CLAUDE NICOLAS LE CAT (1700-1768). Traité des sens. Nouvelle ed. Amsterdam: Chez J. Wetstein, 1744. Le Cat, a man of many interests, was one of France’s foremost surgeons and researchers. Le Cat was interested in the physiology of the nervous system. He was a contemporary of Haller and incorrectly believed, contrary to Haller, that theContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room”
Author Archives: Donna Hirst
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, August 2012
REINIER DE GRAAF (1641-1673). Tractatus anatomico-medicus de succi pancreatici natura & usu. Leiden: Ex officina Hackiana, 1671. Graaf, a Dutch anatomist and physiologist, was celebrated for his work on digestion as well as on the anatomy of the genital organs of both sexes. He was an early investigator of the pancreas and collected the pancreaticContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, August 2012”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, July 2012
JAN SWAMMERDAM (1637-1680). Tractatus physico-anatomico-medicus de respiratione usuque pulmonum. Leiden: Apud Danielem, Abraham. & Adrian, à Gaasbeeck, 1667. Despite his short life and a professional career of only about twelve years, Swammerdam of Amsterdam was one of the outstanding comparative anatomists of the seventeenth century. He was a pioneer in microscopic studies, investigating especially theContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, July 2012”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, May 2012
MONDINO DEI LUZZI (d. 1326). Anatomia Mundini. Marburg: In officina Christiani Egenolphi, [1541] This edition of Mondino’s anatomy was prepared by Johannes Dryander, called Eichmann, who is generally regarded as one of the first anatomists to make illustrations from his own dissections. This important and rare book is especially interesting for its woodcuts. Nearly halfContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, May 2012”
Annual R. Palmer Howard Dinner : Spot Ward, Crazy Sally, and the Chevalier Taylor: Three Medical Quacks in 18th Century Britain
The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society announces the R. Palmer Howard Dinner for 2012, Friday, April 13, 2012, 6:00-9:30. Lynda Payne, prof. in Medical Humanities & Bioethics, and History, University of Missouri Kansas City will speak on “Spot Ward, Crazy Sally, and the Chevalier Taylor: Three Medical Quacks in Eighteenth-Century Britain”. Reception,Continue reading “Annual R. Palmer Howard Dinner : Spot Ward, Crazy Sally, and the Chevalier Taylor: Three Medical Quacks in 18th Century Britain”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, March 2012
AL-MAJUSI ‘ALI IBN AL-‘ABBAS (d. 994). Liber totius medicine necessaria continens quem . . . 1523. Haly Abbas, as he was known in the Latin west, was a native of Ahwaz in southwestern Persia and, in all probability, studied medicine at nearby Jundi-Shapur. He served as court physician to the Buyid ruler ‘Adud ad-Dawlah (d.Continue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, March 2012”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, February 2012
MOTONORI TAKI (1732-1801). Kokei saikyuho [Emergency remedies for the benefit of the people]. 1789. The author was a court physician famous in the annals of Japanese medicine. He was also known as Rankei Taki and Gentoku Tamba, combinations of his professional and personal names. Taki prepared this early Japanese home medical adviser at the requestContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, February 2012”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, January, 2012
Nicolaas Tulp (1593-1664). Observationes medicae. 1652. Along with other distinguished anatomists in Holland, Tulp left a rich legacy of anatomical discoveries. His name is current in the eponym”Tulp’s valve” (the ileocecal valve). This book contains the first descriptions of beri-beri and of what is probably diphtheria. Tulp described the condition we know as migraine, theContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, January, 2012”
Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, November, 2011
JAKOB RÜFF (1500-1558). De conceptu et generatione hominis. Lithotomost, surgeon, obstetrician and playwright, Ruff settled in Zurich about 1525 where he served as town physician and taught at the university. Ruff published his book in both German and Latin in 1554. A comprehensive handbook, the treatise opens with a discussion of conception, development, and nutrition of theContinue reading “Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room, November, 2011”
Notes from the Rare Book Room, July 2011
Frederick Ruysch (1638-1731). Thesaurus anatomicus. 10 pts. 1729-1737. Rusch, a Dutch surgeon, anatomist and professor of anatomy at Leiden and Amsterdam, mastered (and probably invented) a method of minute injection of anatomical structures allowing detailed studies. The recipe for the injected substance has been lost, however. He made many anatomical investigations, including those of theContinue reading “Notes from the Rare Book Room, July 2011”