3,000 species and 470 genera; describes more than 100 species collected by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Digital facsimile from Botan…
GMN 7876 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10048
1814 CHARAULT, C. R.
Coup-d'oeil sur Saint-Domingue; observations sur le caractère des négres et sur la fièvre jaune; moyens de recouvrer cette colonie, et de se préserver des maladies qui y règnent.
Digital facsimile from patrimoines-martinique.org at this link.
GMN 8219 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10395
1814 HENRY, Samuel
Botanic medicine: A new and complete American medical family herbal: Wherein is displayed the true properties and medical virtues of the plants, indigenous to the United States of America, together with Lewis' secret remedy newly discovered, which has been found infallible in the cure of that dreadful disease hydrophobia, produced by the bite of a mad dog.
Henry wrote that he had been a captive of the Indians during the Creek War and that he incorporated what he learned during his captivity. His work was one of the first illlustrated herbals published in the United Stat…
GMN 9641 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11828
1814 ROXBURGH, William (1751 – 1815)
Hortus Bengalensis, or, a catalogue of the plants growing in the East India Company's Botanic Garden at Calcutta.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 10761 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12957
1815 HOLLAND, Sir Henry (1788 – 1873)
Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia, &c. during the years 1812 and 1813.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 7368 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9540
1815 PARK, Mungo (1771 – 1806)
Journal of a mission to the interior of Africa, in the year 1805. Together with other documents, official and private, relating to the same mission. To which is prefixed an account of the life of Mr. Park.
Park died in Africa in 1806, as a result of conflicts with native peoples. This volume includes the journal of Isaaco, an African, who served as Mungo Park's guide. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this …
GMN 7932 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10105
1815 MACGRIGOR, Sir James (1771 – 1858)
Sketch of the medical history of the British Armies in the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal, during the late campaigns.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 10805 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13001
1815 PARMLY, Levi Spear (1790 – 1859)
The summum bonum.
The first book on dentistry published in Canada. Facsimile edition, Montreal, 1969.
GMN 12914 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15161
1815 CROSSE, John Green (1790 – 1850)
Sketches of the medical schools of Paris.
Crosse, a British surgeon whose name appears without the final "ed" on the title page, was a British surgeon who spent the winter of 1814-15 in Paris, where he wrote numerous letters to friends in london and Dublin de…
GMN 14176 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16491
1816 MANN, James (1759 – 1832)
Medical sketches of the campaigns of 1812, 13, 14. To which are added, surgical cases, observations on military hospitals; and flying hospitals attached to a moving army.
The primary record of medicine during the War of 1812.
GMN 2161.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/905
1816 BURNETT, William Sir (1779 – 1861)
A practical account of the Mediterranean fever, as it appeared in the ships and hospitals of His Majesty's fleet on that station: With cases and dissections. To which are added facts and observations, illustrative of the causes, symptoms and treatment comprehending the history of the fever in the fleet, during the years 1810, 1811, 1813, and of the Gibraltar and Carthagena fevers.
"Burnett in 1816 described an epidemic of a short term fever occurring among the Naval Forces engaged in the Siege of Malta in 1799, and this fever was almost certainly phlebotomus" (Coulter, The Royal Naval Medical S…
GMN 11143 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13340
1817 –1819 BARTON, William Paul Crillon (1786 – 1856)
Vegetable materia medica of the United States. 2 vols.
Barton served as a naval surgeon and, in 1815, became Professor of Botany at Philadelphia. Along with Bigelow (No. 1842) Barton’s work is one of the first two botanical works with colored plates issued in the United S…
GMN 1841 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2277
1817 –1820 BIGELOW, Jacob (1786 – 1879)
American medical botany, being a collection of the native medicinal plants of the United States, containing their botanical history and chemical analysis, and properties and uses in medicine, diet and the arts. 3 vols.
Bigelow was professor of materia medica and botany at Harvard. This work included native American remedies. It was the first book printed in the United States to include color plates printed in color. See R.J. Wolfe, …
GMN 1842 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2280
1817 MACLEAN, Charles (1760 – 1824)
Results of an investigation, respecting epidemic and pestilential diseases; including researches in the Levant, concerning the plague. 2 vols.
"From 1815 to 1817 Maclean travelled in Spain, Turkey, and the Levant, and he studied the plague at the Greek Pest Hospital at Constantinople, in the service of the Levant Company. His experiences in the Levant and in…
GMN 8816 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/10994
1817 MORICHEAU-BEAUPRÉ, Pierre-Jean (1778 – 1857)
Des effets et des propriétés du froid, avec un aperçu historique et médical sur la campagne de Russie.
Relative to the suffering of Napoleon's soldiers during the bitter cold of Russian winters, includes methodology of resucitation of victims of freezing. Digital facsimile of thesis issue of the 1817 edition from the I…
GMN 11154 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13351
1818 BALLINGALL, Sir George (1780 – 1855)
Practical observations on fever, dysentery and liver complaints as they occur amongst European troops in India. With introductory remarks on the disadvantages of selecting boys for Indian military service.
Ballingall distinguished between amoebic and bacillary dysentery. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
GMN 5182.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6307
1818 BRIGHT, Richard (1789 – 1858)
Travels from Vienna through Lower Hungary; with remarks on the state of Vienna during the congress in the year 1814.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 7319 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9489
1818 ABEL, Clarke (1789 – 1826)
Narrative of a journey in the interior of China, and of a voyage to and from that country, in the years 1816 and 1817; containing an account of the most interesting transactions of Lord Amherst's embassy to the court of Pekin and observations on the countries which it visited.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
GMN 7369 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9541