Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Third expanded edition (1999). "Supporting the theory that Americans' attitudes toward drugs have followed a cyclic pattern of tolerance and restraint, author David F. Musto examines the relations between public outcry and the creation of prohibitive drug laws from the end of the Civil War up to the present. Originally published in 1973, and then in an expanded edition in 1987, this third edition contains a new chapter and preface that both address the renewed debate on policy and drug legislation from the end of the Reagan administration to the current Clinton administration. Here, Musto thoroughly investigates how our nation has dealt with such issues as the controversies over prevention programs and mandatory minimum sentencing, the catastrophe of the crack epidemic, the fear of a heroin revival, and the continued debate over the legalization of marijuana" (publisher).

First published anonymously in September and October 1821 in the London Magazine, 4, No. xxi, 293-312, and No. xxii, 353-79, the Confessions was released in book form in 1822, and, after various reprints, again in 1856, in an edition revised by De Quincey. Numerous book-form editions of this work are available in digital facsimile online.

"An interdisciplinary study of why a disease that is so difficult to catch has caused such alarm. It examines how the fear of leprosy was part of nineteenth-century imperial expansion, as colonial officials and missionaries were thought exposed to the risk of infection, which might be carried back to Britain" (publisher)

Annotated catalogue of an exhibition of rare books in the history of neuroanatomy and neurosurgery from Eugene Flamm's library, including many great classics.

An annotated exhibition catalogue of rare books on the history of neurological surgery from Eugene Flamm's library.

Darwin's report on his discoveries concerning the adaptive value of climbing for certain plants, including the development of circumnutation. Darwin waited ten years to publish the first edition in book form (1875) with the same title. That edition included data published by Fritz Muller and Hugo de Vrie's as well as darwin's own folllow-up research. The illustrations in the book form edition were drawn by the author's son George Darwin.

Darwin's report on over 12 years of experimentation with cross and self-fertilization on 57 species. In these experiments Darwin discovered and demonstrated the concept of hybrid vigor or heterosis.

In addition to a frequently original study of the development of Darwin's psychological theories, the authors publish for the first time two extremely significant manuscript notebooks by Darwin written in 1837. These notebooks, which the authors supplement with notes and commentary, provide the earliest available insight into the origins of Darwin's views on human and comparative psychology. Some of the ideas they record were later developed in The descent of man and The expression of emotions in man and animals. Also the notebooks prove something that Darwin never publically admitted: the belief that man and the great apes descended from a common ancestor was the core of his theory of human evolution as early as 1837. Furthermore, the notebooks show that Darwin recognized the relationship between animal and human sexual behavior during the height of Victorian prudery. No wonder he never developed in print such theories as "Our descent, then is the origin of our evil passions!!− The Devil under form of Baboon is our grandfather!" (M. Notebook, p. 123).

Darwin's last book, published only 6 months before his death, but reporting on a subject that he had studied for more than 50 years. "He showed the services performed by earthworms in eating leaves and grinding earth in their gizzards and turning it into fertile soil, which they constantly sift and turn over down to a depth of twenty inches form the surface, thereby aerating it. He calculating from the weight of worm-casting that on one acre in one year's time eighteen tons of soil are brought up to the surface by worms. This was a pioneer study of quantaitative ecology" (Gavin de Beer in D.S.B.)

Darwin's first work on plant fertilization and the first volume of evidence that he published to support the theories advanced in On the origin of species (1859). This was also the only book by Darwin that was issued by Murray in distinctive purple cloth (first edition only).

Extensively revised, and the first edition to include the "historical sketch" crediting the historical precursors to the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin added this chapter in response to writings by Samuel Butler and others.

With slight modification, Darwin's work remains the accepted explanation for these phenomena. "Even if he had done nothing else, the theory of the coral islands alone would have placed Darwin in the very front of investigations of nature" (Geikie).

The third and last of Darwin's geological reports on the Beagle voyage. In it he described the pampas, the plateaus and the Andres, showing how they had been gradually pushed up in the way that Charles Lyell surmised without the introduction of catastrophic events. The descriptions of secondary fossil shells from South America, illustrated in Sowerby's plates, are by Edward Forbes.

Krause's short biography originally appeared in the German evolutionary periodical Kosmos in February 1879. In this translation Darwin added a biographical contribution that is longer than Krause's, i.e. 127pp by Darwin versus 89pp. by Krause. Darwin paid frequent tribute to his grandfather Erasmus, but denied that Erasmus's ideas had influenced him significantly in the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Digital facsimile of the copy Darwin presented to his daughter Henrietta Litchfield from the Internet Archive at this link.

Darwin's teacher, John Stevens Henslow, had some of Darwin's letters to him published for private distribution as a pamphlet while Darwin was on the Beagle circumnavigation. Estimates of the number of copies printed vary from about 25 to about 200.

The first edition of part 2, preceded part 1, being published in 1789. This poem was the chief source of Erasmus Darwin's literary fame during his lifetime. Like his other works, this poem contains a great deal of frequently advanced scientific information in the nearly 300 footnotes and 115 pages of appendices. This work also contains five plates engraved by William Blake, including "The fertilisation of Egypt" after a design by Henry Fuseli, and 4 engravings of the Portland Vase.

Erasmus Darwin's last poem, which mainly expounds his theories of evolution. He traces the progress of life form its origin as microscopic specks in premeval seas to its culmination in a civilized human society. The first canto shows life's origin and its evolution from aquatic to land forms. The second deals with reproduction--asexual, hermaphroditic and finally sexual reproduction with all its advantages. The third canto traces the progress of the mind, from its origin as a mere meeting-place of nerves to its present complexity in man. In the fourth canto Darwin descrbies the struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest. The essay-length scientific notes (last 124pp.) contain summaries of theories of spontaneous generation, etc. Erasmus Darwin's theory of evolution has been compared to Lamarckism.

English translation of Linneus's Species plantarum (No. 99.1), edited by Charles Darwin's grandfather. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Authorship of this anonymous work is frequently attributed to Jourdan, who signed the preface. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This large quarto volume of 4 preliminary leaves and 32 pages included the first presentation of the Braille system of printing and reading for the blind, which represents letters and numbers by combinations of six dots. Though Braille introduced his six dot system briefly in this 1829 work, most of the Procede pour écrire was published through the traditional system of printing for the blind using raised letters that was invented by the founder of l'Institut Royale des Jeunes Aveugles, Valentin Haüy. Digital facsimile from the National Foundation for the Blind at this link.

"In 1983, The Morgan Library & Museum received, as the bequest of Clara S. Peck, an extraordinary volume whose beautiful paintings and descriptions document the plant, animal, and human life of the Caribbean late in the sixteenth century. Spaniards had already begun to exert influence over the indigenous people of the area when explorers from England and France arrived, among them Sir Francis Drake. The volume, known as the Drake Manuscript and titled Histoire Naturelle des Indes when it was bound in the eighteenth century, gives us a wonderful picture of daily life at the time of Drake's many visits to the region. Although Drake's connection to the manuscript is uncertain, he is mentioned on more than one occasion by the authors. Drake himself is known to have painted, but none of his work survives." Digital facsimile of the original manuscript from The Morgan Library & Museum at this link.

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.

The first scientific description of yellow fever in Brazil by the first European physician to treat the disease in Brazil, and perhaps in all of Latin America. It includes the description of the first autopsy of a yellow fever victim in Brazil. The author received his medical training at Coimbra and practiced for many years in Recife. There was speculation that he may have been a native of that Brazilian city, where he had the opportunity to see the first epidemics of the malady, then referred to as "o mal da bicha". If Ferreira da Rosa was born in Brazil, this would be the first scientific book by a Brazilian author. (My thanks to Richard Ramer for this entry).

The first Spanish medical book based on the writings of Vesalius, written by Vesalius’s student Pedro Jimeno, whose activities “constituted the cornerstone of the Valencian School of Anatomy and the Spanish Vesalian movement” (López Piñero). Dialogus de re medica was the first text on anatomy after Vesalius’s own De humani corporis fabrica (1543) to incorporate the new morphology completely. It is a succinct summary of Vesalius’s work (occasional sentences are quoted literally), but it also expounds the results of Jimeno’s own research: for example, it includes the first printed description of the stapes, in the middle ear. (My thanks to Richard Ramer for this entry.) Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

One of the first works on medicine practiced in Brazil, published by Mourão under the pseudonym Romaõ Mõsia Reinhipo. Mourão distinguished clearly between smallpox and measles. There was still much confusion in the seventeenth century about the clear individualization of these diseases. Digital facsimile from Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal at this link.

Digital facsimile from bvsms.saude.gov.br at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Cesalpino developed the first scientific classification system for flowering plants.

"Unlike the "herbals" of that period, it contains no illustrations. The first section, including thirty pages of the work, is the part of most importance for botany in general. From the beginning of the 17th century up to the present day botanists have agreed in the opinion that Cesalpino in this work, in which he took Aristotle for his guide, laid the foundation of the morphology and physiology of plants and produced the first scientific classification of flowering plants. Three things, above all, give the book the stamp of individuality: the large number of original, acute observations, especially on flowers, fruits, and seeds, made, moreover, before the invention of the microscope, the selection of the organs of fructification for the foundation of his botanical system; finally, the ingenious and at the same time strictly philosophical handling of the rich material gathered by observation. Cesalpino issued a publication supplementary to this work, entitled Appendix ad libros de plantis et quaestiones peripateticas (1603).

"Cesalpino is also famous in the history of botany as one of the first botanists to make an herbarium; one of the oldest herbaria still in existence is that which he arranged about 1550–60 for Bishop Alfonso Tornabono. After many changes of fortune the herbarium is now in the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze at Florence. It consists of 260 folio pages arranged in three volumes bound in red leather, and contains 768 species of plants. A work of some value for chemistry, mineralogy, and geology was issued by him under the title De metallicis libri tres (Rome, 1596). Some of its matter recalls the discoveries made at the end of the eighteenth century, as those of Antoine Lavoisier and René Just Haüy, it also shows a correct understanding of fossils.

"The Franciscan monk Charles Plumier gave the name of Cæsalpinia to a plant genus and Linnaeus retained it in his system. At the present day this genus includes approximately 150 species and belongs family Fabaceae, subfamily Cæsalpinioideae, which contains a large number of useful plants. Linnaeus in his writings often quotes his great predecessor in the science of botany and praises Cesalpino in the following lines:

Quisquis hic exstiterit primos concedat honores
Casalpine Tibi primaque certa dabit.

Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Includes early books on medicine and natural history of Brazil.

Brockmann's book on the pulmonary disease of miners, including black lung disease, was first book on occupational health published in Germany. Brockmann published a preliminary paper on the subject in 1845.
Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this work co-written with Geoffroy, Fourcroy presented a major contribution to the systemization of entomology. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

"The new edition of "Histoire des Entomologistes Français" is completely revised and expanded. The author has supplemented this work with five new biographies, a chapter on Agricultural Entomology, a list of the Society's Presidents since 1989, a list of the Society's Secretaries General, and added photographs from the Archives of The Society and amateur gifts, which were missing in the first edition. It comprises two main parts on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The main chapters of the work of J. Gouillard are the following: The foundation of the Entomological Society of France; French entomology in the nineteenth century (1832-1900); French Entomology in the 20th Century (1900-1950); Medical entomology; Tropical agricultural entomology; French palaeoentomology; Sericulture in France; Beekeeping in France; The ecology. There are also lists and indexes such as the classification of insects, arachnids and myriapods, a bibliography, a historical index of the French entomologists mentioned in the Annales et Bulletins of the Entomological Society of France (1832-1980)" (Publisher).

(Thanks to Richard Ramer for this reference.)

(Thanks to Richard Ramer for this reference.)

Pariset and Mazet distinguished themselves combating an outbreak of yellow fever in Spain. Pariset's colleague was apparently not involved with publication of the book, and died in a yellow fever outbreak in Barcelona in 1821, very soon after the book's publication, as Pariset's dedication is dated December, 1820. Some copies have an inserted plate honoring his memory. This is probably the most elaborately produced, and strangely beautiful book on yellow fever published during the 19th century with 5 full-page hand-colored lithographs by le Comte de Lasteyrie, pioneer lithographer in France. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first modern critical edition of the text, which collated medieval manuscripts against the previous printed editions. Digital facsimile of the 1832 edition from the Internet Archive at this link

Editio princeps of Aelianus's late antique work on natural history. Along with Aelianus's text Gyllius included his own “Liber summarius de Gallicis et Latinis nominibus piscium Massiliensium” [Book on the French and Latin names of the fish of Marseilles], along with his translations of natural history texts by Heliodorus, Oppian and Porphyrius. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

First description of the Canadian Flora. Cornut was a French botanist and physician who never visited North America, but instead received the majority of his plant specimens from the Robins family, who supervised the gardens of Henry IV, and the garden of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, and the Morin family, who owned several Parisian commercial nurseries. He described and illustrated over thirty species from eastern North America for the first time, as well as 5 bulbous plants from southern Africa. The plates in this work have been attributed to Pierre Vallet. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

"Simon of Genoa's Medical Lexicon”, an edited volume based on the conference held on March 17th, 2012, is part of the Simon Online project – a dynamically growing Wiki edition of Simon of Genoa's Clavis sanationis, a Latin-Greek-Arabic medical dictionary from the late 13th century.... The volume demonstrates the importance of the Clavis, not only for the history of pharmacology and medicine, but also for Byzantine and medieval studies, Roman, Greek, Latin and Arabic philology and lexicography" (Publisher).

http://www.simonofgenoa.org/index.php?title=Aims_of_the_project&oldid=12132

"Simon Online is a collaborative edition of Simon of Genoa's clavis sanationis, a medical dictionary from the late thirteenth century. More on Simon...

Renaudot, physician, philanthropist and journalist, published this self-diagnostic handbook so that charity patients could communicate with their physicians by correspondence. Digital facsimile from biusante.paris.descartes at this link.

"In the Dragon's Brain Perfume (a Chinese description of Camphor) once more the existence and importance of world systems of exchange becomes clear. In the pre-industrial world aromatic substances have always counted among the most prominent items of long-distance trade. The finest camphor came from Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra, but long-distance trade took it to societies at the geographical poles of demand - China and the medieval West already in late Antiquity (ca. 6th century A.D.). In India it was in use at an even much earlier period.
The present monograph opens with a survey of aromata generally - origins, time and place of demand - from the Ancient Civilizations to the Age of Discoveries. Chapter two concerns the natural history of camphor; subsequent chapters are organized by regions (India, Western Asia, the medieval West, South East Asia, China and Japan), with a postscript on Origins and Diffusion.
Evidence is drawn from an extensive range of sources in natural and cultural history.The work includes 15 original maps, 28 illustrations, and an extensive bibliography" (publisher).

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Includes texts of the following authors:  Abitianus, Actuarius, Johannes, Alexander, of Aphrodisias, Andromachus (Senior), Apollonius, Dyscolus, 2nd cent, Archelaus (philosophus), Cassius (Iatrosophistes), Hermes, Trismegistus, Hierophilus (Sophistes), Hierotheus, Marcellus Sidetes, Maximus Planudae, Mercurius, Cyrus, Palladius Alexandrinus, Psellus, Michael, Soranus, of Ephesus, Sotion, Stephanus (Alexandrinus), Symeon Magister, Theophrastus, Theophylactus Simocatta, Xenocrates Aphrodisiensis. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

"Animals were integral to ancient commerce, war, love, literature and art. Inside the city they were found as pets, pests, and parasites. They could be sacred, sacrificed, liminal, workers, or intruders from the wild. Beyond the city domesticated animals were herded and bred for profit and wild animals were hunted for pleasure and gain alike. Specialists like Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny and Seneca studied their anatomy and behavior. Geographers and travelers described new lands in terms of their animals. Animals are to be seen on every possible artistic medium, woven into cloth and inlaid into furniture. They are the subject of proverbs, oaths and dreams. Magicians, physicians and lovers turned to animals and their parts for their crafts. They paraded before kings, inhabited palaces, and entertained the poor in the arena" (Publisher).

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile of the 5th edition (1875) from the National Library of Medicine, Internet Archive at this link.

In this work on the industrial causes of pollution Smith coined the term acid rain. 

"The corrosive effect of polluted, acidic city air on limestone and marble was noted in the 17th century by John Evelyn, who remarked upon the poor condition of the Arundel marbles.^[2] Since the Industrial Revolution, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere have increased.^[3][4] In 1852, Robert Angus Smith was the first to show the relationship between acid rain and atmospheric pollution in Manchester, England.^[5]

"Though acidic rain was discovered in 1853, it was not until the late 1960s that scientists began widely observing and studying the phenomenon.^[6] The term "acid rain" was coined in 1872 by Robert Angus Smith.^{[7]"  (Wikipedia).} 

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

"The British Pharmacopoeia has provided official standards for the quality of substances, medicinal products and articles used in medicine since its first publication in 1864. It is used in over 100 countries and remains an essential global reference in pharmaceutical research and development and quality control. This book explores how these standards have been achieved through a comprehensive review of the history and development of the pharmacopoeias in the UK, from the early London, Edinburgh and Dublin national pharmacopoeias to the creation of the British Pharmacopoeia and its evolution over 150 years. Trade in medicinal substances and products has always been global, and the British Pharmacopoeia is placed in its global context as an instrument of the British Empire as it first sought to cover the needs of countries such as India and latterly as part of its role in international harmonisation of standards in Europe and elsewhere. The changing contents of the pharmacopoeias over this period reflect the changes in medical practice and the development of dosage forms from products dispensed by pharmacists to commercially manufactured products, from tinctures to the latest monoclonal antibody products" (Publisher).

Physiologus, a didactic Christian text, is thought to have been written or compiled in Greek by an unknown author in Alexandria, 200-275 CE. It describes a "hodgepodge" of animals, real and imaginery, with the fig tree and a few stones with "remarkable" properties thrown in. The Physiologus is distinguished from Aelian's compilation by the presence of explicit Christological interpretations of the lion, the pelican, and other animals. Francesco Sbordone's edition, based on the collation of 77 Greek manuscripts, established three traditions in the surviving manuscripts of the text: a "primitive" tradition, a Byzantine tradition and a pseudo-Basil (Syriac) tradition. Morgan codex 397, an illuminated Greek codex from Grottaferrata, has since been established as the earliest surviving Greek text of Physiologus.

The earliest printed edition (circa 1482) of the Physiologus, a Christological natural historical work that originated in Late Antiquity, and remained popular through the Middle Ages. This edition, which was very widely used as a school text, sometimes provided with a commentary, during the Middle Ages, was attributed to a bishop Theobaldus, who may have been Abbot of Montecassino from 1022-1035. ISTC No. it00142000.

English translation: Physiologus: A metrical bestiary of twelve chapters by Bishop Theobald printed in Cologne 1492. Translated by Alan Wood Rendell. London: John & Edward Bumpus, Ltd., 1928. Digital facsimile from Bestiary.ca at this link. The Theobaldus version was retranslated and edited by P. T. Eden as Theobaldi "Physiologus" (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1972).

Still's autobiography is probably the first biography or autobiography of an African American physician.

"James Still, medical doctor and herbalist, was born on April 9, 1812 in Burlington County, New Jersey.  Still was born to Levin and Charity Still, two former slaves living in the Pine Barrens to avoid being captured and sold back into slavery. Although the Still family was poor, the children attended school periodically and had some of their own textbooks, such as the New Testament and a spelling book.  When Still was three years old, a Dr. Fort, a Philadelphia physician, came to the Pines to vaccinate the children. His visit was the spark of inspiration that led to Still’s desire to be a doctor.

"Just before Still turned 18 he was voluntarily hired out as an indentured servant by his father. During the three years of his servitude, Still read everything available about medicine and botany, and learned all he could from the Native Americans of the area. On his twenty-first birthday, he was released from his service, given $10.00 and a new suit. He left immediately for Philadelphia. Still’s racial and financial status prevented him from attending medical school. Nonetheless, he continued to gain medical knowledge, reading everything he could find while working menial jobs to support himself.  

"In the spring of 1835, Still met Angelina Willow. The two were married on July 25 of that year and had a girl, Beulah. Angelina died from tuberculosis in August of 1838 and Beulah died in August of the following year. Still quickly remarried Henrietta Thomas and the two of them had two sons, James and Joseph.

"Still’s medical career began soon after his second marriage.  He created a “cough balm” from plants and herbs grown on his farm and soon after his first patient used it successfully Still became famous.  Two Philadelphia pharmacists heard of his product and began buying all of the cough balm he could supply. With that money he was able to buy a small house and begin making house-calls to patients.

"In response to his success, local doctors challenged his medical credentials. Still consulted a local attorney and learned that he was safe from legal action as long as he continued to never claim to be an MD, nor ask for a fee for his services.

"James Still eventually suffered a stroke, limiting his practice to patients who came to his home. In 1877, he published his autobiography, Early Recollections and Life of Dr. James Still in which he detailed the memories of his life. Five years later, in 1882 James Still died of a second stroke at his New Jersey home" (http://www.blackpast.org/aah/still-james-1812-1882), accessed 02-2017).  

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

During the Crimean War, Soyer, probably the most famous English celebrity chef of his time, joined the troups at his own expense to advise the army on cooking and diet. "Later he was paid his expenses and wages equivalent to those of a Brigadier-General. He reorganized the provisioning of the army hospitals. He designed his own field stove, the Soyer Stove, and trained and installed in every regiment the "Regimental cook" so that soldiers would get an adequate meal and not suffer from malnutrition or die of food poisoning. He wrote A Culinary Campaign as a record of his activities in the Crimea. Catering standards within the British Army would remain inconsistent, however, and there would not be a single Army Catering Corps until 1945. This is now part of the Royal Logistics Corps, whose catering HQ is called Soyer's House. His stove, or adaptions of it, remained in British military service into the late 20th century" (Wikipedia) Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Belon was first trained as an apothecary, and worked in that capacity for the bishop of Clermont, Guillaume Duprat. Around 1542 he studied medicine In Paris, and obtained a licentiate in medicine, though he never took the formal degree of doctor. With the recommendation of Duprat, he became an apothecary to Cardinal François de Tournon. Under this patronage, he was able to undertake extensive scientific voyages and travels. Beginning in 1546, he travelled through Greece, Crete, Asia Minor, Egypt, Arabia and Palestine, and returned in 1549. He hoped to find the remains of Homer's Troy in the Levant. His Observations, an account of these travels, included numerous woodcut illustrations. Digital facsimile of the 1553 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Translated into English by James Hogarth as Travels in the Levant: The observations of Pierre Belon of Le Mans on many singularities and memorable things found in Greece, Turkey, Judaea (2012).

One of the first treatises on conifers and other evergreen plants. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first work on agriculture written in French. As an apothecary, Belon was especially interested in the pharmaceutical value of plants. Having learned about them on his travels, he introduced numerous foreign plants into France, including the tree of Judea, cork oak, pistachio, cedar, jujube, and green oak, eastern juniper, and myrtle. Except for a portrait of Belon, this relatively brief work is unillustrated. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

An eloquent historical approach, written for a semi-popular audience, to everyday problems in occupational medicine and toxicology.

One of the earliest self-help medical guides, written by a pupil of Vesalius. Translated into English by Thomas Newton as The touchstone of complexions generallye appliable, expedient and profitable for all such, as be desirous & carefull of their bodylye health: Contayning most easie rules & ready tokens, whereby euery one may perfectly try, and throughly know, as well the exacte state, habite, disposition, and constitution, of his owne body outwardly : as also the inclinations, affections, motions, & desires of his mynd inwardly / first written in Latine, by Leuine Lemnie (London,1576). Digital facsimile of the 1561 edition from Google Books at this link. The English text is available from Early English Books Online at this link.

An elegantly written and profound book that was a powerful influence to my own intellectual development when I read it in 1958; it also a great inspiration for me to study the history of evolution and biology.

"Eiseley documented that animal variation, extinction, and a lengthy history of the earth were observed from the 1600s onward. Scientists groped towards a theory with increasingly detailed observations. They became aware that evolution had occurred without knowing how. Evolution was "in the air" and part of the intellectual discourse both before and after On the Origin of Species was published. The publisher describes it thus: "At the heart of the account is Charles Darwin, but the story neither begins nor ends with him. Starting with the seventeenth-century notion of the Great Chain of Being, Dr. Eiseley traces the achievements and discoveries of men in many fields of science who paved the way for Darwin; and the book concludes with an extensive discussion of the ways in which Darwin's work has been challenged, improved upon, and occasionally refuted during the past hundred years."^[14]

"Persons whose contributions are discussed include Sir Thomas Browne, Sir Francis Bacon, Carl Linnaeus, Benoît de Maillet, the Comte de Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, Louis Agassiz, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, James Hutton, William Smith, Georges Cuvier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Sir Charles Lyell, Thomas Robert Malthus, William Wells, Patrick Matthew, Karl von Baer, Robert Chambers, Thomas Henry Huxley, Sir John Richardson, Alexander Humboldt, Gregor Mendel, Hugo De Vries, W. L. Johannsen, Lambert Quételet, and Alfred Russel Wallace. Critics discussed include Fleeming Jenkin, A.W. Bennett, Lord Kelvin, and Adam Sedgwick, both a mentor and a critic.^{15]" (Wikipedia).}

Digital facsimile of a reprint of the 1864 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Reissued in 1865 as Nurse and spy in the Union Army: Containing the adventures and experience of a woman in hospitals, camps, and battle-fields. Digital facsimile of the 1865 version from the Internet Archive at this link.

Woolsey participated in the first meetings of the Women's Central Relief Association, which preceded the U.S. Sanitary Commission. In 1863 she became Superintendent of Nurses at Fairfax Seminary Hospital, and served there until the end of the American Civil War. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.