History of Medicine

Jan 26 2021

January 2020 Book of the Month | John Martin Rare Book Room | Eye Diseases by Demours 1818

Posted on January 26, 2021January 26, 2021 by Sarah Andrews

DEMOURS, ANTOINE PIERRE (1762-1836) Traité des maladies des yeux : avec des planches coloriées représentant ces maladies d’après nature, suivi de la description de l’œil humain / traduite du latin de S.T. Soemmerring [Treatise on eye diseases: with colored plates representing these diseases from nature, followed by the description of the human eye] Printed by Crochard in 1818. First edition. 4 volumes. 21 cm tall (Volume 4 is 27 cm).

This four-volume work, one of the most important and elaborate books on the diseases of the eye published to that time, includes the first full description of glaucoma in which heightened intraocular pressure is recognized. The work is a compilation of hundreds of carefully annotated case histories obtained in the course of the author’s 20 years of experience and from his father’s nearly 50 years of practice. Credit for the observations on glaucoma belongs principally to the father, Pierre Demours, who was the superior clinical investigator, though it is quite properly shared with the son who excelled as a surgeon.

images of tools and eye disease The final volume contains a French translation of the Latin edition of S.T. Soemmerring’s Abbildungen des menschlichen Auges [Illustrations of the Human Eye]. The 65 plates include remarkable specimens of early printed color illustrations.

Demours obtained a reputation more for his bold and skillful operations than for his scientific contributions. He became oculist to the Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X of France. Demours’ operation to transplant an artificial pupil created a great sensation, not only in France but all over Europe.

The four volumes are modestly bound, with a dark blue paper pasted over paper boards. The first three volumes contain only text, and all the books show minor foxing (reddish-brown staining due to chemicals inherent to the paper and their interaction with the environment) throughout. Even with a simple binding, given its size and vibrant illustrations, the fourth volume definitely stands out from the others! photo of 4 books

If you are interested in seeing this , please contact Curator Damien Ihrig at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu to arrange a visit in person or over Zoom.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu or call 319-335-9154.

image of plant and information from blog post

Jan 06 2021

John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library Open By Appointment During Winter Break | Zoom or In-Person

Posted on January 6, 2021January 25, 2021 by Sarah Andrews

Anyone may make an appointment to use the John Martin Rare Book Room from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday. You may make an in-person appointment or our curator can meet your via Zoom and show you materials online.

To make an appointment:

email curator damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu OR
call 319-335-9154

The John Martin Rare Book Room will be open during Winter Break except on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Access to the John Martin Rare Book Room is available to the public as well as University of Iowa affiliates.

Dec 18 2020

Remembering Dick Eimas | Former Curator of the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on December 18, 2020December 21, 2020 by Sarah Andrews

by Catherine Reed Thureson, MA

Richard (Dick) Eimas, former curator of the John Martin Rare Book Room, passed away on November 19^th, 2020 following a battle with cancer.

Dick was the original curator of the John Martin Rare Book Room, a position he held from 1975 until his retirement in 2002. Dick was passionate about the Rare Book Room, and a valued colleague. He was also a respected supervisor who listened and supported the needs of those who reported to him.

He was the editor and primary contributor to the second and third editions of Heirs of Hippocrates, an annotated book catalog of the most important works in the Rare Book Room. This catalog is still regarded as an important reference work and source of authority by historians, book dealers and bibliophiles. He made purchasing decisions and supervised the expansion of the room, shaping the collection alongside Dr. John Martin, the Rare Book Room’s original benefactor. He published numerous articles about works in the collection and gave presentations to a wide variety of audiences. He was an active member of the prestigious Osler Society.

Dick Eimas was bright, friendly and interesting, an asset to the library and to the Iowa community. Though he left the university nearly two decades ago, he will be missed.

3 men playing with balls in renaissance times

Apr 13 2020

Girolamo Mercuriale | Art of Gymnastics | April 2020 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on April 13, 2020July 8, 2020 by Sarah Andrews

oil painting of man seated, holding book from Renaissance era — Girolamo Mercuriale

GIROLAMO MERCURIALE (1530-1606) De arte gymnastica libri sex. Apud Juntas 1587 3rd ed. 3, 308 [27] pp. illus. 23.6 cm .[The Art of Gymnastics, volume six in Latin].

Mercuriale, professor of medicine at Bologna and Pisa, is best know for this masterwork, first published in 1569.

De arte gymnastica was the first complete text on gymnastics and stresses the importance that all forms of exercise have in maintaining good health. Relying heavily on ancient practices, this work is an excellent compendium of physical therapy of earlier times. Mercuriale describes ancient gymnasia and baths and discusses mild exercises such as dancing as well as more strenuous pursuits such as wrestling and boxing. He gives consideration to the health benefits of proper exercise and concludes the book with a section of therapeutic exercises.

University of Iowa affiliates may view 1978 reprint version online

An English translation of this book can be found in De arte gymnastica. Critical edition by Concetta Pennuto; English translation by Vivian Nutton. Latin and English on facing pages; critical matter in English or Italian. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 2008. ISBN: 9788822258045; 8822258045. University of Iowa affiliates may request this title via Interlibrary Loan.

Thanks to Emeritus Professor Paul Greenough for suggestions to add translation information to the newsletters.

Like the rest of the University of Iowa Libraries, the John Martin Rare Book Room and the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences are physically closed. Much of Hardin Library’s current collection is available online, and Library staff continue to work virtually, assisting our users by email, Zoom, and other electronic means.

We are also mailing physical books to our users, when possible. These circumstances mean that the Rare Book Room’s collection is currently unavailable, although we encourage you to explore the digital exhibits, illustrations, and books available through the website at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/hardin/rbr/

Thank you for your support and interest in the John Martin Rare Book Room.

Mar 17 2020

Cancelled | 2020 R. Palmer Howard History of Medicine Society Dinner | April 24 | Marie Jenkins Schwartz, Enslaved Women | Cancelled

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Sarah Andrews

The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society and Hardin Library for the Health Sciences announce that the 2020 R. Palmer Howard Dinner scheduled for Friday, April 24 has been cancelled.

The event will not be rescheduled.

Mar 05 2020

CANCELLED |2020 Open House | John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library | Black Plague | March 26

Posted on March 5, 2020March 17, 2020 by Sarah Andrews

The 2020 John Martin Rare Book Room Open House has been cancelled. This event will not be rescheduled.

Please see our online exhibit: The Black Death: The Plague, 1331-1770

image of fire burning in street during plague — A street during the plague in London with a death cart a Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Feb 21 2020

Mattioli | Encyclopedia of Renaissance pharmacology | February 2020 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Sarah Andrews

By Moretto da Brescia – Musei di Strada Nuova – Palazzo Rosso

PIETRO ANDREA MATTIOLI (1500-1577) Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei, Demedica materia. In officina Erasmiana; Apud Vincentium Valgrisium 1554 [48] 707 [1] pp., illus. 31.5 cm.

Mattioli of Siena studied medicine at Padua where he graduated in 1523. During his career, he practiced at Siena, Perugia, Rome, Trent, and Gorizia. Mattioli was physician to Ferdinand I and later Maximilian II. He wrote books on syphilis, the practice of medicine, and therapeutics, but his best-known and most popular work was Comentarii.

Mattioli first published his commentary on Dioscorides in Italian at Venice in 1544 and this is his first Latin commentary and also the earliest edition to contain information on botanical specimens from the Americas, Asia, and Africa. He prepared what many authorities now regard as the encyclopedia of Renaissance pharmacology. Mattioli studied hundreds of plants, examined and described them fully, added many new species, and provided excellent illustrations which were far superior to those of any previous work in the field.

By Unknown – Pietro Andrea Mattioli. Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei, de medica materia. Adiectis quàm plurimis plantarum et animalium imaginibus, eodem authore. Vincentius Valgrisi, Venedig, Public Domain, Link

Dec 27 2019

Lower Pioneer of Experimental Physiology | December 2019 Notes from The John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on December 27, 2019December 30, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

RICHARD LOWER (1631-1691). Tractatus de corde. Amsterdam: Apud Danielem Elzevirium, 1669. [16] 232 pp

Richard Lower was one of the foremost English physiologists of the seventeenth century. Soon after receiving his M.D. degree in 1665, Lower relocated to London. He quickly acquired a large practice, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and later a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Lower was an ardent supporter of Harvey, and this treatise is the first important work on cardiac physiology to appear after the work of Harvey.

In this book, Lower first described many finer structures of the heart, including the scroll-like nature of the musculature. He discussed the physiology and mechanism of the heart and of respiration, described his experiments on transfusion, and gave an accurate description of tricuspid valve endocarditis. His chief contributions included his concept of the heart’s musculature, his explanation of the muscular nature of the heart beat, and his proof that the dark venous blood becomes bright red on passing through the lungs by virtue of being brought into contact with air in the lungs.

You may view this book in the John Martin Rare Book Room, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.

By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/7d/a2/9faa72e8bc76def50f7d76be6111.jpg
Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0019687.html
Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-04-01): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pm7gnnfw CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 4.0, Link

Nov 05 2019

Da Vinci Catalogue of Drawings | November 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on November 5, 2019December 27, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

drawing of Da Vinci — presumed self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519). A catalogue of the drawings . . . in the collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan and Cambridge, England: 1935.

Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the greatest artists and scientists of the Italian Renaissance. His contributions to science include significant accomplishments in mechanics, physics, hydraulics, astronomy,
anatomy, architecture, and civil engineering. He is considered to be the founder of physiological anatomy. After his death, his writings and drawings were forgotten for over two centuries and became
scattered among private collectors, libraries, and archives throughout Europe.

The greater part of his extant writings and drawings on anatomy were found at the Royal Library of Windsor Castle in the early 1700s; however, no drawings from the collection were published until 1796. The first effort to make the collection available to the public in facsimile was not made until 1898 when the first volume of this set, containing a transcription of Leonardo’s text together with a French translation, was issued. The
second volume was published in 1901; unfortunately both volumes contained numerous mistakes due to misunderstandings, ignorance of the subject, and the difficulty of interpreting Leonardo’s
handwriting.

You may view this book in the John Martin Rare Book Room, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.

Views of a Foetus in the Womb.jpg — Da Vinci drawing of fetus in womb

Additional images and information about Da Vinci Life in Drawing exhibits

Oct 15 2019

Anthony van Leeuwenhoek | Microscope Builder | October 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on October 15, 2019December 27, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

ANTHONY VAN LEEUWENHOEK (1632-1723). Continuation arcanorum naturae detectorum. Delft: Apud Henricum a Kroonevelt, 1697.

Antonio van Leeuwenhoek, of Delft, was the first to use the microscope systematically and brought the construction of the simple microscope to a high degree of perfection.

Self-taught and never having attended a university, ignorant of Latin and Greek and the classical texts, he became one of the greatest and most expert microscopists, thanks to the sagacity of his observations and the perfection of his technique.

Leeuwenhoek was a master lens-grinder and constructed several hundred microscopes, grinding a new lens for each new investigation which he undertook. These volumes contain eighty letters from several hundred in which Leeuwenhoek communicated the results of his investigations to the Royal Society in London and which were published in its Philosophical Transactions. In 1683, van Leeuwenhoek’s drawing of bacteria was the first published representation.

Though not a trained scientist, he opened up avenues of anatomy previously unseen, leading to accurate physiology and accurate therapeutics. Malpighi used one of his microscopes to define the ultimate structure of the capillaries. Leeuwenhoek first described the individual plant cell, the individual striped muscle cell, spermatozoa, red corpuscles, and the crystalline lens of the eye.

You may view this book in the John Martin Rare Book Room, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences.

Biography of van Leeuwenhoek

The University of Iowa Libraries

Need to Know

Category: History of Medicine

January 2020 Book of the Month | John Martin Rare Book Room | Eye Diseases by Demours 1818

John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library Open By Appointment During Winter Break | Zoom or In-Person

Remembering Dick Eimas | Former Curator of the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Girolamo Mercuriale | Art of Gymnastics | April 2020 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Cancelled | 2020 R. Palmer Howard History of Medicine Society Dinner | April 24 | Marie Jenkins Schwartz, Enslaved Women | Cancelled

CANCELLED |2020 Open House | John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library | Black Plague | March 26

Mattioli | Encyclopedia of Renaissance pharmacology | February 2020 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Lower Pioneer of Experimental Physiology | December 2019 Notes from The John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/7d/a2/9faa72e8bc76def50f7d76be6111.jpg
Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0019687.html
Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-04-01): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pm7gnnfw CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 4.0, Link

Da Vinci Catalogue of Drawings | November 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Anthony van Leeuwenhoek | Microscope Builder | October 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/7d/a2/9faa72e8bc76def50f7d76be6111.jpg Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0019687.html Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-04-01): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pm7gnnfw CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 4.0, Link

By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/7d/a2/9faa72e8bc76def50f7d76be6111.jpg
Gallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0019687.html
Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-04-01): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pm7gnnfw CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 4.0, Link