Huxham’s best work. He was well known in the west of England and wrote important monographs on diphtheria and on Devonshire colic. Huxham seemed to appreciate that a difference existed between typhus and typhoid, at that time usually regarded as one condition. This book included the first use of the word “influenza” by an English physician.

Original and suggestive work on vital statistics, showing vividly the changing conditions of life as he saw it (Greenwood).

Pringle was a strong advocate of better ventilation in prisons and hospitals as a means of preventing typhus, which he showed to be identical with “hospital fever”.

Thomson, a physician in Philadelphia, was the originator of the American method of inoculation against smallpox. Printed by Benjamin Franklin. Digital facsimile from dla.library.upenn.edu at this link.

The first pictorial history of neuroanatomy, which contains some of the very first color engravings of the brain. The three colored copperplates were by “a certain Robert", a pupil of Le Blon, the inventor of three-color printing. The plates in this volume were printed in red and black, using only two plates. The book provides a chronological survey of ideas about the nervous system from Magnus Hundt (1501) to Tarin and his contemporaries, including Willis and Vieussens. Many parts of the brain are described, some for the first time (the fascia dentata Tarini and Tarin’s pons—the dentate gyrus, Huxley’s term, and posterior perforated space or region of the interpeduncular nucleus, respectively). (communication from Larry W. Swanson). Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

An exceptionally thorough manual on dissection, dressing skeletons, and creating "anatomical preparations," and embalming. Digital facsimile from BnFGallica at this link.

Digital facsimile from BnFGallica at this link.

Whytt, famous Edinburgh neurophysiologist, was the first to prove that the response of the pupils to light is a reflex action (“Whytt’s reflex”). He described this reflex at length and mentioned that its afferent pathways lie in the optic nerve and the efferent pathways in the third pair.

Bartram founded one of the first botanical gardens in America (at Kingsessing). Linnaeus referred to him as the “greatest natural botanist in the world”.

A few copies of this 7-page work printed by Benjamin Franklin were issued separately. It is most often found as an appendix to a larger work also printed by Franklin:

Thomas Short's Medicina Britannica, or A treatise on such physical plants, as are generally to be found in the fields or gardens in Great-Britain .... The THIRD EDITION. With a PREFACE by Mr. John Bartram, Botanist of Pennsylvania, and his NOTES throughout the work, shewing the places where many of the described plants are to be found in these parts of America, their differences in name, appearance and virtue, from of the same kind in Europe; and an APPENDIX, containing a description of a number of plants pecular to America, their uses, virtues, &c. London printed: Philadelphia, re-printed, and sold by B[enjamin] Franklin and D. Hall, at the Post-Office, in Market-Street., 1751.

Digital facsimile of Medicina Britannica from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link. Bartram's appendix appears on the final 7 pages.

Cleghorn left a good account of several diseases and conditions not previously observed, among them epidemic jaundice. He included accounts of many post-mortems. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Burton was the first to suggest that puerperal fever is contagious, and the first to give a detailed discussion of Caesarean section. Laurence Steme satirized him as “Dr. Slop” in The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman. This work includes illustrations by the painter George Stubbs.

A greatly expanded version of Boerhaave's Methodus discendi medicinam (1726), resulting in a text perhaps triple or quadruple its original length.  While Boerhaave frequently cited classic authors in his lectures, Haller added extensive bibliographical lists to each chapter, with some entries annotated, resulting in a subject bibliography of useful works to the student, including many 16th century books. As knowledge did not necessarily progress very rapidly at the time, it is unclear whether Haller regarded works published even two centuries earlier as historical classics, or as still useful for their scientific information, or as both. Lindeboom, Bibliographia Boerhaaviana (1959) No. 98.

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

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

This work was "the first textbook of descriptive systematic botany and botanical Latin".^[1] It also contains Linnaeus's first published description of his binomial nomenclature.

"Philosophia Botanica represents a maturing of Linnaeus's thinking on botany and its theoretical foundations, being an elaboration of ideas first published in his Fundamenta Botanica (1736) and Critica Botanica (1737), and set out in a similar way as a series of stark and uncompromising principles (aphorismen). The book also establishes a basic botanical terminology" (Wikipedia article Philosophia Botanica, accessed 3-2020).

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

La Condamine's journal of his ten year long voyage to South America, the scientific results of which included proof that the earth is a spheroid flattened at the poles. Other scientific observations including botanical studies of cinchona and rubber trees, and the recognition that cinchona bark was a remedy for malaria. La Condamine was also the first European to report on the South American botanic alkaloid poison curare. He was also one of the first to explore the Amazon. Digital facsimile of the 1751 volume from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. Digital facsimile of the supplement from the Hathi Trust at this link.

In 1745 Condamine issued an abridgment of the journal prior to the full publication: Relation abrégée d'un voyage fait dans l'intérieur de l'Amérique méridionale. Depuis la côte de la Mer du Sud, jusqu'aux côtes du Brésil & de la Guiane, en descendant la rivière des Amazones.

This was translated into English as A succinct abridgment of a voyage made within the Inland parts of South America from the coasts of the South Sea to the coasts of Brazil & Guiana, down the Rrver of Amazonas. London: E. Withers, 1747.

Huxham made daily records of the weather and prevailing diseases; his aim was to establish a relationship between atmospheric conditions and disease. The work was first published in 1728; vol. 1 and 2 of the edition given above are second edition, which was rounded off by a third volume published posthumously. English translation of vol. 1 and 2, 1758-67.

Pringle, founder of modern military medicine, was Physician-General of the British Army from 1744 to 1752. His books lay down the principles of military sanitation and the ventilation of barracks, gaols, hospital ships, etc. He did much to improve the lot of soldiers, and it was due to remarks in his book that foot-soldiers were given blankets when on service. The preface of the book includes an account of the origin of the Red Cross idea (the neutrality of military hospitals on the battlefield); for a further note on this, see Lancet, 1943, 2, 234.

First description of parotid tumor.

Atlas of bipartite and double uterus.

Smellie contributed more to the fundamentals of obstetrics than virtually any individual. In his Treatise he described more accurately than any previous writer the mechanism of parturition, stressing the importance of exact measurement of the pelvis. He was the first to lay down safe rules regarding the use of forceps, and personally introduced the steel-lock, the curved, and the double forceps. He invented the “Smellie manoeuvre” to deliver breech cases. His book was followed by two volumes of case reports, 1754 and 1764; it was re-published by the New Sydenham Society, edited with annotations by Alfred H. McClintock, 3 vols., 1876-78. It includes the first illustration of a rachitic pelvis. Digital facsimile of the 1876 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Biography of Smellie by R. W. Johnstone, Edinburgh, 1952.

Fatio was probably the first surgeon to study and treat surgical conditions of children in a systematic fashion. His book, first published over 60 years after his death, is divided into five parts: 1) the anatomy of woman and on generation; 2) the pregnant woman and her diseases; 3) on natural and complicated deliveries; 4) the pregnant woman, her diseases, food and drink; 5) the care of newborn children and their diseases.  In the last part Fatio includes the earliest section on pediatric surgery in a medical book. He describes operations for hypospadias, hydrocolpos, imperforate anus and many more. Because he engaged in revolutionary political activity in the city of Basel Fatio was imprisoned, tortured, and executed in 1691. All of his manuscripts except the text of above work were burned by the authorities. See Rickham, The dawn of paediatric surgery: Johannes Fatio (1649-1691)-His life, his work and his horrible end, in No. 6357.9. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this work in the pathophysiology of drowning, resuscitation and the legal diagnosis of death Louis sought to reassure the public that the risk of being buried alive was very low. He rejected a proposal for late burials (three days after the diagnosis of death) because of the risk of infection. He claimed that flaccid and soft character of the eyes is a characteristic, unmistakable sign of death, and that this occurred "in a few hours".  Louis also carried out many experiments to explain the mechanism of drowning. He demonstrated for the first time that water is introduced into the bronchi, and not into the stomach, during drownings. He also studied methods of resuscitation and warned of the dangers of pouring spirits into the mouth of an unconscious drowned person. At the end of his book Louis republished Winslow's thesis (No. 11407) on the uncertainty of the signs of death, with its French translation on the opposite pages.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Discussing the consumption and reception of coffee from Britain to Turkey, Knoll dismissed criticisms of coffee, including that it reduced beauty and virility, or that it was contrary to Islam, instead promoting the merits of the drink. He recommended the medicinal use of coffee for treatment of migraines, deafness, and scurvy, its benefits being derived supposedly from being both acidic and alkaline. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Knoll's pamphlet was also published in French by the same publisher in the same year as Lettre à un ami sur les operations du caffé.

Glisson in 1677 had introduced the concept of “irritability” as a specific property of all tissues. Haller, in the above work, recorded his experimental proof of this, and distinguished between nerve impulse (sensibility) and muscular contraction (irritability). English translation, including preface by Simon André Tissot from the French translation, as A dissertation on the sensible and irritable parts of animals, London: J. Nourse, 1755. This includes a supplement by Haller and his "Essay on the cause of the motion of the heart." Abbreviated translation in Bull. Hist. Med., 1936, 4, 651-99.
Digital facsimile of the 1755 translation from the Internet Archive at this link.

(Thanks to Malcolm Kotter for information regarding the English translations of this entry.)

In this work Linnaeus introduced his full binomial naming system for plants (binomial nomenclature).  Describing about 8,000 plant species from all over the world, the book demonstrated the value of a binomial system of nomenclature for biology generally, and was the stimulus to the development of this type of classification throughout the field.  Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Lind, founder of naval hygiene in England, wrote a classic treatise on scurvy, in which he described many important experiments he made on the disease. These experiments have been called “the first deliberately planned controlled therapeutic trial ever undertaken”. Lind showed that in preserved form citrus juices could be carried for long periods on board ship, and that, if administered properly, they would prevent the disease. The application of this knowledge by naval surgeons who followed Lind led to the eventual elimination of the disease from the British Navy. Reprinted, with notes, Edinburgh, 1953.

Daviel originated the modern method of treating cataract by extraction of the lens. By the time he made this official scientific report to the Academy of Surgery, Daviel had already tested his method on 206 cases, with success in 182. See D.B. Weiner, "An 18th century battle for priority: Jacques Daviel (1693-1762) and the extraction of cataracts," J. Hist. Med. All. Sci., 41 (1986) 129-55.

Besides introducing a curved forceps (see No. 6152) Levret invented several other obstetric instruments and made fundamental observations on pelvic anomalies. His book covered the whole field of obstetrics and remained a standard work for many years.

An anatomical dictionary with most of the entries cross referenced to related structures, followed by a very extensive bibliography of anatomical and physiological works. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Between 1748 and 1749, Kalm, a Swedish naturalist and student of Linnaeus, traveled throughout northeast America, specifically in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Canada, surveying the countryside, and recording notes on the inhabitants, the fauna, and the flora of the region. Among his companions on a trip into the back country of New York was American naturalist John Bartram. Returning to his native Stockholm, Kalm published the first edition of his observations between 1753 and 1761. Translated into English by John Reinhold Forster as Travels into North America; containing Its natural history, and a circumstantial account of Its plantations and agriculture in general, with the civil, ecclesiastical and commercial state of the country, the manners of the inhabitants, and several curious and important remarks on various subjects. 3 vols. London, 1770-1771.

Digital facsimile of the original Swedish edition from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link; of the English translation, also from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Isolation of carbon dioxide. English translation, Minneapolis, 1973.

Stricken with the plague at the age of 49, Gesner was unable to complete his Historia plantarum (See No. 1807.) His collection of botanical watercolors changed hands several times until they were acquired by the physician-scholar, Cristoph Jakob Trew who arranged to have them published as woodcuts and engravings in 1754-59. A second edition appeared in 1771. The watercolors then disappeared from view until they were “rediscovered” at the University of Erlangen in 1929. More recently 187 of the 700 watercolors were published in color facsimile with extensive commentary, and transcription of the manuscript notes as: Conradi Gesneri historia plantarum. Faksimileausgabe, hg. von H. Zoller, M. Steimann & K. Schmid. 8 vols., Dietikon-Zürich, Urs Graf, 1972-80. The same publishers also issued the complete series of 700 watercolors in facsimile as Historia plantarum: Gesamtausgabe herausgegeben von Heinrich Zoller und Martin Steinmann. 2 vols., 1987-1991. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The early history of scleroderma is confused with that of leprosy, ichthyosis, and keloid. Crusio appears to be the first to differentiate it. Gintrac in 1847 coined the term “scleroderma”. It is now included among the connective tissue diseases. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Condillac considered that we perceive only what our senses supply in the form of sensations: the “real being” of things is beyond us. English translation, London, 1930.

The celebrated atlas for No. 6154, which is a complete work in itself. The 39 superb engravings include 26 after drawings by Jan van Rymsdyk, which are preserved in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow Library. The remainder were by Smellie, “assisted by a pupil called [Pieter] Camper”. Camper’s drawings are preserved in the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and in Leiden University. Camper’s illustrated MS of his studies with Smellie and of his third visit to England in 1785 is preserved in Amsterdam University. It was translated into English with notes, and published as Opuscula selecta Neerlandicorum de arte medica, 1939, 15. See J.L. Thornton, Jan van Rymsdyk: Medical artist of the eighteenth century (Cambridge: Oleander Press, 1982.) For the first American edition of the plates (in greatly reduced format) see No. 6154.

Mead's library consisted of upwards of 10,000  printed volumes, and many rare and valuable manuscripts. The collection was especially rich in medical works, and in early editions of the classics; it realized over £5,500 in a sale that lasted no fewer than 28 days. Mead was also a collector of classical antiquities, paintings, coins, and medals. His art collections, including several Rembrandts, realized £10,550. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Franklin was a prime mover in establishing the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first permanent hospital built in the future United States. This publication included the text of most of the founding documents of the hospital, a donation form for contributions, and a subscriber list.

Includes 18 full-page color-printed mezzotints, 12 of the plates designed to fit together in threes to make four life-size human figures. Gautier credited Mertrud, the King's Surgeon with some of the anatomical work in this volume.

"Gautier's pictures seem to us to be in the tradition of the early gravida illustrations and the figures of Berengario and Charles Estienne—often attracting attention through sexual emphasis; dissected parts were placed within a living body usually possessing a lively face, whose expression is sometimes quizzical, sometimes erotically inviting, sometimes serene, always with a romantic and elegant hair-style. In one of Gautier's plates there are two naked women, one standing with emphatic breasts and issected pregnant uterus, the other sitting at her feet with open thighs so disposed as to exhibit her external genitalia. Such erotic figures may have also played a useful role in the sex education of physicians and others; they may be contrasted in their romantic extravagance of feeling with the matter-of-fact illustration in William Smellie's work (1754) an illustration that was often torn out by nineteenth century bowlderizers. (Most previous illustrations of this area, such as those of Leonardo or Vesalius, were remarkably inaccurate). The Gautier figures could, within the confines of anatomy, be quite tender, as in the fine plate in Anatomie générale...of a new born child, asleep but dissected, lying close to the recently-delivered mother, whose uterus has been opened for display" (Roberts & Tomlinson, The fabric of the hody [1992] 524-25).

Digital facsimile from e-rara.ch at this link.

Second edition, edited by ornithologist George Edwards. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Linnaeus's study of the royal natural history collections was important because to a considerable extent they formed the basis for his knowledge of animals. The collections contain many type specimens for animals described by Linnaeus in the 10th and 12th editions of Systema naturae. The first volume of Linnaeus's catalogue was published in folio with numerous illustrations chiefly herpetological: 23 of snakes and amphibia, with two plates showing monkeys, and several plates depicting fish. As a result of the rapid deterioration of state finances after the Seven Years War, the second volume did not appear until 1764, and is a comparatively insignificant octavo with no illustrations. 

Varying title form:

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

Lecluse treated in a succinct but correct manner the anatomy of the mouth; invented some and perfected other instruments, the most important of which is the elevator that still bears his name, and . . . he frequently performed the operation of replantation, warmly recommended by him as an excellent means of cure in certain cases of caries" (Guerini, History of Dentistry, p. 305). "Louis Lecluse . . . was a scintillating personality, whose activity was divided his entire life between dentistry, the theater, and poetry. . . . This book contains an anatomical section, a practical section, and a section devoted to the deciduous teeth. The special oral anatomy . . . is divided, just as our modern textbooks, into osteological, myological, angiological, neurological, and sarcological parts. . . . On the practical side. Lecluse mentions some new tooth removers. . . . Mainly he mentions his own specialized instrument for luxation of the mandibular third molar (he also used it for the maxillary counterparts). This instrument which is adjusted with a bayonet-shaped bending joint is still used today as the 'Lecluse', and numerous modern levers operate on its principle. Point A is applied diagonally between the last two molars, and levers the third molar out when turned with the next-to-last tooth as a fulcrum. . . . The third section . . . concerns itself with generalities . . . with a wide variety of good suggestions for preservation of the primary teeth" (Hoffmann-Axthelm, History of Dentistry, p. 210).

Gronovius described over 200 species of fish. He is also credited with developing a technique for preservation of fish skins. Today, a number of his fish skins are preserved in the Natural History Museum, London.

Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

In his study of plant physiology Bonnet contributed significant research on phototropism. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

"This extraordinary work purports to show marine life from the seas around Indonesia at a time when the natural wildlife of that area was virtually unknown in Europe. Renard, both a publisher and a spy for the British Crown, produced the work in 1719 in an edition of 100 copies; this second edition, also of about 100 copies, was made up after his death based on 36 unsold sets of pages from the first edition and the original copper plates. The work consisted of two books, with 100 plates and 460 hand-coloured engravings. The first part is fairly realistic, the second far more fanciful, going so far as to feature a mermaid.
The illustrations were supposedly based on drawings by Samuel Fallours (active 1703–20) belonging to Baltazar Coyett, Governor of Ambon and Banda (1694–1706), and to Mr Van der Stael, Governor of the Molucca Islands. However, the illustrations in the book bear a much greater similarity to another collection of drawings, now held at the British Library, presented to Sir Hans Sloane by Renard, indicating that Sloane’s set is actually far more likely to have been the model used by Renard’s engraver. In addition to the extravagant colouring, something which Renard insisted in his preface was accurate, the text has little scientific value, tending to focus on the culinary delights these fish provided and the sauces best suited to enjoy with them" (https://www.rct.uk/collection/1057042/poissons-ecrevisses-et-crabes-que-lon-trouve-autour-des-isles-moluques-et-sur-les).

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

The first complete study of the anatomy of the eye, including the first description of the “zonule of Zinn” and the “annulus of Zinn”.

Thiérry wrote an account of pellagra from what he had seen or heard of Casal’s cases. His work antedates that of Casal in date of publication but is not a first-hand description. English translation in No. 2241.

Weszprémi proposed preventive inoculation against plague.

The first publication on podiatry, a pamphlet of 19, [1] pp. informally issued by Rousselot to promote his practice. Because of the non-standard title page without mention of place, publisher or date, the pamphlet seems to have been intended to have been given away by the author. The date of publication was assigned by the BnF from the Permission de police at this link. Incidentally, the first name of the author remains unknown. (Thanks to Alexandre Piffault for this reference.)

First published by Brindley in Latin in 1749. This is the best edition. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first work to state the animal nature of corals, which had previously been regarded as marine plants. It has been asserted that although unsigned, some of the plates are after drawings by Ehret.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Using a pet buzzard, de Réaumur succeeded in isolating the gastric juice and demonstrating its solvent effect on foods.

Pott was surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. Through a fall in the street he was confined to bed for many days, and during that period wrote his classic book on hernia. He refuted many of the old theories concerning its causation and methods of treatment based on these theories. The book includes the first description of congenital hernia.

Wathen condemned Guyot’s method of Eustachian catheterization, and suggested a method of relieving catarrhal deafness by means of injections into the Eustachian tube through a catheter passed into the nose. Wathen was a surgeon practicing in London.

The first important German manual of dentistry. Pfaff, dentist to Frederick the Great, was the first to describe the taking of dental impressions and the casting of models for false teeth. This book ranks in importance with the work of Fauchard and Hunter. Reprinted Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1966.

Includes (Chap, iv) a good account of “Aleppo boil”, which Russell found to be endemic in Aleppo. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Four large mezzotint plates issued with an accompanying text.

First English translation of Celsus De medicina. That it was translated into English for the first time in the mid-eighteenth century is a reflection of the use of Latin as the international language of medicine and science well through the end of the 18th century. Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Gilchrist recommended sea voyages as treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis and other diseases. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Much expanded French translation by Edme-Claude Bourru as Utilité des voyages sur mer pour la cure des différentes maladies et notamment de la consomption. 2 vols., Paris: Didot jeune, 1770. The translator added a recommendation of therapeutic pneumothorax in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Digital facsimile of the 1770 also from Google Books at this link.

In these memoirs Haller described the results of 235 vivisections. Haller has been called "the founder of modern haemodynamics." "The myogenic theory of the heartbeat can be traced to Haller, who concluded on the basis of animal experiments that the heart beat spontaneously, independent of nervous or other connections. He argued that the heart muscle had intrinsic irritability" (W. Bruce Fye). Translated into English as A dissertation on the motion of the blood, and on the effects of bleeding. Verified by experiments made on living animals. To which are added, observations on the motion. [with] A second dissertation on the motion of the blood. London, 1757.

Heinrich Buess, "William Harvey and the foundation of modern haemodynamics by Albrecht von Haller," Medical History, 14, 175-182.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Haller synthesized the whole physiological knowledge of his time. In the above, probably his greatest work, Haller included some anatomical descriptions which were most valuable. He is said to have written more than 1300 scientific papers.

The first 5 vols. of this work were issued in Lausanne; vols. 6-7 in Berne.

Tronchin, sometime physician to Voltaire, showed that the so-called “Poitou colic” was caused by drinking water which had passed through lead gutters. Tronchin introduced inoculation into Holland, France, and Switzerland; he was Boerhaave’s favorite pupil and became a very wealthy practitioner. Translated with notes, but no attribution to Tronchin on the title page, by Ralph Schomberg as A treatise on the colica pictonum; or the dry belly-ach. (London, 1764). Digital facsimile of the 1764 edition from Google Books at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1757 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Partial English translation in No. 2241.

Lind is regarded as the founder of naval hygiene in England. Besides his work on scurvy (see No.3713), he is notable for the above book, which deals not only with the men but also with the appalling conditions in which they lived afloat. He advocated measures to improve ships’ ventilation and to prevent the spread of disease aboard ship. He also caused great improvements to be made in the food on board ships of the British Navy. L. H. Roddis published a biography of Lind in 1951.

Le Dran discarded the humoral conception of cancer for the first time. He regarded cancer as a local disease in its early stage and knew that it spread via the lymphatics to regional nodes, and from there into the general circulation. He described with great clarity the path of metastasis in breast carcinoma, including involvement of the lungs.

First recorded case of arteriovenous aneurysm.

“Probably the most significant [French dental] author after Fauchard” (Hoffmann-Axthelm). Bourdet’s greatest contributions were to dental prosthetics. He also described severe periodontoclasia and his treatment of the condition – similar to modern gingivectomy.

Huxham’s reputation rests mainly on his Essays on fevers, but he also left an excellent account of diphtheria. Although he failed to differentiate the disease from scarlatinal angina, he was the first to observe the paralysis of the soft palate.

Atlas of six superb life-size mezzotint plates after paintings by Jan van Rymsdyk. A separate 16-page text was published in octavo.

A disciple of Linnaeus, who complained about the lack of information regarding the natural history of Palestine, Hasselquist undertook a journey to that region provide further information. Having raised funds sufficient for the voyage, he reached Smyrna  towards the end of 1749. Hasselquist visited parts of Asia Minor, Egypt, Cyprus and Palestine, making large natural history collections, but his constitution, naturally weak, gave way under the fatigues of travel, and he died near Smyrna on his way home. Published posthumously by Linnaeus, Hasselquist's work achieved wide circulation. It was translated into English (1766) as Voyages and Travels in the Levant, in the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52: Containing observations in natural history, physick, agriculture and commerce: Particularly on the Holy Land and the natural history of the Scriptures. Digital facsimile of the Swedish edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link, of the English translation at this link.

Adanson's voyage and explorations in Senegal, including the Island of Goree and the River Senegal. The second part is a general survey of the living mollusks he found in Senegal. His classification of mollusks was original, based on the anatomical structure of the living animals inside the shells. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. Translated into English as A voyage to Senegal, the Isle of Goree, and the river Gambia...Translated from the French. With notes by an Englishy gentleman, who reside some time in that country. (London, 1759). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Haller devised a numerical method to demonstrate the rate of growth of the fetus, showing that the rate of growth is relatively rapid in the earlier stages but that the tempo gradually decreases. He calculated the rate of growth of the chick and of the human embryo.

“Descemet’s membrane”, the posterior membrane of the cornea; see No. 1482.

An essay on diseases of military camps. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. English translation as A short account of the most comon diseases incident to armies. With the method of cure (London, 1762). Digital facsimile of the second edition in English, 1767 from Google Books at this link.

Haen provided the first description of amenorrhea in connection with a pituitary tumor. He recorded the case history of a young woman suffering from amenorrhea as well as many neurological symptoms assumed to result from increased intracranial pressure, and a tumor in the area of the optic chiasma and the pituitary gland. Autopsy revealed a tumor in that location, and the tumor was correctly assumed to be the cause of the patient's illness and death. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Battie was among the first to teach psychiatry at the bedside. His book is the first English text book on the subject. Reprinted with J. Monro’s Remarks on Dr. Battie’s treatise on madness, London, Dawsons, 1962.

The first significant work on music and medicine. The best edition is the French translation by E. Sainte-Marie, augmented with 96pp. of notes: Traité des effets de la musique sur le corps humain. Paris, Brunot, An XI (1803). Digital facsimile of the 1803 edition from Google Books at this link.

Text in Latin and German. Includes the life cycle of all species of frogs found in Germany. Spectacular hand-colored plates.  Digital facsimile from Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg at this link.

Tentamen de morbis ex manustupratione translated into French as L'onanisme; ou dissertation physique, sur les maladies produites par la masturbation.Traduit du Latin de Mr. Tissot. Et considerablement augementé par l'Auteur (Lausanne: Antoine Chapuis, 1760). This scholarly and purportedly scientific work on masturbation, which underwent numerous editions and translations, played a significant role in the pseudo-scientific perception persisting through the 18th, 19th and portions of the 20th centuries that masturbation was a debilitating illness. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1760 translation from BnF Gallica at this link. English translation as Onanism; or a treatse upon the disorders produced by masturbation, or the dangerous effects of secret excessive venery (London: B. Thomas, 1766). 

In the 10th edition of his Systema naturae, Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature for animals. He had previously introduced binomial nomenclature for plants in his Species Plantarum (1753). In this edition Linnaeus also introduced the term mammalia. Technically, Linnaeus first applied the term in the thesis of one of his students: Hager, Johann, Natura pelagi, quam, consens. experient. Facult. Medic. in illustri Academia Upsaliensi, sub præsidio ... Caroli Linnæi ... publicæ ventilationi offert ... (Upsalla, 1757).

"Before 1758, most biological catalogues had used polynomial names for the taxa included, including earlier editions of Systema Naturae. The first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature across the animal kingdom was the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature therefore chose 1 January 1758 as the "starting point" for zoological nomenclature, and asserted that the 10th edition of Systema Naturae was to be treated as if published on that date.^[1] Names published before that date are unavailable, even if they would otherwise satisfy the rules. The only work which takes priority over the 10th edition is Carl Alexander Clerck's Svenska Spindlar or Aranei Suecici, which was published in 1757, but is also to be treated as if published on January 1, 1758.^{[1]  (Wikipedia article on} 10th edition of Systema Naturae, accessed 3-2020)

Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Holwell was a survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta in Fort William, Calcutta , a poorly ventilated dungeon measuring 4.30 × 5.50 ⁠metres (14 × 18 ⁠⁠feet), in which troops of Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, held British prisoners of war the night of 20 June 1756. As a result of this incident there were supposedly many deaths from suffocation and heat exhauston. Howell's account of this incident  obtained wide circulation in England, and some claim this gained support for the East India Company's conquest of India. His account of the incident was not publicly questioned during his lifetime, nor for more than a century after his death. However, in recent years, his version of the event has been called into question by historians. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

An illustrated guide to taxidermy and the preparation of natural history specimens, probably the first taxidermy manual published in French. The twenty-five folding engravings, the majority by amateur engraver and pastellist Marguerite le Comte (1717-1800) after drawings by Durand, include depictions of taxidermy preparations of birds, reptiles, small mammals and fish, together with illustrations of specimens of beetles, sea urchins, star fish, shells, sponges and coral. The final section is a reprint, with revisions, of Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau’s Avis ... (Paris, 1752?) concerning the transportation of tree and plant specimens by sea.  Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Edited by Carl Linnaeus after the early death of Pehr Löfling, who Linnaeus considered his most gifted disciple. This is the account of Löfling's mostly botanically oriented researches through Spain, Portugal, and northern Venezuela, particularly the area around Cumana, the capital of New Andalusia (now Venezuela).  Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Wolff observed in great detail the early processes of embryonic differentiation. He disposed of the “preformation” theory, substituting his view that the organs are formed from leaf-like (blastodermic) layers. He thus laid the foundation of the “germ-layer” theory of Baer and Pander. His book includes descriptions of the “Wolffian bodies” and “ducts”. Reprinted 1966.

The only collected edition of early bills of mortality, which were generally published as broadsides and are not available separately. Includes reprints of Nos. 1686 and 1688. This work has traditionally been attributed to Thomas Birch, but Hull (1899) gives strong evidence that Heberden was the author.

Porterfield was Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine at Edinburgh from 1724-26. His book included many original observations. It was the first important British work on the anatomy and physiology of the eye

Hillary included good accounts of lead colic and infective hepatitis, and probably the first description of sprue (celiac disease).

From the description given by the Earl of Clarendon in his autobiography, on vol. 1, p. 16, his father, Henry Hyde, almost certainly suffered from, and died of, angina pectoris. If this is really so, it is the first recorded case. The description is reproduced in Annals of Medical History, 1922, 4, 210. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Franklin’s statistical account of smallpox inoculation in Boston during the epidemic of 1753-54, showing the beneficial effects of the practice, was written for William Heberden, who contributed the “Plain instructions” mentioned on the title. Early in his life Franklin had actively opposed inoculation but he became one of its strongest advocates after the tragic death of his son from smallpox in 1736.

Experimental human transmission of measles (pp. 266-88). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Illustrated with some engraved plates printed in two colors, some in three colors, and some also hand-colored--an early example of color-printing in a medical book. After ten years as a midwife in Paris, Madame du Coudray was hired by King Louis XV to travel across France to better train rural midwives.There were political motivations for this; Louis wanted to boost a “declining” population, and more subjects also meant more capable soldiers. Unlike Queen Charlotte of England who chose William Hunter as the royal obstetrician, Louis appointed du Coudray, a woman, to train women. Madame du Coudray became the national midwife in 1759, earning 8,000 livres a year—equal to that of a decorated military general. Her book underwent numerous editions.

Du Courray invented an obstetrical manikin, or obstretrical "machine," a cloth covered fetus qnd female pelvis and womb that she used to demonstrate complicated birthing technics. This was analogous to the "machine" also invented around the same time in Scotland by William Smellie. Digital facsimile of the 1777 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Monro Primus' textbook on the anatomy of the bones was originally published in 1726 as an octavo volume without plates, and went through more than ten editions. The French translation, published in large folio, translated and edited by Jean Joseph Sue, was the most sumptuous edition ever published. Sue's deluxe folio edition of Monro was illustrated with 62 plates by various engravers, of which 31 were outline plates. Remarkably Roberts & Tomlinson, The Fabric of the Body pp. 438-55 suggest that the translation of this work may have been done by Marie-Geneviève-Charlotte Thiroux d'Arconville (1720-1805), who also may have supervised the production of the illustrations. If so, this is probably the first published anatomical work produced by a woman; it is not hard to understand how such a work needed to be issued under a man's name at the time. D'Arconville had studied anatomy at the Jardin du Roi.

This very extensive work consisting of 26 vols. in folio, with a total of 1548 plates, was the first comprehensive vernacular presentation of botany adopting Linnean generic names and binary nomenclature. It describes and illustrates about 26,000 plants. "The first volume (1759) is still in the old [i.e. pre-Linnaean] style, but from the second volume onward ... Linnaean binomials are used, although the sexual system is not followed ... Volume 5 contains 'observations on a natural method, so far as it regards the connection of the classes.' Hill's natural system was well worth studying but his voice remained unheard ... Hill was perhaps erratic and unconvincing ... but he was one of the first to rebel against Linnaeus's artificial system and essentialist classification" (F.A. Stafleu Linnaeus and the Linnaeans, Utrecht: 1971, p. 210)

The earliest French work on dermatology, and one of the earliest works in dermatopathology, including tumors of the skin. Digital facsimile of the 1768 second edition from Google Books at this link.