Madame Dejerine-Klumpke, famous neurologist, contributed an important work on lead palsies.

The first methodical work on snake-poison. Redi demonstrated for the first time that, for the poison to produce its effect, it must be injected under the skin.

The starting point of modern investigations of serpent venoms and their antidotes. This work also includes Fontana’s description of the ciliary canal in the eye of an ox. This structure does not appear in the human eye, but certain spaces in the trabecular meshwork are often referred to as the spaces of Fontana. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive at this link.

In 1781 Fontana issued a greatly expanded 2-volume edition in French, including vegetable poisons, and a section on "American poisons": Traité sur le vénin de la vipere, sur les poisons americains, sur le laurier-cerise et sur quelques autres poisons vegetaux. On y a joint des observations sur la structure primitive du corps animal. Différentes expériences sur la reproduction des nerfs et la description d'un nouveau canal de l'oeil. Digital facsimile of the French edition from the Internet Archive at this link. In 1787 the French edition was translated into English by Joseph Skinner in 2 vols. as Treatise on the venom of the viper, on the American poisons, and on the cherry laurel, and some other vegetable poisons. To which are annexed, observations on the primitive structure of the animal body, different experiments on the reproduction of the nerves, and a description of a new canal of the eye .... Digital facsimile of the second English edition (1795) from the Internet Archive at this link.

See No. 2106.

Considered the first systematic work on venomous snakes. Describes all the venomous snakes of India. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Mitchell (see also No. 2104) and Reichert showed that snake venom is protein, and demonstrated the presence of toxic albumins. Mitchell was one of the first to investigate snake venoms.

Calmette carried out extensive investigations on the immunization of animals to venoms. He obtained antivenom sera with therapeutic properties.

Fraser investigated the possibilities of immunization against cobra venom and obtained “antivenene”, an antivenom serum.

While in Germany Kyes showed lecithin to be a complement of cobra-hemolysin. English translation in Ehrlich, Studies in immunity, 1910.

English translation in Ehrlich, Studies in immunity, 1910.

English translation in Ehrlich, Studies in immunity, 1910.

Brazil founded the Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, one of the first institutes to produce antivenin sera on a large scale. French translation, 1911. Digital facsimile of the Portuguese edition from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Lewin was a prolific writer, producing more than 200 books and papers. The above is perhaps his best work, and contains a history of poisonings from the most ancient times to the present century, enhanced by innumerable citations from ancient and modern literature.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Written in 1473 but not published until 1524, this pamphlet on the diseases of miners is the first known work on industrial hygiene and toxicology. A reprint of the text appears in Münch. Beitr. Lit. Naturwiss. Med., 1927, 2, Sonderheft; and an English translation in Lancet, 1932, 1, 270-71. A separate reprint edition was also published: Von den gifftigen besen tempffen und reuchen. Eine gewerbe-hygienische schrift des XV. Jahrhunderts. (Munich: Verlag der Münchner Drucke, 1927). 

Paracelsus’s book on the diseases of miners was the first full monograph on the diseases of an occupational group. The first section covers the diseases, mainly pulmonary affections, of miners, including the etiology, pathogenesis, symptomatology and therapy. The second book describes the diseases of smelter workers and metallurgists, and the third section discusses diseases caused by mercury. English translation by G. Rosen in Four treatises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus, ed. by H. E. Sigerist, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1941. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Martin Pansa, a pupil of Georg Agricola, wrote the most important work on occupational disease before Ramazzini. He described the symptoms of the lung diseases of miners and smelters. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Stockhausen had considerable experience in treating the diseases of miners. His book on industrial diseases did much to clarify contemporary knowledge regarding the relative toxicity of lead, mercury, arsenic, cobalt, and other metals, although he claimed that lead colic was caused only by lead fumes. Translated into French by Joseph Jacques de Gardanne as Traité des mauvais effets de la fumes de la litharge (Paris, 1776.) Digital facsimile of the 1656 edition from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Ramazzini's study of the diseases of workers, De morbis artificium diatriba, was the first comprehensive and systematic treatise on occupational medicine; it was also the foundation work in ergonomics. It deals with pneumoconiosis and other diseases of miners, with lead poisoning in potters, with silicosis in stonemasons, diseases among metal workers, and even a chapter devoted to the “diseases of learned men", a chapter on diseases of printers, and of athletes. Ramazzini also discussed the occupational diseases of women, recommending that midwives practice cleanliness and take precautions against syphilitic infections. Ramazzini recognized that a number of workers’ diseases were caused by the taxing postures and repetitive motions required by professions such as shoemaking, tailoring and writing; he is thus considered a founder of ergonomics. He suggested ways to prevent these ailments.

Ramazzini's book was translated into English as A Treatise on the Diseases of Tradesmen (London, 1705). In 1713 Ramazzini expanded his text. This revised edition was reprinted with a parallel English translation by Wilmer Cave Wright and published as De Morbis Artificum Bernardini Ramazzini Diseases of Workers (1940). Through various Latin editions and translations into Italian, German, French and Dutch Ramazzini's book was also influential in the history of economics. The first French translation by the noted chemist, Fourcroy, Paris, 1777 contained significant additions. Digital facsimile of the 1703 second edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Includes the first description of occupational cancer. By describing chimney sweeps” cancer of the scrotum, Pott was the first to trace the origin of a type of cancer to a specific external cause. The above work also includes his description of senile gangrene, sometimes referred to as “Pott’s gangrene”.

The first systematic publication in Great Britain on industrial disease and its prevention. For comprehensiveness, first-hand clinical experience and constructive proposals for improvements, Thackrah’s monograph is superior to that of Ramazzini. It attracted attention from both medical men and laymen at the time that it appeared, and played an important part in stimulating the factory and health legislation which mitigated some of the worst features of the Industrial Revolution. The book also includes important information on the harmful effects of child labor. The second edition (1832) was doubled in length. A reprint of the 2nd edition, with a life of the author by A. Meiklejohn, was published in 1957.

The first American work devoted entirely to occupational diseases. Reprinted with introduction, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1943.

In this comprehensive work on occupational marks, Tardieu states that Corvisart, Dupuytren, and Trousseau would take pride in identifying the professions of their patients at first sight, using knowledge of occupational marks and other physical signs of occupations.

An early paper on “caisson sickness”.

Classical description of phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, or "phossy jaw". 

Zenker described siderosis and suggested the term “pneumonokoniosis” as a suitable general title for diseases due to inhaled dust.

Contains (pp. 370-81) first description of industrial tar and paraffin cancer.

Hirt was the leading German writer on occupational medicine in the second half of the 19th century. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Shale oil shown to be a cause of skin cancer. A teacher of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bell was the model for the character of Sherlock Holmes.

Rehn noted the frequent appearance of papilloma and carcinoma of the bladder among men employed in the aniline dye industry.

A collective work edited by Oliver. Digital fascimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The first reported case of asbestosis was observed by Murray at Charing Cross Hospital, London, in 1899 and reported to the Committee (Report, p. 14: Minutes of Evidence, p. 127) in 1907.

Seiler established an unequivocal relationship between asbestos and pulmonary fibrosis.

Calluses, other dermatological and physical signs of professions and occupations illustrated and described, with an annotated bibliography that includes some historical references.

A classic textbook on the subject with valuable historical chapters and references. Hunter put the text through six editions to 1978. The work was rewritten as Hunter’s Diseases of occupations, ed. by P.A.B. Raffle, W.R. Lee, R.I. McCallum, and R. Murray (1987). A 10th edition edited by Peter J Baxter, Tar-Ching Aw, Anne Cockcroft, Paul Durrington, J Malcolm Harrington was published in 2010.

Written under the auspices of the Industrial Medical Association, this history emphasizes 20th century achievements.

The first work on aviation medicine, a pamphlet of 18pp. issued as a thesis for the medical degree, published one year after the first balloon ascent by Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier in 1783. Leulier Duché speculated on ways that ballooning might be used in medicine, quoting an anecdote privately communicated to him by Montgolfier describing the “high” experienced by the aeronauts on a particular ascent.

Used by all American flight surgeons during World War II.

The first flight by a physician, the first crossing of the English channel by balloon, and the first international flight. Jeffries, an American, made a series of carefully planned scientific observations, emphasizing meteorology.

The first discussion of decompression sickness in flying personnel.

The first anti-blackout device. Proposed the use of the g belt to prevent the flow of blood to the abdomen.

The first textbook on aviation medicine. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bauer established the first school for flight surgeons in the United States. His book discusses the question of oxygen supply and its essential partial pressure, and discusses the effect of hight degrees of acceleration on the circulatory system. Includes the first significant bibliography on the subject. See J.F. Fulton, Louis H. Bauer and the rise of aviation medicine, J. Aviation med., 1955, 26, 92-103.

With C.G. Douglas, L.P. Kendal, & R. Margaria. The first recorded attack of bends pain experienced at low barometric pressures. The authors atttempted to find the maximum altitude at which work could be done effectively with the subject breathing pure oxygen.

Determination of the effect of high acceleration on blood pressure, establishing that the systolic pressure in arteries going to the head falls progressively as acceleratory forces increase.

First acute case of decompression sickness recognized.

"Translation of Ocherki po istorii aviatsionnoy meditsiny,"  Moscow: U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences Publishing House, 1962. Primarily useful for the history of aviation medicine in Russia, with a very extensive bibliography. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Descriptions and photographs of notable artifacts, including the original clothing worn by John Jeffries (No.2137.2).

 Paré’s first book was his treatise on gunshot wounds. He is one of the greatest of the military surgeons, and is particularly remembered for his abandonment of the practice of cauterization of gunshot wounds with boiling oil, until his time a universal procedure. Digital facsimile BnF Gallica at this link.

In this very early work on gunshot wounds Maggi, Professor of Surgery at Bologna, showed that not all gunshot wounds suppurated and he discarded cauterization, treating such wounds with white of egg and salt water.

Gale, a contemporary of Paré, was surgeon in Henry VIII’s army at Montreuil. His book supported the views of Paré regarding the treatment of gunshot wounds, denying the poisonous effect of bullets; Gale, however, applied messy and complicated unguents to wounds, doing more harm than good. Forms part 3 of his Certaine workes of chirurgerie (No. 2371).

An interesting picture of Elizabethan surgery is given by William Clowes in this book on gunshot wounds. Clowes, the best surgical writer in Elizabethan times, was surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. In amputation he covered the stump with integument – an earlier form of the flap method. The Selected Writings of William Clowes were edited by F. N. L. Poynter, London, 1949.

Fabry’s book includes an early description of a field drug chest for army use. He was one of the most eminent surgeons of his time, although not prepared to adopt all the teachings of Paré. He had considerable mechanical ingenuity and devised many pieces of apparatus. English translation, 1674.

Like Paré, Magati believed that gunshot wounds were not in themselves poisonous. He suggested a bandage moistened with plain water in place of the various salves then in vogue.

Woodall was the surgeon-general to the East India Company. This was the first textbook for naval surgeons. Woodall, surgeon to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, was an early advocate of limes and lemons as a preventive measure against scurvy. The second edition (London, 1639) included the first edition of Woodall’s collected works, and an unusual and difficult to read chart of the many drugs that Woodall organized in his surgeon's chest. The enlarged edition was required reading for all naval surgeons in the East India Company. Facsimile reprint of the 1617 edition, with introduction and appendix by John Kirkup (Bath: Kingsmead Press, 1978). Biography by J. H. Appleby, Med. Hist., 1981, 25, 251-68. Digital facsimile of the 1617 edition from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Minderer’s book gives a good idea of the position of military surgery during the Thirty Years’ War. He published a pharmacopoeia in 1621; he also discovered ammonium acetate. An English edition appeared in 1674.

Purmann was a skilful army surgeon – one of the most famous of the period. Despite this he believed in the efficacy of the weapon-salve and the sympathetic powder.

Cockburn studied medicine at Leiden; he became famous on account of his secret remedy for dysentery. The book is a record of two years spent as a ship’s doctor.

Atkins was an English naval surgeon. His book includes some useful case reports and contains the first English description of African trypanosomiasis.

English translation, 1743.

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.

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.

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.

The best book of the century regarding military sanitation.

One of the most important works on military surgery during the 18th century. Ravaton, a skilful army surgeon, was the first to employ a tin boot, suspended on four rings, for the “hanging” position of broken bones. He was also first to adopt the double-flap method in amputations.

The first surgical work written by an American and printed in North America. Jones’s work was the accepted guide to surgical practice during the American Revolutionary War.

Besides his pioneer work in military medicine, Pringle did much to improve the conditions of sailors afloat. See also Nos. 2150 & 3714.

A reprint from the Philadelphia Packet, No. 284. The pamphlet was reprinted by the Massachusetts Temperance Alliance in Boston, 1865, for distribution to the Union soldiers.

William Hunter recommended Blane as private physician to Admiral Rodney; Blane sailed with him to the W. Indies and became physician to the British Fleet. He was held in great esteem in the navy and was instrumental in effecting improvements in living conditions among seamen. He strongly supported Lind’s views on scurvy. In 1799 he made recommendations which formed the basis of the Quarantine Act of that year. Later he became physician to St. Thomas’s Hospital. With Lind he stands predominant in the history of naval medicine.

Although Blane added nothing to the knowledge on scurvy, he demonstrated the value of fresh lemons, limes, and oranges; through his influence the issue of lemon juice in the British Navy was ordered in 1795, after which scurvy soon disappeared. Blane’s extreme coldness of manner earned him the nickname “Chilblain”.

One of Napoleon’s leading surgeons, Percy laid down his principles of the practice of military surgery in the same year he was appointed médecin consultant of the Army of the North. He devised his own instrument for bullet extraction, the tribulcon. He was responsible, with Larrey, for the invention of special ambulances and squads of litter-bearers, including a “super-ambulance” capable of carrying 8 surgeons, 8 attendants, and dressings for 1200.

Trotter has left an excellent account of the conditions of seamen at the beginning of the 19th century. His book includes an interesting theory of the causation of fevers. He worked hard to improve the conditions of the ship’s medical officer and the seaman.

Treatment for the quintessential American war injury suffered by troops and settlers alike on the American frontier.

Larrey was the greatest military surgeon in history. Of him Napoleon said: “C’est l’homme le plus vertueux que j’ai connu”. He was present at all Napoleon’s great battles and one of the few who stood by him on his abdication, and was waiting for him on his return in 1815. Larrey was one of the first to amputate at the hip-joint; he described the operation in vol. 2, pp. 180-95, reporting at least two successful cases. He was the first to describe the therapeutic effect of maggots on wounds, gave the first description of “trench foot”, invented the “ambulante volonte”, used advanced first-aid posts on the battlefield, and devised several new operations. He was familiar with the stomach tube, with débridement, and with the infectious nature of granular conjunctivitis (trachoma). He was a kindly man, who devoted much of his life to the well-being of the soldiers, among whom not even Napoleon commanded more love and respect. Larrey states on page 1 of vol. 5, published 24 years after vol. 4, that he intended it to complete his campaign memoirs. Vol. 5 includes his account of the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon’s exile.

English translation with notes by Richard Willmott Hall of vols. 1-3 in 2 vols. as Memoirs of military surgery and campaigns of the French armies, on the Rhine, in Corsica, Catalonia, Egypt and Syria; at Boulogne, Ulm and Austerlitz; in Saxony, Prussia, Poland, Spain, and Austria. Baltimore, 1814. English translation of vol. 4 by John C. Mercer, as Surgical memoirs of the campaigns of Russia, Germany, and France. Philadelphia, 1832.

Guthrie was the leading British military surgeon during the first half of the 19th century. He served in the Napoleonic Wars; his book is one of the most important in the history of the subject.

The primary record of medicine during the War of 1812.

“A valuable surgical record of the Napoleonic period” (Garrison).

The only book on the War of 1812 by a British or Canadian surgeon, and the first medical book on the Province of Ontario, Canada. This and the work of Mann (No. 2161.1) are the only books on medicine in the War of 1812. Reprint with introduction by C.G. Roland, 1985.

Vol.1 by Thomas Lawson; Vols 2 & 3 by Richard H. Coolidge. Digital facsimiles from the Internet Archive at this link.

A landmark in military surgery, written by the founder of modern military surgery in Germany. Stromeyer, surgeon-general to the army of Hanover, is also notable for his important contributions to orthopedics. See Nos. 4320-21.

First official medical and surgical history of a war.

Dunant’s account of the great sufferings endured by the wounded at Solferino inspired the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1863, and resulted in the Geneva Convention of 1864. In 1901 Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize. English translations, Washington, 1939 and London, 1947. Digital facsimile of the 1862 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link. Dunant took the unusual step of having "Ne se vend pas" (Not for sale) printed on the title page of the first edition. Presumably he distributed the first 400 copies free of charge. BnF, En français dans le texte (1990) No. 284 notes that only 400 of the 1600 copies originally printed were issued with the first edition title page in 1862; later in 1862 Dunant had the remaining copies reissued with a cancel title page indicating that they represented a second edition. Altogether 7 editions were issued in French during Dunant's lifetime.

The definitive work on American Indian arrow wounds suffered by U. S. troops and settlers in frontier warfare during the Western expansion of the United States. Bill eventually developed a "Forceps for the Extraction of Arrow-Heads," which he illustrated and described in Medical Record 1876, 11, 245. Digital facsimile of Bill's 1862 paper from Google Books at this link. Digital facsimile of vol. 11 of Medical Record in which Bill's follow-up note appears from Google Books at this link.

Mitchell, Morehouse, and Keen were army surgeons during the American Civil War; their book was the first exhaustive study of the traumatic neuroses. Includes the first description of ascending neuritis, and also of the treatment of neuritis by cold and splint rests. Reprinted, San Francisco: Norman Publishing, 1989. 

Esmarch introduced the first-aid bandage on the battlefield.

A surgical history of the Seven Weeks War between Germany and Austria. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In 1870, for the first time on the battlefield, French and German army surgeons applied antiseptic methods in the management of wounds. Lister published the above short paper describing the simplest method he could devise to use carbolic as an antiseptic.

Written by Woodward, Smart, Otis, and Huntington under the direction of Joseph K. Barnes, Surgeon General of the Army. This massive, graphically illustrated set has been called the “first comprehensive American medical book”. It is one of the most remarkable works ever published on military medicine. An index of operators and reporters appears at the end of the third surgical volume. This index makes it possible to look up any surgeon, and find the patients he treated. 

Woodward published an account of diarrhoea and dysentery in Pt.2, Vol. 1 (1879) pp. 1-869. Garrison considered this the greatest single monograph on dysentery. Woodward saw the Lösch amoeba, but without recognizing its significance.

Appendix to Part I, Containing Reports of Medical Directors, and Other Documents includes on pp. 92-104, LXXXII. Extracts from a Report of the Operations of the Medical Department of the Army of the Potomac from July 4th to December 31st, 1862. By JONATHAN LETTERMAN, Surgeon, U. S. Army, Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac. (Digital text of Letterman's report is available from U.S. Army Medical Department Office of Medical History at this link.

On the best way of setting up military hospitals to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. For English translation see No. 1617 (note).

Klebs filtered the discharges from gunshot wounds, found the filtrate to be non-infectious, and from that reasoned that traumatic septicemia is of bacterial origin. He was the first to filter bacteria and to experiment with the filtrate.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Reyher, a Russian surgeon, reintroduced débridement and made a controlled study of its value in contaminated gunshot wounds during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. See No. 2177.

Gray revived débridement of wounds, with primary suture. This procedure has been traditionally credited to Larrey and Desault. Larrey (No. 2160) employed excision and primary suture only for treatment of wounds of the mouth which might otherwise result in a salivary fistula. However, Larrey, and his predecessor, Desault, “both treated extremity wounds by incision, as needed, to relieve tissue tension and establish free wound drainage, not by wound excision and primary suture” (Fackler).

pt. 1. Demobilization, 1919, by C.B. Davenport and A.G. Love. 1921. pt. 2. Medical and casualty statistics based on the medical records of the United States Army, April 1, 1917, to December 31, 1919, inclusive, by A.G. Love. 1925. vol. XII. Pathology of the acute respiratory diseases, and of gas gangrene following war wounds, by G.R. Callender and J.F. Coupal. 1929- vol. XIII. pt. 1. Physical reconstruction and vocational education, by A.G. Crane. pt. 2. The Army nurse corps, by Julia C. Stimson. 1927- vol. XIV. Medical aspects of gas warfare, by W.D. Bancroft, H.C. Bradley [and others] 1926.- vol. XV. Statistics, pt. 1. Army anthropology, based on observations made on draft recruits, 1917-1918, and on veterans at J.D. Eby; opthalmology (United States), by G.E. De Schweinitz; opthalmology (American expeditionary forces), by Allan Greenwood; otolaryngology (United States), by S.J. Morris; otolaryngology (American expeditionary forces), by J.F. McKernon. 1924.-vol. VII. Training, by W.N. Bispham. 1927. - vol. VIII. Field operations, by Charles Lynch. J.H. Ford, F.W. Weed. 1925.- vol. IX. Communicable and other diseases, by J.F.Siler. 1928.- vol. X. Neuropsychiatry in the United States, by Pearce Bailey, F.E. Williams, P.O. Komora; in the American expeditionary forces, by T.W. Salmon, Norman Fenton. 1929.- vol. XI. Surgery, pt. 1. General surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery. 1927. pt. 2. Empyema, by E.K. Dunham; maxillofacial surgery, by R.H. Ivy and
Editor-in-chief: Col.Charles Lynch.

The text of the complete set is available from the U.S.Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History at this link.

Since 1968 this series of unnumbered volumes or multi-volume sets devoted to particular subjects has continued under the name of U.S. Army Medical Department

English translation in Yale J. Biol. Med., 1931, 4, 16-36, 119-48, 225-57; reprinted in book form, New Haven, 1933.

History of the care of the wounded during the Wars of the Swiss Confederation. Brunner shows that the Swiss were the first nation in Europe to organize state care of the wounded. Part 2 of the above work was published in book form, Tübingen, 1903.

In this well-illustrated book Cabanès deals exhaustively with the transportation and surgical treatment of the wounded.

Vols. 3-4 by C. Lloyd and J. L. S. Coulter.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Also known as De rerum naturis. This dictionary or encyclopedia is the earliest known printed book to include a section dealing with medicine, and this brief section, Book 18, Chap. V concerning medicine and diseases, and other sections in the work on animals, plants, and minerals may be the first, or among the very first, printed texts on scientific subjects. Maurus's compilation may be considered either a dictionary or encyclopedia; it was the first of all printed encyclopedias. The book was printed by Rusch, the “R” printer. Authorities have dated the book before July 20, 1467 because  the first roman type used was thought to be the earliest Roman type ever cast. For an interesting paper on the book, including a translation of the chapter dealing with medicine, see E. C. Jessup, Ann. med. Hist., 1934, n.s., 6, 35-41. More recently it has been suggested that the book might have been printed between 1473 and 1475. ISTC No. ir00001000. For more details see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. Translated into English by Patricia Throop as Hrabanus Maurus, De universo: The Peculiar properties of words and their mystical significance, 2 vols. (Charlotte VT, 2009).

The first printed medical book of an Englishman. John of Gaddesden was a prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral and physician to Edward II. The work, to quote Garrison, “consists mainly of Arabist quackeries and countryside superstitions”; it was compiled about 1314. For information regarding the various printed editions, see the article by Dock in Janus (Amsterdam), 1907, 51, 425. See also H. P. Cholmeley, John of Gaddesden and the Rosa medicinae, Oxford, 1912. ISTC No. ij00326000.

A commentary on Rhazes with notes and additions. For bibliographical and other details regarding this, the first large medical book to be printed, see the essay by Arnold C. Klebs in: Essays on the history of medicine presented to Karl Sudhoff on his seventieth birthday, 1923, London, 1924. ISTC No. if00119000.

An anthology of selected writings on fevers by Greek, Arab and Latin authors, including Hippocrates, Galen, Paul of Aegina, Alexander of Tralles, Aetius, Oribasius, Nonus, Actuarius, Avicenna, Rhazes, Avenzoar, Averroës, Isaac Judaeus, Serapion, Haly Abbas, Celsus, Serenus, Pliny, Gariopontus, Constantinus Africanus, Gordon, Peter of Abano, Arnold of Villanova, Nicolaus Nicolus, and the medical writings attributed to Philonius. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

A classical work on prognosis. English translation, London, 1746.

The first attempt at a classification of diseases according to symptoms. Over a period of 50 years Platter dissected more than 300 bodies and made many observations of value to pathological anatomy.

An important monograph on fevers.

Sylvius was a supporter of the Iatrochemical School. At Leiden he established the first university chemical laboratory in Europe. His extensive treatise on the diseases of children was first published as volume 4 of this set as De Morbis infantum et aliis quibusdam memoratu dignis affectibus. Editus cura Justi Schraderi (1674). In that work Sylvius expressed his ideas about gastro-intestinal acidity as the cause of infantile disease.

Sydenham recorded significant observations on dysentery, scarlet fever (p. 387), scarlatina, measles and other conditions. He stressed the clinical study of medicine and kept careful case records. Includes (pp. 272-80) the most minute and careful description of measles that had so far appeared; this is reprinted in Med. Classics, 1939, 4, 313-19.

English translation in No. 64 and prior English editions. The above book is really a third edition of his Methodus curandi febres, 1666; second edition, 1668. The Latin texts of both editions of Methodus curandi were reprinted, with Latham’s translation, an introduction and notes by G.G. Meynell, Folkstone, Winterdoum Books, 1987.

The Aphorisms represent one of Boerhaave’s best  and most influential works. English translation, 1715.

The only large systematic compilation of medical knowledge prepared in the Thirteen Colonies before the American revolution. The manuscript, which Mather finished in 1724, remained unpublished in the American Antiquarian Society until the above edition.