It’s July and time for a beloved week in television: Shark Week. These sleek, weird, and beautiful apex predators are mesmerizing and also a little terrifying. But what do sharks have to do with medicine? Surprisingly, quite a bit—thanks to Elementorum myologiae specimen [A Sample of the Elements of Myology] (1667), a work by 17th-centuryContinue reading “Anatomy, geology, and spirituality | featured book from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
Category Archives: History of Medicine
Benjamin Bell’s cancer treatise | featured book from the John Martin Rare Book Room
Benjamin Bell (1749–1806), a pioneering Scottish surgeon and father of the Edinburgh school of surgery, authored A Treatise on the Hydrocele, on Sarcocele, or Cancer, and Other Diseases of the Testes (1791). Known for his rational, scientific approach to surgery, Bell also wrote the influential A System of Surgery (1783–1788). He was closely connected withContinue reading “Benjamin Bell’s cancer treatise | featured book from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
The invention of the stethoscope and a featured book from the John Martin Rare Book Room
This month, we highlight a book from the early 19th-century French physician who created the most iconic symbol of healthcare providers around the world. Assessing the condition of a patient in 1816, René Laënnec (1781–1826), rolled up a piece of paper to create a crude cone and proceeded to listen to the patient’s chest sounds.Continue reading “The invention of the stethoscope and a featured book from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
Pioneering female physican Aletta Jacobs | Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room
This Women’s History Month, the John Martin Rare Book Room highlights a book from the pioneering 19th-century Dutch physician and activist Aletta Jacobs. Born in 1854 in the Netherlands, Jacobs chafed at the status quo and the limited educational opportunities for women in the Netherlands. She rejected the standard for Dutch girls at the time, “finishing school,”Continue reading “Pioneering female physican Aletta Jacobs | Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
Notes on Johann Christian Reil, the first psychiatrist, from the John Martin Rare Book Room
Reil, was an 18th-century medical multihyphenate: physician-anatomist-physiologist. He was also the first true psychiatrist by virtue of coining the term “psychiatry” (or “psychiatrie” in German). His contributions to anatomy include the first description of the arcuate fasciculus in 1809 and the identification of anatomical features such as Reil’s finger (later known as Raynaud syndrome) and the Islands of Reil in the cerebral cortex.Continue reading “Notes on Johann Christian Reil, the first psychiatrist, from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
Using snow for anesthesia | Book of the month from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library
BARTHOLIN, THOMAS (1616-1680). De nivis usu medico observationes variae. Printed in Hafniae [Copenhagen] by Matthias Godiche for Peter Haubold [bookseller], 1661. 16 cm tall. Born into a family of distinguished scientists and academics, Bartholin was the second of six sons of Caspar Bartholin the Elder, a prominent physician and anatomist. The Bartholin family, including Thomas’s brother ErasmusContinue reading “Using snow for anesthesia | Book of the month from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library”
The Fabri-c of Our (Book) Lives | Conservation Corner
by Giselle SimónUniversity ConservatorDirector, UI Libraries Conservation and Collections Care This particular treatment was a perfect candidate to test out some momigami, a long-fibered Japanese paper that is coated with konnyaku (a plant mucilage) and crumpled multiple times, giving it a fabric-like texture and strength. To back up a bit, early book repair and restorationContinue reading “The Fabri-c of Our (Book) Lives | Conservation Corner”
Absolutely Fab-rius | Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library
Damien Ihrig, MA, MLISCurator, John Martin Rare Book Room Over time, books can start to show their age. All kinds of things take their toll on a book – fire, pollution, pests, and acidic inks, to name a few. Mostly, though – and this makes me very happy – books just get used. And thatContinue reading “Absolutely Fab-rius | Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library”
Presentations by our librarians at the 2023 Medical Library Association Conference
The Medical Library Association (MLA) and the Special Libraries Association (SLA) held a joint annual conference in Detroit from May 16-19, 2023. Three librarians from the Hardin Library for Health Sciences gave lighting talks and presentations at the conference. Lightning Talk: Authorship or Acknowledgement: A Complicated Question! For librarians supporting systematic reviews, determining whether toContinue reading “Presentations by our librarians at the 2023 Medical Library Association Conference”
The History of Women’s Health & Women Practitioners in Midwest | John Martin Rare Book Room Open House & Lecture | Greta Nettleton, Speaker | Wed. May 3
Join Hardin Library staff for the Annual John Martin Rare Book Room Open House featuring a lecture by Greta Nettleton. Wednesday, May 3 Open House, 3-6pm, John Martin Rare Book Room, 446 Hardin Library, 600 Newton Road, Iowa City Greta Nettleton Lecture, 6-7pm, Room 401 Hardin Library The open house will highlight historical works onContinue reading “The History of Women’s Health & Women Practitioners in Midwest | John Martin Rare Book Room Open House & Lecture | Greta Nettleton, Speaker | Wed. May 3”