See No. 931.

Experimental ventricular fibrillation.

“Aran–Duchenne disease” (see No. 4732)

Compiled by a team, but entirely written by Shattuck, this report was the first general blueprint for the promotion of public health presented to an American governmental body. Its first proposal was for the creation of state and local boards of health in an era when such state commissions were non-existent. A Board of Health was not set up until 1869, however. Shattuck has been called “the Chadwick of America”. An abridged version of this famous Report appears in G. C. Whipple’s State Sanitation, Cambridge, [Mass.], 1917; a facsimile reproduction was published in 1948.

Chevallier, a chemist, was a prolific writer. Above is probably his most important publication.

Leydig was the first to describe the interstitial cells of the testis (“Leydig cells”).

Helmholtz succeeded in measuring the velocity of the nervous impulse, by applying the knowledge and techniques of ballistics to the problem. In 1852, using a pendulum-myograph of his own invention, he measured the duration of an electric current through a galvanometer from the moment the nerve was stimulated to its interruption when the muscle contracted. A more detailed report “Messungen über den zeitlichen Verlauf der Zukkung animalischer Muskeln und die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit der Reizung in den Nerven”, appeared in the same journal volume, [276]-364, with its second part in the volume for 1852, 199-216.

The “law of Wallerian degeneration”. The experiments recorded in the above paper were the starting-point of the neuron theory. Waller showed that if glosso-pharyngeal and hypoglossal nerves are severed, the outer segment, containing the axi cylinders cut off from the cells, undergoes degeneration, the central stump remaining intact for a long period. From this he inferred that nerve cells nourish nerve fibers.

Casper was a great authority on forensic medicine. He also wrote on medical statistics. Above is an important compilation on judicial autopsies.

Knox, anatomist at Edinburgh, and notorious for his association with the resurrectionists, made important researches in the field of ethnology while serving as an army surgeon at the Cape of Good Hope.

This classical contribution to the social / medical history of North America includes the most important work on the natural history of malaria published up to that time. Digital facsimile of vol. 1 from the Internet Archive at this link. Vol. 2 was posthumously published as 2nd series, edited by S. Hanbury Smith & F. G. Smith, Philadelphia, 1854. Digital facsimile of vol. 2 from Google Books at this link.

Chatin was the first to show that iodine could prevent endemic goitre and cretinism.

Curling, of the London Hospital, was the first accurately to note the clinical picture of cretinism, which Ord was later to name “myxedema”. Curling was also the first to suggest deficiency of the thyroid as a case of cretinism.

By experimental puncture (piqûre) of the fourth ventricle of the brain, Claude Bernard produced temporary glycosuria.

Lupus erythematosus – “Cazenave’s disease”.

Multiple myeloma first described.

Complete excision of the scapula.

Lateral ventricles of the brain first opened for the treatment of cerebral abscess.

Rayer inoculated sheep with blood of other sheep dead of anthrax. Microscopically he saw the anthrax bacillus in the blood of the inoculated sheep. Rayer was associated with Davaine, who later, in Bull. Acad. Méd., 1875, 2 sér., 4, 581-84, said that he had written the above account and had sent it to Rayer for publication.

Snow attempted carbon dioxide absorption.

Bednaŕ was a famous Viennese pediatrician. His description of aphthae of the palate in the newborn (“Bednaŕ’s aphthae”) is in vol. 1, p. 104 of his book.

An extensive bibliography of pediatric literature, containing about 7,000 references.

Vol. 2 was in 2 parts. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Webb was surgeon in the Bengal Army, and later Professor of Anatomy at the Calcutta Medical College. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Of particular interest for the introductory chapter 2 on pain produced in surgical operations and chapter 3 on the history of the understanding and attempts at treatment of pain, surgical and otherwise, before ether and chloroform. Chapter 19 concerns the legal aspects of anesthesia. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

A pioneering historical interpretation of the development of medicine in the 13 colonies up to the American Revolution. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link. This is the second, significantly expanded edition of an address Beck delivered before the Medical Society of the State of New York in 1842. Digital facsimile of the 1842 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Tyson sailed from Baltimore for California in January 1849, crossing the Isthmus and sailing on to San Francisco. His book recounts his 1849 tour of the Northern Mines in search of a likely place for his medical practice, and his hospital at Cold Spring, where his patients included a number of Oregonians. Tyson closed his hospital at the end of the summer, sailing from San Francisco as a ship's physician, crossing the Isthmus and landing in the United States in December 1849. His diary pays special attention to miners' health and working conditions. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Regarding Fenner see, John Duffy, "Erasmus Darwin Fenner (1807–1866) Journalist, Educator, and Sanitarian," Academic Medicine. 35 (1960) 819-831. Digital facsimile of the 1850-51 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

This 8-page pamphlet is one of the earliest separate publications relating to medicine printed in the State of California. The "Society" disbanded shortly after this was published, perhaps over disputes concerning the "fee bill" listed in the pamphlet. Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link. (Another copy is recorded at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.) Reprinted in facsimile with a prefatory note by Carey S. Bliss. Los Angeles: Zamorano Club, 1980.

Heine collected the largest private collection of birds in the mid-19th century. His collection of 27,000 specimens and 15,000 books is preserved the Heineanum Halberstadt Museum in Halberstadt. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

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.

Digital facsimile of the 196th edition, much enlarged and improved from Google Books at this link. Sappol (2002) estimated that Hollick's works on sexuality and reproduction underwent at least 500 editions of between two and ten thousand copies up to 1902.

The innervation of the salivary glands first elucidated.

Corti made important investigations on the finer anatomy of the mammalian cochlea. The “organ of Corti” in the cochlea is named after him.

Description of the vestibular membrane (“Reissner’s membrane”).

Hall was the first to suggest that the paroxysmal nervous discharges in epilepsy were produced by the spinal nervous system, first to notice the connection of anemia with epilepsy, and first to deduce that epilepsy was produced by anemia of the medulla.

Clarke made important researches on the spinal cord. He described the nucleus dorsalis. He introduced the method of mounting sections with Canada balsam.

Dufour was a pseudonym of the writer Paul Lacroix. Translated into English by Samuel Putnam as History of prostitution among all the peoples of the world, from the most remote antiquity to the present day, 3 vols., Chicago: Pascal Covici, 1926, Revised edition,  New York: Coivici, Friede,  2 vols, c.1931. Digital facsimile of the 6 vol. original edition from BnF Gallica at this link.

Türck showed that degeneration in a nerve track corresponds to the direction in which it conducts nerve impulses – ascending tracks degenerate above the lesion and descending tracks below it.

Discovery of visual purple.

First experimental transplantation of tumors.

Walshe, physician to University College Hospital, London, was one of the first to recognize the presystolic character of the direct mitral murmur in mitral stenosis.

Adams was the first to distinguish between hypertrophy and carcinoma of the prostate. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

In their classic account of xanthoma multiplex, Addison and Gull believed they were describing a new disease, but Rayer had been the first to mention it. (See No. 3989; see also the later paper by Gull, Guy’s Hosp. Rep., 1852, 2 ser., 8, 149.)

First cystotomy for inflammation and rupture of the bladder.

Reduction of dislocation without manipulation. Reid demonstrated the futility of attempting to reduce a dorsal dislocation of the hip by forcible longitudinal traction with pulleys.

Frerichs divided the progression of renal disease into three stages: initial hyperemia, fatty infiltration and exudation, and organization leading to fibrosis and atrophy. This is one of the earliest works on kidney disease to incorporate histological appearances. However, Frerichs did not recognize the primary involvement of the glomerulus in what later became known as glomerulonephritis. See No. 4212.

Herbst was the first to demonstrate that an animal eating trichinous flesh would thereby develop trichinae in its own muscles. English translation of part I in Kean (No. 2268.1).

Pirogov is considered the greatest Russian surgeon and one of the greatest military surgeons of all time. He was among the first in Europe to employ ether anesthesia. He served in the Crimean campaign and was responsible for the introduction there of female nursing of the wounded. This edition in German predates the first edition in Russian.

Arlt described granular conjunctivitis (“Arlt’s trachoma”) and an operation for transplantation of the ciliary bulbs in the treatment of distichiasis.

Invention of the ophthalmoscope, one of the greatest events in the history of ophthalmology. English translation by T. H. Shastid, Chicago, Cleveland Press, 1916.

Atlee is said to have performed ovariotomy 387 times; with his brother John he firmly established the operation in the U.S.A.

Classic description of pelvic hematocele.

First important work dealing with pelvic deformities since the time of van Deventer. It is a pioneer work in the literature dealing with pelvic architecture; Michaelis was one of the first to differentiate between the non-rachitic flat pelvis and the rachitic pelvis. This book was completed and published by C.C.T. Litzmann (No. 6260) three years after Michaelis’s death.

Oribasius was a compiler of existing knowledge rather than an original writer. His output was immense; he compiled the Synagoge, an encyclopedic digest of medicine, hygiene, therapeutics, and surgery from Hippocrates to his own times, in 70 volumes. The unwieldiness of the work was probably the reason why he also wrote a synopsis of it. Only 17 volumes survived. Vols. 5 & 6 were completed and issued by Auguste Molinier after the death of Bussemaker and Daremberg. Digital facsimiles of the set from Google Books at this link.

Von Mohl saw and described cell division. English translation, London, 1852.

“Brown-Séquard’s paralysis”. Lesion of one lateral half of the spinal cord causes paralysis of motion on one side and of sensation on the other. See also the writer’s later paper on pp. 70-73 of the same volume.

Lebert studied cancer cells under high magnification to discover the specific elements distinguishing them from normal cells. He classified tumors as either homeomorphous (composed of elements analogous to those of the normal organism) or heteromorphous (composed of elements having no analogy in the body). Lebert’s treatise “described the characteristics of malignant cells, their variation of sizes, and noted the commonly increased size of the nucleus compared to the cytoplasm (later known as the ‘karyoplasmic ratio’). This is the first description of altered karyoplasmic ratios in cancer cells. Alteration of karyoplasmic ratios is a morphometric criterion still used today in diagnostics” (De las Heras and Schirmer, “The nuclear envelope and cancer: A diagnostic perspective and historical overview,” Cancer Biology and the Nuclear Envelope [2014], p. 8, pp. 5-26). “Lebert characterized the cancer cell itself as follows: ‘The pattern of the cancerous cell is that of a small regular sphere with an elliptical nucleus, placed eccentrically, occupying almost half or even more of the inside and enclosing one or several big nucleoli’” (Wolff, Cancerous Disease [1907] 109). Assuming that only tumors containing this type of cell could be considered cancers, Lebert excluded several types of tumors that had previously been classed as cancerous, calling these tumors “pseudocancer” and “cancroid.”

Hofmeister described the process of fertilization in non-flowering plants as an alternation of sexual and asexual generations in the mosses, ferns, horsetails and liverworts. He showed that asexual generation propagated by means of spores, altemating with one in which spermatozoids unite with ova. Hofmeister's researches led him to the revolutionary conclusion that all green land plants undergo a regular alternation of dissimilar generations in their complete life histories. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Hofmeister revised and expanded his work, and in its expanded form it was translated into English by Frederick Currey as On the germination, development, and fructification of the higher cryptogamia, and on the fructification of the coniferae (London: Ray Society, 1862). Digital facsimile of the 1862 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

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.

Lists 1,863 plants in the botanical garden at the Escola Medico-Cirurgica of Lisbon, arranged by genus and species according to Decandolle’s classification. The authors note in which part of Europe, India, the Americas, Asia or Africa the plants were originally found and whether they are annual, perennial, tree, vine, etc. 

Digital facsimile of the second edition (1861) from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. Translated into English (1852) as Thirty-five years in the East. Adventures, discoveries, experiments, and historical sketches, relating to the Punjab and Cashmere; in connection with medicine, botany, pharmacy, etc. Together with an original materia medica; and a medical vocabulary, in four European and five eastern languages. Digital facsimile of the English translation from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Davis instrumental in the establishment of the American Medical Association and was twice elected its president. He became the first editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. He was a founder of the Chicago Medical College and also a founder of Northwestern University. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

In spite of the verbose title, the Table of Contents of this work indicates that roughly the first half of the book concerns home remedies for the widest range of complaints and illnesses, and medical properties of plants. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Digital facsimile of the first part from PubMedCentral at this link, and of the second part at this link. Concluded with Simpson's "General observations on the Roman medicine-stamps found in Great Britain," Mon. J. Med. Sci., 16 (1851) 338-354 of which a digital facsimile is available from PubMedCentral at this link.

Stillman was personal physician to Leland Stanford, the first governor of California, and was a partner of railroad magnate Mark Hopkins from their days on board a ship to California in 1849. Stillman was also co-founder of the first hospital in California, in Sacramento, 1849. 

Stillman began his paper as follows:

"The emigration which took place from the United States to California, in the year subsequent to the discovery of gold in that country, will be remembered as one of the most remarkable events of this century. If we consider the character and number of the emigrants, the distance traversed, the hardships and privations endured, and the magnificent results attained, the event has no parallel in history.

"The number who arrived in California during the six months from the first July, 1849, to 1st of January 1850, was over 90,000; of these nearly 30,0000 performed a voyage by sea of 17,000 miles, more than 60,000 crossed a wilderness of greater extent than the entire distance from the mouth of the Tagus to the eastern confines of Russia, over arid plains and rugged mountains. Of this number, it was roughly estimated that one-fifth had found graves within the first six months after their arrival. An investigation of the circumstances that conspired to such a result constitutes a subject of extreme interest and importance.

"There has been no effort made by medical men conversant with the facts to give them to the public, that I am aware of; and as the most confused and conflicting views were entertained with regard to the nature and origin of the diseases that caused such remarkable fatality, I have been induced to give the results of my own observation, made during the summer of 1849, in the Sacramento Valley...."

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

An illustrated manual of sign language for the deaf and dumb specifically for education in mathematics and religion.
The book has a particularly distinctive title page. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Bennett provided a scientific explanation for then current mass hysteria or group hypnosis in Edinburgh. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Pages 343-480 concern the history and literature of dentistry from ancient Egypt to the time of publication.  This was Joseph Linderer's final book form publication.  Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

"The drawings of Maclise for Quain's Anatomy of the arteries and for his own Surgical anatomy are indeed done, as Quain wrote, with spirit and effect. These figures of anatomical dissection seem lifelike; in many plates the figure is shown as a torso, or a bust, or as a full-or half-length figure. The faces seem to be a gallery of portraits, perhaps of visitors to the 1851 Great Exhibition. They are mostly young men with fine hair-bearded, clean-shaven, or mustachioed, with or without sideburns; occasionally there are remarkably handsome black men. Many appear god-like. This is indeed 'high' art, only incidentally of an anatomical subject. If the analogy is not too far-fetched, Maclise's drawing may be compared with the work in different media of the English Romantic poets or of the composer Berlioz. The same comparisons have been made in relation to the work of the Victorian artist Daniel Maclise (1806-70), Joseph Maclise's older brother. They remained close, traveling in Italy together, and sharing houses in Bloomsbury and Chelsea" (Roberts & Tomlinson p. 564) Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The earliest treatise on Western medicine published in Chinese for the use of Chinese medical staff. The work primarily concerns anatomy and physiology, with most illustrations derived from Cheselden's Anatomy of the human body and his Osteographia. In his “Note to the Foreign Reader” Hobson stated: “This is an humble attempt to put the interesting and well established truths of Human Physiology into Chinese and illustrate them to a small extent by Comparative anatomy. The work is divided into three parts… The last chapter contains a short account of the history of man, varieties of colour, height &c. and concludes with remarks upon his moral nature, and proofs of the unity, wisdom, and design of God in creation […] The diagrams, taken from various sources, have been drawn in transfer paper (the greater part by a kind friend) and lithographed and printed at the press attached to the Hospital […] The work is printed from wooden blocks after the Chinese style, and can throw off several thousand impressions. The first issue is 1200.” 

Ricord's extensive work with veneral diseases at the Hopital du Midi includes 66 hand-colored ithographs illustrating a multitude of conditions at various levels of infection in both sexes. The illustrations were drawn from nature by Bion and Beau and are accompanied by case histories and treatment modes. Digital facsimile of the 1862 edition from BnF.gallica at this link.

The School of Medicine at Salerno dispelled the stagnation of medicine which had persisted throughout the early Middle Ages. Its masters were the first medieval physicians to cultivate medicine as an independent science. Many of the documents compiled at the School are included in the above work, having been found in the Breslau Codex Salernitanus of the mid 12th century, discovered in 1837. The Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum was among the earlier medical works printed, its first edition appearing in Cologne, about 1480. It underwent at least 25 editions in the 15th century. The School at Salerno was eclipsed by the rise of Montpellier and Bologna to the front rank; it was suppressed by Napoleon in 1811. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

First excision of the hip-joint in America. Unfortunately the one-page article provides no details.

Isolation of smooth muscle.

Discovery of the ganglion cells at the auriculo-ventricular junction, “Bidder’s ganglion”.

Stannius initiated research on the physiology of the conduction system of the heart. He illustrated vagal inhibition of the heart beat and indicated the existence of the pacemaker of the heart. Stannius also showed that the apex of the heart ceases to beat rhythmically when separated physiologically by ligature or clamp from the rest of the heart, while the sinus remains unaffected. Partial translation in J. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd. ed., 1966, pp. 59-60.

Even after the work of Prout and Beaumont, some physiologists thought that the free acid of the gastric juice was lactic acid; Bidder and Schmidt finally proved that normally the gastric juice always contains HCl in excess.

Discovery of hemoglobin. (Title of second paper: Neue Beobachtungen tiber die Krystalle des Milzvenen – und Fisch-Blutes).

Vierordt was the first to devise an exact method of enumerating the red blood corpuscles. See also his later paper: Zählungen der Blutkörperchen des Menschen, in the same volume, pp. 326-31.

Knox, remembered because of his indiscreet association with the Edinburgh “resurrectionists”, was one of the best teachers of anatomy during the 19th century.

Pirogov was the greatest of Russian surgeons. He introduced the teaching of applied topographical anatomy in Russia. His atlas of 220 plates represents the first use on a grand scale of frozen sections in anatomical illustration, an idea first carried out by de Riemer (No. 408).

In this classic work Choulant traced the evolution of anatomical illustration from the early schematic plates up to his own time, including a valuable bibliography. Reprinted, Wiesbaden, 1974. An English translation by Mortimer Frank appeared in 1920 (Chicago, University Press), enriched by a chapter on anatomical illustration since Choulant, written by F. H. Garrison. A reprint of the translation appeared in 1945 with additional essays by Garrison et al, plus a new historical essay by Charles Singer. This was reprinted in 1962.  In 1843 Choulant issued a preliminary study of anatomical illustration: Die anatomischen Abbildungen des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts. Historisch und bibliographisch Erlaeutert (Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1843).

Owen was the first to describe the parathyroids, which he observed in his dissection of a Great Indian Rhinoceros that had lived at the Zoological Society of London from 1834 to 1849.  See B. Modarai, A. Sawyer, & H. Ellis, "The Glands of Owen," Journal Royal Society of Medicine 97 (2004) 494-495.

“Cruveilhier’s palsy”, the progressive muscular atrophy already described by Duchenne and Aran. The slimness of the anterior roots was first noticed by Cruveilhier and was thought to be the essential lesion until Luys (No. 4737) reported degeneration of the anterior horn cells.

“Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy” (No. 4739) described.

Bernard discovered the existence of vasomotor nerves.

By applying a galvanic current to the superior part of the divided sympathetic nerve and causing vascular contraction and a fall in temperature, Brown-Séquard inferred that section of the sympathetic paralysed and dilated the blood-vessels (pp. 489-90). See also Nos. 1325-26.

In his graduation thesis, Lucien Corvisart, nephew of the more famous Baron Corvisart (No. 2737), introduced the term “tétanie”. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

This work attacked Liebig’s theories, although courteously. Moleschott, a Dutch physiologist, evolved a purely materialistic conception of the world. He considered life a magnificent metabolic process, and thought a product of the activities of the brain.

Remak was the first to point out that growth of new tissues was accomplished by the division of pre-existing cells.

First published account of the tactile nerve endings – “Wagner’s corpuscles”.

Synthesis of salicylic acid.

Hannover coined the word “epithelioma.” He did not recognize its malignant character but maintained that metastases were produced by cancer cells arriving by way of the blood stream. Translated into German as Das Epithelioma, Leipzig: L. Voss, 1852.

Green was one of the few to remove a laryngeal tumor before the invention of the laryngoscope.

Bowditch pioneered the operation for removal of pleural effusions with trocar and a suction pump devised by Morrill Wyman (1812-1903). See Bowditch’s earlier paper on the subject in the same journal volume, pp. 103-05.

A classic description of embolism resulting from intracardiac coagula. Reprinted in Willius & Keys: Cardiac classics, 1941, pp. 474-82.

One of Rokitansky’s best works. He described atheroma and calcification in the intima of arteries, and various congenital malformations.  Rokitansky "is credited with the initial case report of polyarteritis nodosa in 1852. He described the presence of aneurysmal lesions with nodes in multiple arteries observed at autopsy. . . . Rokitansky provides a compelling gross pathological description [see plate VI]. . ." (Matteson, Inflammatory Diseases of Blood Vessels, p. 211).

Introduction of the modern plaster of Paris bandage. Two different French translations of the above work were published in journals in 1852-53. In 1854 Mathijsen published two separate expanded French versions, of which that published in Liège was illustrated. The original edition plus the Liège version were reprinted with an introduction and bibliography, by G.J. Bremer, Nieuwkoop, 1962. English translation in Bick, Classics of orthopaedics, 66-71.

First uretero-intestinal anastomosis.

“Lasègue’s disease” – persecution mania.

Lotze was a pioneer in the investigation of unconscious and subconscious states.

Ruete introduced a practical lens system for examining the inverted image, and improved the illumination, producing the first practical ophthalmoscope.

Bowman devised an operation for the formation of an artificial pupil.

This work and that of Ammon (No. 5852) remain the greatest preophthalmoscopic atlases of ophthalmology.

Original description of Sims’s operation for the treatment of vesicovaginal fistula; also describes “Sims’s position, the knee–chest position. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1938, 2, 677-712.

Classic description of hyperemesis gravidarum.

First episiotomy in America, 2 December 1851.

Bassereau defined chancroid clearly for the first time.

Discovery, in 1851, of Schistosoma haematobium, the parasite of bilharziasis. Bilharz was Professor of Zoology at Cairo. English translation in Rev. infect. Dis., 1984, 4, 727-32, and in Kean (No. 2268.1).

Hessler, editor and translator of the first edition of Suśruta published in the West (3 vols., 1844-50) followed that edition with two separate volumes of commentary.

Macgillivray was naturalist to the expedition. Thomas Huxley served as assistant surgeon on this voyage; Huxley's diary of the voyage was first published posthumously in 1935. See No. 7449. Digital facsimile of MacGillivray's work from the Internet Archive at this link.

Reports of the first international public health conference, in which the representatives of 12 European states conferred from July 27, 1851 to January 19, 1852. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Hamilton detailed the symptoms of poisoning, records of successful use of the plant, and a description of its homeopathic uses. Finely illustrated with hand-colored plates, mostly by Henry Sowerby and his sister Charlotte. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Geist and von Bibra proved that the phosphorus necrosis of the lower jaw of matchmakers was caused by phosphorus fumes and that carious teeth ormed the starting point for this typical industrial disease. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The author was Chief Veterinarian of the Sultan Mamluk of Egypt Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn. (reigned three times between 1293 and 1341). His work focuses on the treatment of horses and falcons. It is divided into ten “essays,” each of which is divided further into “chapters” discussing many equestrian-related subjects, such as the health of horses, breeding, and sports. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Blackwell's first book, a volume about the physical and mental development of girls, emphasizing the value of exercise, intended to help prepare young women for motherhood. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Dickens' account of his visit on the day after Christmas, 1851 to the wards at St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, founded in 1751 to provide free care to the impoverished and incurable mentally ill.

"The inhabitants of St. Luke’s largely sit in solitude. Dickens decries the absence of "domestic articles to occupy . . . the mind" in one gallery holding several silent, melancholy women, and praises the comfortable furnishings--and the relative "earnestness and diligence" of the inmates--in another. He uses statistics to show the prevalence of female patients, "the general efficacy of the treatment" at St. Luke’s, and the unhealthy weight gain of the inhabitants due to inactivity. Dickens describes the behavior of various distinctive inhabitants during the usual fortnightly dance, the viewing of a Christmas tree, and the distribution of presents" (http://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/12156).

Digital edition from Dickens Journals Online at this link.

This brief work was reprinted by St. Luke's Hospital and published as a separate pamphlet, London, 1860, as a means of solicting donations.

One of the more comprehensive American works on popular medicine from the mid-19th century, frequently reprinted. The author, who published the work himself from his address in New York City, describes himself as A.M., M.D. The book includes useful information on diseases of occupations, including printers and typesetters, some useful information on birth control, as well as the then standard misconceptions that masturbation was a disease. The illustrations include several cartoon-like efforts to explain medical concepts to laymen. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Digital facsimile of the third edition (1855) from BnF Gallica at this link.

The first successful amputation of the hip-joint was performed by Brashear in 1806 at Bardstown, Kentucky; he first amputated the thigh through its middle third, and tied off the bleeding vessels; then he made a long incision on the outside of the limb, exposing the remainder of the bone, which was disarticulated at its socket. This article is part of a study on surgery in Kentucky authored by Samuel D. Gross, who wrote that Brashear was “alternately or successively, doctor, merchant, legislator, lawyer, and naturalist. For some years he served his adopted State in the Senate of the United States”. See No. 4451.1.

J. H. Johnson (New Orleans med. surg. J., 1850, 6, 474-76) stated that McCreary performed the first resection of the clavicle in the United States on 4 May, 1811. Valentine Mott reported the operation in 1828. See No. 4452.

Liebig’s method of estimating urea.

Little was the first eminent orthopedic surgeon in the British Isles. He studied under Stromeyer and, in 1838, he founded the Orthopaedic Institution, now the (Royal) National Orthopaedic Hospital, London. The above work is an elaboration of lectures delivered in 1843.

Early description of progressive muscular dystrophy (p. 14).

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link. See also his paper in Ann. Sci. nat., 1853, 20, 321-33 (Zool.).

Kuchenmeister conducted research on tapeworms, trichinosis, and other parasites and wrote about it several works. In 1852, his theory that bladder-worms are juvenile tapeworms gained the attention of the medical profession. Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Thyrotomy for removal of cancer of the larynx. The operation took place in May 1851, and the patient died in 1852.

Retrocaecal hernia (“Rieux’s hernia”) first described. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

This work did more to place British otology on a scientific basis than anything previously published. In his own words, Wilde “laboured to rescue the treatment of ear diseases from empiricism and found it upon the well-established laws of modern pathology, practical surgery, and reasonable therapeutics”. He showed the middle ear to be the site of origin of most of the diseases of the ear. He is remembered for his method of treating acute mastoiditis, using “Wilde’s incision”. The book was bitterly attacked by Kramer – see especially Lancet, 1853, 2, 446 – and also by Thomas Wakley, editor of that journal. Wilde was the father of Oscar Wilde.

Circular (manic-depressive) insanity first described.

The most popular textbook on the subject for many years. Erichsen was surgeon to University College Hospital, London, and Lister served as his house surgeon.

Pravaz invented galvanocautery.

English translation, 1868.

Trigt's thesis contains the first printed illustrations of the fundus of the eye. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. The following year Trigt's thesis was translated into German by C. H. Schauenberg as Der Augenspiegel : seine Anwendung und Modificationen : nebst Beiträgen zur Diagnostik innerer Augenkrankheiten (Lahr: J. H. Geiger (M. Schauenburg), 1854). Digital facsimile of the 1854 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Türck was the first to note the correlation of retinal hemorrhage with tumors of the brain.

Atlee was among the first to study the surgical removal of uterine fibroids.

Litzmann (see also No. 6263) described in this work the coxalgic, scoliotic and kyphoscoliotic forms of pelvis.

In 1853 French chemist Gerhardt was the first to prepare acetylsalicylic acid (marketed by Bayer as asprin in 1899). Gerhardt called the compound he obtained "salicylic-acetic anhydride" (wasserfreie Salicylsäure-Essigsäure). However, Gerhard did not pursue the matter further. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Treitz, a Czech pathologist, discovered the muscle at the duodenojejunal junction, later called “muscle of Treitz”; the fold of peritoneum over the muscle of Treitz is known as the "ligament of Treitz."

Bazin proved the fungal origin of favus and tinea; this was the first work to incorporate mycotic skin diseases into dermatological literature. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Wallace's first book, printed in an edition of only 250 copies. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

All published. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The author, a pulmonary specialist at Cavendish Square, London, provides a detailed manual for invalid travellers, seeking cures for tuberculosis, and indigestion and "nervous affections." It may be one of the first travel guides for invalids. Unusual for the coverage of Algeria. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this rather comprehensive popular and illustrated book on medicine and physiology Nichols explained sexual physiology in a level of detail radical for the time, and also advocated free love.

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Pirogov’s method of complete osteoplastic amputation of the foot. German translation, Leipzig, 1854.

Discovery of leucine and tyrosine in the urine.

Investigation of osmotic force; provided important information for the physiologists.

Vierordt invented a sphygmograph which acted on the principle that indirect estimation of blood-pressure could be accomplished by measuring the counter-pressure necessary to obliterate the arterial pulsation. This was the first instrument with which a tracing of the human pulse could be made. The paper is the first record of a study with an instrument of precision of the pulse in health and disease. Vierordt expanded this work into book form: Die Lehre von Arterienpuls, Braunschweig, Vieweg, 1855.

Discovery of the neuroglia.

Helmholtz determined the optical constants and explained the mechanism of accommodation, with the help of the ophthalmometer which he had invented in 1852.

An early paper on “caisson sickness”.

Chaulmoogra oil was first introduced into Western medicine by Mouat, having been used for many centuries previously by the Chinese

An important work on congenital syphilis. English translation, 1859.

First systematic study of the subject. In this celebrated work Gross laid down principles concerning symptoms which are still fundamental, despite the advent of roentgenology.

Garcia, a teacher of singing, invented the modern laryngoscope.

On pp. 320-27 is to be found Stokes’s account of fatty degeneration of the heart, in which he so well described the periodic form of respiration now known as “Cheyne–Stokes breathing.” Stokes also gave the first description of paroxysmal tachycardia (p. 161).

Addison described two forms of keloid, that described by Alibert, and the “true keloid” (the skin disease morphoea, “Addison’s keloid”).

First description of tinea cruris (eczema marginatum, “Bärensprung’s disease”).

Fenger’s operation.

Paroxysmalcold hemoglobinuria described. English translation in No. 2241.

Pacini described vibrios seen in the intestinal contents of cholera victims. He incriminated these vibrios as the pathogen in the disease, anticipating Koch (No. 5108) by 30 years. See N. Howard-Jones. Perspect. Biol. Med.,1971, 13, 422-33.

Experimenting on animals and cadavers, Brainard developed a special bone drill or “perforator” introduced subcutaneously to perforate the bone ends, simulating a recent fracture, and thus stimulating callus formation.

Hamilton was among the first to treat ulcers by skin-grafting. He made the flap smaller than the space which it was intended to fill, “trusting to growth and expansion of the graft to complete the cure”. Also published in N. Y. J. Med., 1854, 13, 163-73. See his earlier theoretical paper in Buffalo med. J., 1847, 2, 501-509.

Siebold succeeded in infecting dogs with Taenia echinococcus. Translation by T. H. Huxley Sydenham Society London, 1857.

Velpeau was the leading French surgeon of the first half of the 19th century. His treatise on tumors of the breast, his best work, was the most important of its time on the subject. It includes a good account of hyperplastic disease of the breast. English translation, 1856.

In Roger of Salerno's Practica chirurgiae, which appeared about 1180, end-to-end suture is described, as is the value of mercurial inunction in chronic skin diseases; in his recommendation of seaweed for the treatment of goitre Roger anticipated Coindet (No. 3812). Roland of Parma [Rolando Capelluti or Capezutti] (fl. early 13th century) was a pupil of Roger, and edited his master’s books about a.d. 1230. The work was one of the most important emanating from the School of Salerno. A color facsimile with Italian translation of an illuminated medieval manuscript of Roland’s version of Roger’s work in the Bibliotheca Casanatense Roma was published in Rome, 1927. Digital facsimile of the 1854 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Jan Yperman, became the first authority on surgery in the Low Countries during the 14th century. He was also the first medical writer in the Dutch language. He probably born in or near Ypres in Belgium, and may have studied in Paris under Lanfranc, whom he often mentions in his work. His work was first printed in Ann. Soc. Méd. Gand, 1854, 32, and re-issued as above. Another edition was published in Paris, 1936. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Griesinger connected the worm of ankylostomiasis with Egyptian chlorosis, a condition in which the worm had previously been noted without its being considered the causal agent (pp. 555-61). Apparently Bilharz in 1853 came to the same conclusion. The disease was for a time called “Griesinger’s disease”. Partial English translation in Kean (No. 2268.1).

Middeldorpf improved the galvano-cautery and introduced it in major surgery.

Jones reported that Charles Babbage (1792-1871), the computer pioneer, had produced a simple ophthalmoscope in 1847. After the success of Helmholtz’s instrument in 1851 (No. 5866) Jones wrote about Babbage’s instrument and of his role in discouraging it. See No. 5862.

First account of metastatic ophthalmia.

First successful abdominal hysterectomy, 25 May, 1853. An account of Burnham’s work is given by J. C. Irish in Trans. Amer. med. Ass. 1878, 29, 447-61.

Simon is perhaps best remembered as being the first in Europe to excise the kidney; he also wrote a fine monograph on vesico-vaginal fistula.

“Duncan’s folds”, the peritoneal folds of the uterus. Republished in book form, Edinburgh, 1854. Duncan, a leading Edinburgh obstetrician, became lecturer on the subject at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.

Wright was responsible for the introduction of combined cephalic version.

Beauperthuy was the first protagonist of the mosquito theory of the transmission of yellow fever. Reprinted in Beauperthuy’s La Obra, Caracas, 1963, pp. 260-70; French translation in Travaux scientifiques de Louis-Daniel Beauperthuy, Bordeaux, 1891, pp. 131-42. Digital facsimile of the 1891 edition from the Wellcome Library at this link.

First description of pelvis spinosa.

An important study of the spondylolisthetic pelvis, which Kilian called “pelvis obtecta”.

Issued in 1271 A. H. (1854 CE), this entirely lithographed book introduced Western anatomical illustration to Persian culture. As part of an effort to modernize medical education in Persia, medical textbooks such as Mirza Mohammad-Vali’s Illumination of the Fundamentals of Medicine were written or translated by Persian authors and printed by lithography for publication by the Dar al-Fonun or the Dar al-Tabae, the state printing house established in the 1840s. Mirza Mohammad-Vali, who had been named chief physician of the Persian army in 1852, was also supervisor of the physicians at the Government Hospital and most likely taught at the Dar al-Fonun. Mirza Mohammad’s dependence on Western sources in this early period of modern Persian medical education is evident in his book’s numerous anatomical illustrations, adapted from Vesalius, Scarpa, Fabrici and other European authors. Afkhami, “Epidemics and the emergence of an international sanitary policy in Iran,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 19 (1999): 122-134. Shcheglova, Olimpiada P. “Lithography i. In Persia.” Encyclopaedia Iranica. N.p., 15 Aug. 2009, accessed 04-24-2015). Ebrahimnejad, Medicine, Public Health and the Qajar State: Patterns of Modernization in Nineteenth-Century Iran (2004) 51. For a more detailed annotation see the entry in HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

A series of lectures given at the London Hahnemann Hospital between 1852 and 1853, presenting an early account of Hahnemann’s life and the development of homeopathy. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Nott, a prominent physician and anthropologist in Mobile, Alabama, employed polygenist arguments to justify slavery. This required resoilving the problem of racial hybridity. Polygenists claimed that different races were different species. Species, however, were supposed to be incapable of producing fertile offspring, while it was obvious that different races, specifically white and black could reproduce and create mulattoes. To keep the designation of races as 'species' intact, Nott redefined the definition of species, making its essential characteristic not hybrid infertility, but morphological distinctness through time-time longer than could be inferred from the Bible. . . . Nott sought to disassociate anthropology from the Bible. His alternative explanation was that races had been separately created before Biblical time. His medical experience convinced him that blacks and whites possessed different susceptibilities to disease, attributable to innately different 'vitalities.' Nott argued against monogenist anthropologists, who believed that races had a recent and common origin. . . .Nott's comments on race brought him to the attention of other members of the American School, including its proclaimed leader, Samuel George Morton. After Morton's death, George Glidden, then the U.S. consul in Cairo, persuaded Nott to co-author a book, Types of mankind, dedicated to Morton's memory. Gliddon's contribution was to show that blacks and whites had been distinct as early as Egypt's first dynasty. Nott's contribution was also intended to demonstrate the antiquity of racial differences, as well as to show that races were immune to major change. Digital facsimile of the 1854 second edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Sttee Paul A. Erickson, The anthropology of Josiah Clark Nott avaiable from digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu at this link.

For the second edition (1862) Tardieu expanded the work to 4 volumes. Tardieu described the terrible working conditions of children in factories and mines. He also reported the ill consequences of theses conditions on the children's physical and mental health.
Digital facsimile of the first edition from Google Books at this link; of the second edition (1862) from BnF Gallica at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Separate edition: New York: Baker, Godwin & Co, 1854. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Translated into English by L. Jay Oliva, introduced and annotated by Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. as A medical journey in California (Los Angeles: Zeitlin & Ver Brugge, 1967).

The first history of medical electricity and electrotherapy.  Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This record of Bernard's actual lectures contains the first published description of Bernard's technique of right and left heart cathererization, a technique that Bernard invented. The appendix includes notes of lectures by Charles Robin. Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

Bernard published a detailed account of the procedure in "Recherches experimentales sur la temperature animale," Comptes rendus Acad. Sci, 43, 551-569. He undertook the proceedure in an attempt to study the difference in temperature between the two circulations.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link. Revised edition, 1857, of which a digital facsimile is also available from the Hathi Trust at this link.  Translated into English by J. C. Reeve as A history of the discovery of the circulation of the blood, Cincinnati, 1859. Digital facsimile of the 1859 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

The diagrams in this pioneering work in information graphics were printed in red and black; a variety of other colors were applied by hand. Digital facsimile from digital.sciencehistory.org at this link.

Lizars was one of the first to recognize the addictive nature of tobacco and its potential damage to health. Digital facsimile of the 6th edition (1857) from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The first original Persian-language anatomy textbook based on western medical science, printed in a very small number of copies for the use of Polak’s Persian students. Polak, an Austrian physician, was responsible for establishing a modern European-based medical curriculum in Iran, augmenting (and eventually supplanting) the traditional Galenic medicine that had been taught in that country since the tenth century. At the invitation of the Persian government, Polak moved to Tehran in November 1851 to teach at Iran’s Dar al-Fonun (now the University of Tehran), the country’s first modern institute of higher learning, which included a medical school for the training of army physicians. He remained at the school for over eight years, returning to Austria in 1860.

During his tenure at Dar al-Fonun Polak instructed classes of 15-20 students in the basics of Western medicine and surgery—a task made more difficult by the students’ lack of the necessary scientific knowledge and background, since these first pupils “consisted mostly of princes, sons of courtiers and other high government officials” (Floor, The beginnings of modern medicine in Iran, pp. 1-15).

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Claude Bernard made strenuous efforts to introduce experimental methods into physiology. The above includes his classic work on the function of the liver, pancreas, and gastric glands. Vol. 1, p. 126: Catheterization of the heart of a dog (in some editions, p. 119). See also No. 634.

The culmination of Bernard’s work on the glycogenic function of the liver. He invented the term “internal secretion” and can be said to have started the scientific investigation of the internal secretions, although for 30 years the significance of his work was not generally realized. By his research on glycogen Bernard showed that the body can not only break down, but can also build up, complex chemical substances.

Considered by many authorities to be the greatest of the 19th-century systems of anatomy. Many structures are named after Henle, including the looped portion of the uriniferous tubules of the kidney, the layer of cells in the root sheath of a hair, and the ampulla of the uterine tube.

Sibson was professor of medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital. “Sibson’s fascia” and “muscle” are named after him. Plates 19-21 show movements, structure and sounds of the heart.

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.

Simplification of von Baer’s classification of the germ-layers.

Duchenne classified the electrophysiology of the entire muscular system and summed up his findings in the above work. The application of his results to pathological conditions marks him as the founder of electrotherapy. An Album de photographies pathologiques was published in 1862 to accompany the text of the second edition, 1861. Engl, trans. of 3rd ed., Philadelphia, 1871. See Nos. 1993 & 4543.

Duchenne, most famous of the electrotherapists, employed faradic current in treating patients as early as 1830. An English translation of the third edition of his book appeared in 1871.

Discovery of the motor points, the entry points of the nerves into the muscles – essential for stimulating the muscles by electricity.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Panizza was the first to attribute the vision function to the posterior cortex.

Hamilton was a medical inspector of the U.S. Army and later became Professor of Surgery at Bellevue Hospital. See No. 4420.

First full clinical description of hemophilia.

Wood of Edinburgh was the first (1853) to employ hypodermic injection that used a true syringe and hollow needle as a therapeutic procedure. He referred to his invention as "subcutaneous" rather than hypodermic. See also Brit. med. J., 1858, 721-23, for a later paper by him. A full account of his work is given by Howard-Jones (No. 2063). Digital facsimile from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov at this link.

Rinne’s test.

Addison was the first to draw attention to the importance of the adrenals in clinical medicine. The above work first appeared in the Lond. med. Gaz., 1849, 43, 517-18, and was later expanded into book form. It described the conditions, which later became known as “Addison’s disease” and pernicious anemia, which was later renamed “Addisonian anemia” by Trousseau. Text reprinted in Med. Classics, 1937, 2, 244-77. Facsimile edition, London, Dawson, 1968.

First description of osteoperiostitis of the metatarsal bones, named “Busquet’s disease” after the latter’s description of it in Rev. Chir. (Paris), 1897, 17, 1065.

Resection of the hip for ankylosis.

Classic description of ulcero-membranous stomatitis and its treatment.

Pettenkofer gave much attention to the etiology of cholera. He postulated the theory that a specific germ, certain local conditions, certain seasonal conditions, and certain individual conditions are all necessary for an epidemic to occur (the Boden theory).

Pollender discovered the B. anthracis in 1849, but did not record this fact until 1855. He gave a more exact account of the organism than did Rayer (No. 5163).

English translation of 2nd ed. by Edwin Ray Lankester as On animal and vegetable parasites of the human body: A manual of their natural history, diagnosis, and treatment. 2 vols. London: Sydenham Society, 1857. Digital facsimile of the 1855 edition from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link, of the English translation at this link.

Graefe introduced iridectomy in the treatment of iritis and iridochoroiditis.

Description of trachoma.

Liebreich introduced lateral illumination in microscopic investigation of the living eye.

First successful abdominal hysteroscopic myomectomy (for fibromyoma), 1 September 1853.

The most important 19th century American monograph on yellow fever. La Roche’s work sketched the disease in its appearances from 1699 to 1854 at Philadelphia, which saw some of the worst yellow fever epidemics, and provided an excellent bibliography along with discussion of the pathology, aetiology and therapeutics of the disease. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Medicine, Internet Archive, at this link.

Reprinted, Amsterdam, B. M. Israël, 1967.

Because his first paper (No. 6274) had been published in a short-lived journal with very small circulation, Holmes enlarged his famous essay on the contagiousness of puerperal fever, and in this reiteration mentioned the steps already being taken by Semmelweis. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1936, 1, 245-68.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive, at this link.

Drysdale emphasized that sexual intercourse should be pleasurable for both sexes, but believed that the ever-present possibility of pregnancy prevented it from being so. He also believed that overpopulation itself was a major cause of poverty for which birth control was a solution. He also believed that fear of having more children encouraged men to turn to prostitutes, and was also a strong inhibitor of a women's willingness to express their sexuality. Drysdale also believed that immoderate amounts of sexual activity were dangerous, and he was horrified by variant sexuality, including masturbation. In spite of the limitations of Drysdale's ideas, Havelock Ellis was greatly influenced to enter the field of sex research by reading Drysdale's book.

Only six pages of Drysdale's book were devoted to contraception. He discussed five techniques, two of which, the sponge and the douche, he advised were to be used together. His douche solution, however, was simply tepid water, which he held would flush out the sperm from the vagina, after which the sponge could be removed. He also advocated that women use a safe period, which he said was from two to three days before menstruation to eight days after  Coitus interruptus, he wrote, was “physically injurious” because it might cause mental disorders and illness in the man and it also interfered with pleasure.The condom, in his mind, was unaesthetic, dulled enjoyment, and might even produce impotence. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Australia at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Wilson's atlas, with 48 plates drawn and engraved by the medical artist, William Bagg, was the first English large folio atlas of dermatology in the style of similar folios issued in France by Alibert and Cazenave. The plates are classified under “General diseases,” “Syphilitic eruptions,” “Disordered chromatogenous function,” “Diseases of the sebiparous glands,” “Diseases of the hair follicles,” and “Specific diseases,” this last category containing illustrations of kelis (keloid), lupus and syphiloderma. 

The second edition of Snow's book on cholera, with 162pp. compared to 31pp. in the first edition, incorporated the results of five more years of research, and contained so much additional material that it was essentially a new work. Snow set out his views that cholera was caused by a living organism, a belief later confirmed by Koch's discovery of the cholera vibrio in 1883. Snow included statistical surveys made during the great cholera epidemic of 1854, demonstarting that the number of cholera deaths in each area of southern London corresponded to the degree of contamination of the local drinking water. In this edition he told the famous story of the Broad Street pump for the first time, and included the famous spot map of the district showing the location of each pump and the fatal cholera cases. This was the first use of a spot map in epidemiology. Digital facsimile of the 1855 second edition from Google Books at this link.

The first history of the American Medical Association, founded in 1847, written by one of its chief founders. Digital facsimile from Hathi Trust at this link.

With 16 lithographed plates, this continues to be one of the most frequently cited of all works in the history of primate anatomy.

Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

The American physician George P. Cammann invented the binaural flexible stethoscope. By 1852 Cammann "had developed a stethoscope with flexible tubing (spirals of wire covered with silk, later rubber, or as he called it caoutchouc), ivory ear-pieces, and spring cross piece to hold the ear-pieces in place. The formal announcement of the stethoscope appeared in 1855" (McKusick, Cardiovascular sound in health and disease [1958] 13).

This work work organized and systematized the huge mass of data being collected by the numerous scientific expeditions of the time to explain the geographical distribution of plants. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Gaedcke, a chemist and pharmacologist, was the first to isolate the cocaine aklaloid.

A comprehensive work, with a difficult and verbose title. The second printing, also published in 1855, included a frontispiece and an elaborate engraved title not illustrated in the BnF copy. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

This paper is sometimes referred to as the Sarawak Law paper since it was written while Wallace was on a specimen collecting expedition in the province of Sarawak (East Malayasian States) on the great island of Borneo. The paper has been misrepresented by certain historians as presenting a portion of the theory of natural selection. That is false; Wallace did not publish on natural selection until the Darwin-Wallace papers published in 1858 (No. 219).

The "law" states "The following law may be deduced from these facts: — Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a pre–existing closely allied species."  

About this Malcolm Jay Kottler wrote to me in April, 2023, "Darwin did not see that Wallace was thinking in evolutionary terms in this paper. In his paper Wallace used the word 'created' a number of times--such as 'It is evidently possible that two or three distinct species may have had a common antitype, and that each of these may again have become the antitypes from which other closely allied species were created"--which Darwin interpreted as creationist, and not evolutionary, in meaning.

See John van Wyhe, "The impact of A. R. Wallace's Sarawak Law paper reassessed," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 60 (2016) 56-66.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. The Introductory Essay was also published separately by W. Pamphlin in 1855 with the following title: Introductory essay to the Flora Indica: including preliminary observations on the study of Indian botany; a summary of the labor of Indian botanists; a sketch of the meteorology of India; outlines of the physical geography and botany of the provinces of India. Digital facsimile of the separate edition of the Introductory Essay  from darwin-online.org at this link.

Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.  Significantly expanded as Food: its adulterations and methods for their detection, London: Longmans, Green, 1876. Digital facsimile of the 1876 edition from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

“Gubler’s paralysis” – crossed hemiplegia. English translation in Wolf, The classical brain stem syndromes, Springfield: Charles C Thomas, 1971.

Bernard paralysed motor nerve-endings with curare and demonstrated the independent excitability of muscle. He showed that curare acted by stopping the transmission of impulses from motor nerves to voluntary muscles.

Kölliker and Müller were the first to measure action currents from cardiac muscle.

First systematic account of brain abscess.

The most beautifully illustrated of all Bernard’s writings, which summed up the results of his work on the role of the pancreas in digestion. English translation as Memoir on the pancreas, and on the role of pancreatic juice in digestive processes, particularly in the digestion of neutral fat,  translated by John Henderson, reproducing the color plates in color. London, 1985.

Brown-Séquard found that excision of both adrenals in animals invariably proved fatal, thus determining their indispensability. He also believed that they had an antitoxic influence upon the blood. His experimental work was of great importance in the development of our knowledge of the internal secretions.

Vulpian discovered adrenaline in the adrenal medulla.

Experimental epilepsy (section of sciatic nerve). See also Arch. Physiol. norm. path., 1869, 2, 211-20, 422-38, 496-503; 1870, 3, 153-60.

Faivre made the first accurate estimation of the blood-pressure in man, by connecting the artery with a mercury manometer and making direct readings. These investigations were important, since they established normal values. The paper was republished in book form in 1856. English translation of part 2 in Ruskin (No. 3160.1).

Marshall Hall’s method of artificial respiration.

Buchheim created the first pharmacological institute in the world at the University of Dorpat.

First investigation of the effects of poisons on muscular contraction.

First demonstration of the experimental inoculability of syphilis. The information is given in a discussion on the subject by the Society of Physicians of the Palatinate; it appeared anonymously, without title, and identity of the writer was not disclosed until fifty years later. See the footnote on page 585 of Garrison’s Introduction for further details; a biographical note appears in Derm. Z., 1913, 20, 220-23.

Panum was the first to investigate the chemical products of putrefaction. His work had great significance for the doctrine of putrid intoxication. An abstract of the above paper is in jb. in-u. ausländ. ges. Med., 1859, 101, 213-17. See Hans Jørn Kolmos, "Panum's studies on "putrid poison" 1856. An early description of endotoxin," Danish Medical Bulletin , 53 (4) (2006) 450-2.

Leared demonstrated a binaural stethoscope at the Great Exhibition, London, 1851. Camman introduced the pattern whose main design continues in use today; this was illustrated in the N.Y. med. Times, Jan. 1855, and reproduced in Lancet, 1856, 1, 398.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Includes his paper on “weisses Blut” (see No. 3062) and three later papers on leukemia. See No. 3006.

First pharyngotomy in England. Fuller report in Guy’s Hosp. Rep., 1858, 3 ser., 4, 217.