Valsalva described the aortic “sinus of Valsalva”.

Probably the earliest description of myositis ossificans progressiva. Freke was a friend of Fielding, who mentioned him in Tom Jones.

Hoffmann of Halle was the most important of the Iatromechanists. He believed an ether-like “vital fluid” to be present in the nervous system and to act upon the muscles, giving them “tonus”.

In this unsigned 4-page pamphlet the author argued that those who had been drowned for several hours could be resuscitated. His ideas inspired the formation of the Amsterdam Society (No. 2028.51). This anonymous work was attributed to Réaumur by various contemporary writers on drowning.

Digital facsimile of a 4-page Nancy printing of the pamphlet from Google Books at this link.

First important work on clinical thermometry, and the only scientific treatment of the subject before Wunderlich.

Organized in three parts: floras, medical botany, and horticultural and agricultural works. Séguier includes books, pamphlets, and references in the periodical literature. "The entries for the publications contain usually the title fully transcribed and in the original language, the place of publication, the publisher, the size .... and sometimes a critical commentary and an indication of the location where he saw the book or found a reference to it. These statements of location are obviously of great importance because they will very often allow us at once to identify the library where the publications are presently located....A useful feature is the provision of marginal notes giving relevant references to reviews, publication, comments or other secondary publications relevant to the main entry...." (Stafleu & Cowan 11624). Includes a reprint of Montalbani's bibliography of 1657. Digital facsimile of the 1740 edition from Google Books at this link.

Spectacular hand-colored plates."Insecten-Belustigung, appeared in 1740 and was devoted to the insects and other invertebrates like the sea anemones. His classification of the insects followed a natural system and he is regarded as one of the fathers of German entomology.^[1] The fourth part is practically a monograph of the spider Araneus diadematus. The description of the animal is illustrated by six plates which show the differences in variation of the colouring of the species. They show also internal dissections. Rosenhof was interested in the production of silk but he confused the anus with the opening of silk-producing glands" (Wikipedia article on Rösel von Rosenhof accessed 9-2017). Digital facsimile from Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg at this link.

Catalogue of the cabinet of curiosities of the anatomical theatre of Rotterdam, founded in 1642. Although anatomy theatres were originally established to teach anatomy and medical and surgical techniques to students and barber surgeons, some became a public attraction. This catalogue lists the no fewer than 573 curiosities including 245 minerals from all over the world, listed in a separate section.The catalogue lists 328 anatomical specimens, displayed in several rooms and cabinets. Some are the more “common” specimens one would expect to find in an anatomical theatre, such as human skeletons and human organs (including kidneys, a liver, a heart and a windpipe), mostly from executed criminals, but also a lot of animal skeletons and organs (including horses, a peacock, seals, sharks and eagles). The first cabinet in the first room contained mostly stillborn babies and their organs. People must have been amazed by the enormous number of more remarkable curiosities, such as the rib of an elephant, the penis of a whale and even the snout of a large swordfish, as well as the kidney stone that Jan Jansz. de Doot famously removed from his own body.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

27 anatomical copperplates after drawings by the most influential painter of the Italian Baroque movement, who also excelled as an architect. The editor, Cajetano Petrioli, supplied the text and small numbered anatomical “figures” in the margins of the plates. The original drawings for the plates are preserved in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow Library. See J.M. Norman (ed.), The anatomical plates of Pietro da Cortona, New York, Dover, 1986.

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 mechanics. This is also the first book on diseases of children to include mention of chlorosis. English translation, 2 vols., 1743, reproduced in facsimile, Philadelphia, 1961. German translation, Berlin, 1744.

Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinense, a catalogue of the plants of Ambon in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, by Georg Eberhard Rumphius, a German-born soldier and botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company, was edited by Dutch botanist and physician Johannes Burman, and posthumously published in Amsterdam in a 6-volume bilingual Dutch and Latin from 1741 to 1750. The work, which provided the basis for all future study of the flora of the Moluccas, described 2000 species. It presented descriptions of the plants and their habitats, and their economic and medicinal uses, and also recorded native plant names in Malay, Latin, Dutch, and Ambonese—and often in Macassarese and Chinese as well.

That this large work was ever published was truly remarkable, considering the hardships that its author faced during its composition, and the complications that occurred after its completion. Even after going blind in 1670 due to glaucoma, Rumphius persisted in the composition of his manuscript with the help of his wife, Suzanna. However, on February 17, 1674 his wife and a daughter were killed by a wall collapse during a major earthquake and tsunami. His son Paul August made many of the plant illustrations and also the only known portrait of Rumphius. Other assistants included Philips van Eyck, a draughtsman, Daniel Crul, Pieter de Ruyter, a soldier trained by Van Eyck, Johan Philip Sipman, Christiaen Gieraerts, and J. Hoogeboom. See The Ambonese Herbal. Georgius Everhardus Rumphius; Translated, Annotated, and with an Introduction by E. M. Beekman. 6 vols., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011. Includes reproduction of all 811 original illustrations. Digital facsimile of the complete set of six volumes published from 1741 to 1750 from Botanicus.org at this link.

For further details see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Inspired by the success of Acosta’s Natural History, Gumilla wrote lush descriptions of native life along the Orinoco River in Venezuela and Colombia. His characterization of local healing practices was informative, but critical of technique. Digital facsimile of the much corrected 1791 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Rodríguez, a self-taught Cistercian monk, dealt with issues in medical ethics in this manual for confessors.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Lieutaud rectified many anatomical errors, described carefully the structure and relations of the heart and its cavities, and added to the contemporary knowledge concerning the bladder. The trigonum vesicae is named “Lieutaud’s trigone”.

Weitbrecht is known for “Weitbrecht’s ligament” (of the elbow), “Weitbrecht’s foramen ovale” (gap in the capsule of the shoulder joint between the glenohumeral ligaments), and “Weitbrecht’s fibers” (retinacular fibers of the neck of the femur). Translation into English of the text only, Dublin, 1839. Full English translation by E. B. Kaplan, Philadelphia, Saunders, 1969.

Boerhaave created of the modern method of clinical teaching. His writings had an enormous influence during his lifetime. Haller, Cullen, Pringle, van Swieten and de Haen were among his pupils. See Lindeboom, Herman Boerhaave, the man and his work, London: Methuen, 1968.

A pupil of Boerhaave, van Swieten transplanted the latter’s method of teaching to Vienna and founded the Vienna School of Medicine. He spent many years on the preparation of his great Commentaria. English translation, 18vols., 1771-76.

Süssmilch, a German army chaplain, produced an important book on vital statistics, the title of which translates as The divine order in the circumstances of the human sex, birth, death and reproduction.  Among other things, he showed the necessity of a healthy and industrious population for the survival of a nation. Süssmilch discovered that, in the long term, there is a constant sex ratio of 1,000 female births to 1,050 male births. His work was the most important until the time of Malthus. Digital facsimile of a printed facsimile of the first edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Pyl was the first (page 20) to record the labyrinthine fluid and to discuss its rôle in the transmission of sound.

First recorded successful operation for intussusception in an adult. The paper is also included in Haller’s Disputationes, vol. 1.

The first English book on children’s teeth. Reprinted, Dawson, 1966. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The teaching of Ould did much towards the advancement of midwifery in the British Isles. His Treatise is the first text-book of obstetrics of any importance in English.

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-like state often referred to as “suspended animation.” In addition, it argued that victims to these conditions should not be pronounced dead, nor buried, until their bodies demonstrated overt putrefaction. 

Translated into French with commentary by Jean Bruhier as as Dissertation sur l'incertitude des signes de la mort, et l'abus des enterremens, & embaumemens précipités (Paris: Chez Morel...., 1742). And translated into English as The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death and the Danger of Precipitate Interments and Dissections, Demonstrated. ... with proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death (London: M. Cooper, 1746.) Digital facsimile of the French translation from Google Books at this link.

The beautiful catalogue of the shell collection formed by Gualtieri, physician to Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in his "museum."  Many of the shells are depicted standing on their apices, and are depicted from two sides, showing the complete surface. Gualtieri's collection is preserved in the Museo Storia Naturale in Pisa.

Maldonado de Puga, a member of the Order of San Juan Hospitalier founded in 1572, reported on the introduction and practice of Western medicine in the Philippines, the foundation of hospitals and the relationship between medicine and the Church in the Spanish colony.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Accurate and beautiful engravings of the diaphragm, uterus, ovaries, vagina, arteries, with explanatory observations. About fifty years after they were originally published the most visually spectacular versions of Haller's plates of the arteries were issued in reduced format brilliantly hand-colored in Anatomical plates of the arteries of the human body, accurately coloured, and reduced from the Icones of Haller: With a concise explanation (London: E. Cox, 1808). Digital facsimile of the original Latin edition from the Max Planck Institute of the History of Science at this link.

Hales devised a ventilator, by means of which fresh air could be introduced into jails, mines, hospitals, the holds of ships, etc. The invention met with immediate approval and contributed much towards health of those for whom it was employed. Hales was the inventor of artificial ventilation.

Taube described the carotid body and named it “ganglion minutum”, See J. Pick, J. Hist. Med., 1959, 14, 61-73.

Virgili is said to have performed successful tracheotomy at Cadiz, for quinsy (peritonsillar abscess)

The first book incorporating specialized odontological research. Dissatisfied with the incomplete coverage of dental problems that he found in the works of Fauchard and Gerauldy, Bunon addressed such issues as dental erosion, tooth development and the prophylaxis of dental caries and other maladies of the teeth in his Essai.

Digital facsimile from biusante.parisdescartes.fr at this link.

“Peyronie’s disease”, a noncancerous condition resulting from fibrous scar tissue that develops on the penis and causes curved, and sometimes painful erections.

After its initial popularity, inoculation fell into disuse in England. Kirkpatrick, who became a prominent inoculator in England after experience in America, helped considerably in reviving its popularity. He attempted the attenuation of the virus by his arm-to-arm method of inoculation.

The largest, most exhaustive and most learned medical dictionary written in English prior to the early 19th century. Samuel Johnson wrote the dedication and some of the articles. This was Johnson’s first venture into lexicography, and when he was done, a syndicate of booksellers asked him to write his famous dictionary. Denis Diderot collaborated on the French translation, 6 vols., Paris, 1746-48. That experience gave Diderot the idea of producing the famous Diderot et d’Alembert Encyclopédie.

The first flora of Virginia. As stated on the title page, Gronovius, a Dutch botanist, based this work on specimens collected by the Virginia plant collector and botanist John Clayton. While Clayton supplied the specimens, the final identification of the plants, the science and system of the book were the work of Gronovius.  The second edition of 1762 included a map documenting Clayton's travels.

Digital facsimile of the first edition from Google Books at this link.

Catalogue of the cabinet of curiosities formed by the merchant and collector Johann Richter. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Trembley discovered the hydra and was the first to observe in it asexual reproduction, regeneration, and photosensitivity in an animal without eyes. His experiments were of great importance in the study of regeneration of lost parts. He was the first to make permanent grafts and to witness cell-division. A biography of Trembley was published by J. R. Baker, London, 1952. English translation in S.G. and H.M. Lenhoff, Hydra and the birth of experimental biology, Pacific Grove, CA, 1986. Digital facsimile of the 1744 edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

A student of Johann Gottlob Krüger (No. 1987.2), Kratzenstein was apparently the first to publish a treatise on electrotherapy, although he may have been publishing experiments devised by Krüger. Second edition, Halle, C.H. Hemmerde,1745. English translation in E. Snorrason, C.G. Kratzenstein and his studies on electricity during the eighteenth century, Odense, 1974.

Along with Kratzenstein, is the one of the first two works to discuss the possible therapeutic uses of electricity. Krüger predicted that the best results would be with paralyzed limbs. See No. 1987.1. Second edition, with additions, 1745.

Stimulated by the much talked about appearance of an albino negro in Paris, Maupertuis expressed theories of biparental heredity and epigenesis which substantially anticipated those of Darwin, Mendel, and De Vries nearly a century and a half later.

Cleland, an army surgeon, devised the method of catheterization of the Eustachian tube by way of the nose; he designed the instruments necessary for the operation.

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

This work was Banjamin Franklin's personal favorite of the works printed by him, and is one of the finest books to emanate from a Colonial American press. It was the first classical text printed in North America, and the translation was by Franklin's friend James Logan. The work's genesis was in in the winter of 1741-2, when a trial sheet was sent to Logan, but more pressing printing work (in particular, the many religious pamphlets of 1743-4) obtruded. With the arrival from London of David Hall, Franklin had leisure to complete the book, which went on sale in mid-March, 1744. It contains an introduction by Franklin entitled, "The printer to the reader." Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

John Armstrong was the brother of George Armstrong. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.  The edition consisted of 1250 of which 50 were on "fine paper."

Describes surgical cases that Ranby treated under Lord Stair in the German campaign up to the Battle of Dettingen. While the Earl of Stair exercised operational control, the Allied army was nominally commanded by George II, accompanied by his son the Duke of Cumberland. As a result, the battle is now best remembered as the last time a reigning British monarch led troops in combat.

Ranby extoled the use of Peruvian bark in the suppuration following upon gunshot wounds, and observed that its virtue is increased if the elixir of vitriol is given with it; he thus anticipated the use of quinine. He also provided a detailed account of a leg wound sustained by the Duke of Cumberland; and recorded cases of death from tetanus following gunshot wounds. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This pioneering work on experimental entomology incorporates Bonnet’s most important discovery–parthenogenetic reproduction–based on his study of aphids. Bonnet used the result of this and other discoveries as a basis for speculation about life on earth. This work presents in tabular form his version of the “great chain of being”. Bonnet’s concept of the essential continuity of life, a consequence of his discovery and preformationist interpretation of parthenogenesis, was a major force in the shaping of later evolutionary opinion. See No. 472.

“Lieberkühn’s glands” or “crypts” described. They were discovered by Malpighi in 1688.

Aphasia first described. Facsimile reproduction and English translation by H. R. Viets, Bull. Hist. Med., 1943, 13, 328-33.

Remarkable for its striking mezzotints printed in color. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Heberden’s first printed work. His criticism of current superstitions conceming these two concoctions resulted ultimately in their removal from the pharmacopoeia. No publisher's name appears on the title page. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

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 which had been distilled through lead pipes. The “extraordinary case” mentioned in the title refers to a case of osteomalacia. Cadwalader’s autopsy of the victim’s body is one of the earliest recorded in the United States. The above work is probably the first medical book containing significant original research to be published by an American physician in America. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Medicine, Internet Archive, at this link.

English translation, The earthly Venus, was published in New York, 1966. Includes a reprint of No. 215.1.

A key early work on the Bergsucht or miner's phthisis.

Discovery of iron in the blood.

First investigation of the action of the intercostal muscles in respiration.

Deparcieux was the first to construct correct life tables. Appendix in 1760. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Probably the earliest comprehensive clinical and pathological account of emphysema.

First description of duodenal ulcer.

The first specialized book on dental prosthetics.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Short focused his book on the medical uses of plants readily available in England. Many of the plants recommended in the traditional herbal literature were difficult to find in England. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Catesby was one of the first ornithologists to study bird migration. Digital facsimile from the Royal Society at this link.

James, it may be assumed, had little or nothing to do with this translation, because copyright between England and France was essentially non-existent at the time. In the process of supervising this large publication, Diderot collaborated with three "philosophes", of which only Busson was a physician. Experience with this publication gave Diderot the idea of undertaking the much larger scale project, the Encyclopédie des sciences.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

In this follow-up to his book published in 1743 Bunon proved the assertions of his earlier Essai through a series of dental researches conducted on patients at the Salpêtrière and at the hospital of St. Côme--the first dental experiments ever conducted. In this work he discussed for the first time the genesis of enamel hypoplasia, which he found was caused by various childhood diseases. He also focused on the prevention of tooth decay, and provided the first dental pharmacopeia. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Haller was one of the most imposing figures in the whole of medicine, besides being a superb bibliographer and the founder of medical bibliography. As a physiologist he was the greatest of his time. Many apparently “new” discoveries of later times had already been accounted for by Haller. The above work includes (p. 259) Haller’s resonance theory, similar to that already propounded by Du Verney and (more than 100 years later) by Helmholtz (No. 1562).

Translated into English by Samuel Mihles as Dr. Albert Haller's physiology; being a course of lectures upon the visceral anatomy and vital oeconomy of human bodies. 2 vols. London, 1754

Includes a Latin translation of Rhazes’s commentary on smallpox. Mead favored inoculation, and his great authority and influence contributed to a more general acceptance of this measure. English translation entitled A discourse on the small pox and measles, London, 1748.

Levret, who improved the obstetric forceps, was a famous teacher in Paris.

Wesley, an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist, was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. Digital facsimile of the 14th American edition, Philadelphia, 1770, from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Osler, whose copy is recorded in Bibliotheca Osleriana 3335, quoted a previous owner's comment on this edition: "A curious and uncommon book. The author, in claiming to judge of the state of the pulse by its resemblance to musical rhythms, has given freer play to his imagination than to any exact observation.... "The book includes graphic representation of pulses in terms of musical notation.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

"This work is an attempt to give, first, the story of medicine in each country by means of excerpts from the important writers; and secondly, the state of medicine in each country at the time of writing, gathered by correspondence with contemporary physicians. I know of no work on exactly the same lines..." (Note by William Osler in Bibliotheca Osleriana [1929] 3830). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

La Mettrie attempted among other things to prove the materialism of the soul. Because of his blatant and aggressive atheism, all of La Mettrie’s writings were placed on the Index and systematically burned. Owing to its heretical nature, this anonymous work was also ordered to be burnt by the magistrates of Leiden. An English translation appeared in 1749. See Vartanian, L’homme machine, a study in the origins of an idea, Princeton, 1960.

Meckel’s graduation thesis contains the first really detailed account of the trigeminal nerve’s distribution (along with a meticulous treatment of the earlier literature), and in it he describes for the first time the pterygopalatine ganglion (Meckel’s ganglion) and the dural recess (Meckel’s cave) that lodges the trigeminal (Gasser’s) ganglion.

Discovery of stimulation of muscles by electricity, and the first proof that paralysis could be successfully treated by electricity.

Cheselden’s lateral lithotomy first described in this brief paper by Alexander Reid. Digital facsimile from royalsocietypublishing.org at this link.

First authoritative account of both diphtheria and scarlatinal angina, although failing to differentiate between the two conditions. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 58-99.

Cadogan’s famous essay laid down rules on the nursing, feeding, and clothing of infants, and filled a great need at a time when infant welfare was much neglected through the ignorance of those concerned. As a result of this work, Cadogan was elected a physician of the Foundling Hospital in 1754. He became a friend of Garrick, and was present at that great actor’s deathbed. 10th ed., 1772.

Includes eight spectacular plates printed in color by Gautier d'Agoty with text by Duvereny. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The first account of cataract extraction. Daviel also published this in the Mercure de France in September 1748, pp. 198-218. The separate edition, a 24-page pamphlet, was printed from a different setting of type.

This vast work is divided into seven parts. I: Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…15 vols., by Buffon and L.J.M. Daubenton (1749-67). II: Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. 9 vols., by Buffon, P. Guéneau de Montbeillard and G.L.C.A. Bexon (1770-1783). III: Histoire naturelle des mineraux. 5 vols., by Buffon (1783-88). IV: Supplement. 7 vols., by Buffon, the last volume finished by La Cépède after Buffon’s death (1774-1789). V: Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ovipare et des serpents. 2 vols., by Le Compte de la Cépède (1788-89). VI: Histoire naturelle des poissons. 5 vols., by La Cépède (1798- “An XI” [1802/03]). Histoire naturelle des cétacées. 1 vol., by La Cépède. (An XII [1803/04]).

“Natural history, prior to Buffon, had all the earmarks of an avocation, a hobby. Buffon is the one who raised it to the status of a science” (Mayr). Buffon is also regarded as an important early contributor to the history of evolutionary thought as he introduced a large number of evolutionary problems, such as common descent, extinction, and reproductive isolation of species, into the realm of scientific investigation.

Senac’s valuable treatise on the heart added much to the knowledge of the anatomy and diseases of that organ; he mentioned the leucocytes, which he considered to belong to the chyle, and he described pericarditis. Senac was the first to use quinine for palpitation.

Linnaeus’s physician’s reference on pharmacology. Linnaeus classified medicinal plants according to his botanical system and described the therapeutic value of the drugs derived from each plant. He was instrumental in introducing quassia (bitterwood), solanum (nightshade), dulcamara (bittersweet) and many other plant remedies into medicine. His work laid the foundation for the scientific study and development of materia medica, and remained a model for later authors on the subject.

The second and third volumes of this work, on animals and minerals respectively, were published together under the title Materies medica in 1763. Of this later title Soulsby notes: “This very rare work is founded on the Dissertations of 1750, Jonas Sidren, Respondens, & 1752, Johannes Lindhult, Resp. . . . Linnaeus was probably not concerned in its production.” 

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.