History of Medicine

Mar 11 2019

Moveable Medicine | John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library | Annual Open House | Thursday, March 28, 4-7pm

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

Moveable Medicine : A look at flap books from the John Martin Rare Book Room collection

Thursday, March 28th
4-7 pm

John Martin Rare Book Room
4th floor of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences

Join us to learn the history and importance of flap books throughout medical history. Discover the doctors, authors, and artists that created and shared these beautiful and delicate works.

Leaf through, lift the flaps, and look inside these pieces from the collection to feel like a surgeon as you dissect, explore, and discover the beauty of anatomy.

This exhibit features intricate books, fugitive sheets, and manikins from the collection that have been used to teach both medical students and the public about the composition of the human body for centuries!

Exhibit curated by Donna Hirst and Lora Wegener.

Books featured in this exhibit include:

Interiorum corporis humani partium viva delineatio [Legend above male]. Perutilis anatomes interiorum mulieris partium cognitio. . . . [Legend above female].[Paris: Veneunt apud Joannem Ruellem, commorantem in vico Jacobaeo, sub signo Caudae Vulpinae, 1539]. I58 1539

ANDREAS VESALIUS (1514-1564). De humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome.Basel: [Ex officina Joannis Oporini, 1543]. fQM21. V425 1543

GEORGE BARTISCH (1535-ca. 1607). Ophthalmodouleia; das ist, Augendienst.[Dresden: Matthes Stöckel], 1583. fRE41. B3 1583

JOHANN REMMELIN (1583-1632). Catoptrum microcosmicum. Augsburg: Typis Davidis Francki, 1619. fQM21 .R45 1619

JOHANN REMMELIN (1583-1632). Catoptrum microcosmicum. Facsimile. Augsburg: Typis Davidis Francki, 1619. Facsimile of the three flap illustrations created by Alice Phillips, University of Iowa. fQM21 .R45 1619 suppl

JOHANN REMMELIN (1583-1632). Anathomie du corps humain. Paris: Chez Gerard Jollain, [ca. 1650]. fQM21 .R44

JOHANN REMMELIN (1583-1632) AND Lucas Kilian (engraver) (1579-1637). Kleiner welt spiegel, das ist, abbildung göttlicher schöpffung an dess menschen leib : mit beygesetzer schrifftlicher Erklärung : so wo zu Gottes Weissheit : als dess menschen selbst erkandtnuss dienend [Ulm]: 1661. fQM21 .R45 1661

CHRISTOPH VON HELLWIG (1663-1721) AND Johann Heinrich Werner( . Nosce te ipsum, vel, Anatomicum vivum, oder: Kurtz gefastes doch richtig gestelltes anatomisches Werck:, 1716. fQM21 .H45 1716

EDWARD WILLIAM TUSON (1802-1865). Myology. 2nd ed. London: Callow and Wilson, 1828. fQM151 .T88 1828

EDWARD WILLIAM TUSON (1802-1865). A supplement to Myology : containing the arteries, veins, nerves, and lymphatics of the human body, the abdominal & thoracic viscera, the ear and eye, the brain, and the gravid uterus, with the fœtal circulation. 2nd Edition London: Callow & Wilson, 1828. fQM151 .T89 1828

FREDERICK HOLLICK (1818-1900). Outlines of anatomy & physiology: illustrated by a new dissected plate of the human organization. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson, 1846. fQM31 .H6

(GEORGE) SPRATT (ca. 1784-1840). Obstetric tables : comprising graphic illustrations, with descriptions and practical remarks : exhibiting on dissected plates many important subjects in midwifery. Philadelphia: James A. Bill, 1850 and 1948 edition. fRG520 .S76 1850

ROBERT KNOX (1791-1862). Man, his structure and physiology : popularly explained and demonstrated. 2nd ed. London ; New York: H. Bailliere, 1858. QM23 .K56 1858

GUSTAF JOSEPH (G.J.) WITKOWSKI (1844-1923). A movable atlas showing the structure and functions of the brain, the cerebellum and medulla oblongata.fQM455 .W5713 1874

W. (DAVID WILSON) GRAHAM (1845-1925). Physicians’ anatomical aid: a manikin of superimposed diagramatic plates : designed to assist in surgery diagnoses and general practice. 1888. fQM33 .P49 1888

HENRY MUNSON LYMAN (1835-1904). The practical home doctor. Rev. & enl. ed. Chicago, IL: America Publishing Co., 1907. RC81 .P73 1907

HUBERT ELWYN JONES BISS (1872-1909). The anatomy and physiology of the female body. 3rd ed. London, 1928. fQM25.B57 1928

PETER C. KRONFELD (1899-1980). The human eye in anatomical transparencies. Explanatory text: Peter C. Kronfeld … 1944. K87

STEPHEN LUCIAN POLYAK (1889-1955). The human ear in anatomical transparencies. 1946. fQM507 .P6

Mar 08 2019

Robert Knox | Man, his structure and physiology | March 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on March 8, 2019March 12, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

ROBERT KNOX (1791-1862). Man, his structure and physiology : popularly explained and demonstrated. 2nd ed. London ; New York: H. Bailliere, 1858.

lithograph of Robert Knox lecturing with books on stand — Robert Knox lithograph from Wellcome Trust

This popular introduction to anatomy and physiology was written by the noted – if somewhat infamous – Edinburgh anatomist Robert Knox. Knox believed that a knowledge of human structure and physiology was vital, forming the basis for a better understanding of the structure and nature of all living bodies.

He hoped that this elementary yet detailed introduction would encourage the reader to pursue further study in not only human anatomy, but also in the field of zoology. One of the best and most enthusiastic teachers of anatomy during the 19th century, Knox’s emphasis upon practical dissection led to his indiscreet and notorious association with the Edinburgh ‘resurrectionists’, Burke and Hare. When their crimes came to light, he was implicated, savagely attacked in the literature of the day, and his effigy was burnt by the populace.

Although exonerated by Burke, an influential committee of his peers accused him of acting incautiously and failing to ensure that his assistants properly vetted their cadaver suppliers. The episode haunted him and tarnished the rest of his career. He then turned his attention to ethnology and anthropology, and found some success in these fields.

You may view this book in the John Martin Rare Book Room, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. Make a gift to the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences by donating online or setting up a recurring gift with The University of Iowa Foundation.

View a digitized copy of the original edition of this work at the Internet Archive

Feb 20 2019

Judicial Astrology | Al-Qabisi | February 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on February 20, 2019February 28, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

ABD AL-ʻAZĪZ IBN ʻUTHMĀN (fl. 950 – d. 967) AND Danck, Joannes fl. 1331. Libellus ysagogicus Abdilazi, id est servi gloriosi Dei... 1485

Abu al-Saqr Abd al-Aziz Ibn Uthman Ibn Ali al-Qabisi l-Mawsili al-Hashimi, generally known as Al-Qabisi, (Latinised as Alchabitius or Alcabitius), and sometimes known as Alchabiz, Abdelazys, Abdilaziz ‘Abd al-Azîz, عبدالعزيز القبيصي) was an Arab astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician.

Al-Qabisi is best known for his treatise on judicial astrology, Introduction to the Art of Judgments of the Stars. This work survives in at least twenty-five Arabic manuscripts, and over two hundred manuscripts of its Latin translation, with twelve printed editions of the Latin work between 1473 and 1521. The Arabic text has received at least three Latin translations, which attracted several commentaries and were, in turn, translated into other European languages.

The 1473 copy, and others up until 1521, features writing about Al-Qabisi by John of Saxony. The rare 3rd edition (1473) of this classic scientific work recognized the authority of Ptolmy’s Almagest. The present work is edited by Bartholomaeus Alten. These early printed editions of Alchabitius’ “principle surviving treatise, a tenth century Arabic introduction to Astrology” are almost unprocurable. The book includes attractive large and smaller, ornamental initials, white on black.

copy of Al-Qabisi’s work in the John Martin Rare Book Room

View a digital copy of 1512 version owned by Qatar National Library

Feb 01 2019

Artificial Hearts | Shelley McKellar | 2019 R. Palmer Howard History of Medicine Society Dinner | Friday, April 5, 2019

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

Medical historian Shelley McKellar will speak on Artificial Hearts: A Controversial Medical Technology and its Sensational Patient Cases at the 2019 R. Palmer Howard Dinner.

Shelley McKellar
Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine, Western University Canada

Location: Radisson Hotel, Coralville, Iowa
Date: Friday, April 5, 2019
Reception 6pm with cash bar, Dinner at 7pm, Presentation at 8pm

Registration and prepayment (check or credit card) required by March 29, 2019. Printable registration form

Today, artificial hearts are a clinical reality after decades of contentious development. Former US Vice President Dick Cheney stated that the technology “saved his life” in 2010, but not all patients enjoyed such successful outcomes. Dr. McKellar examines the clinical use of artificial hearts since the 1960’s, situating the triumphant narrative of this technology and it’s “resurrectionist capacity” along side technical device challenges and difficult patient experiences. The appeal was the promissory nature of artificial hearts as a life-sustaining treatment, but it was (and is) and imperfect and controversial technology.

Shelley McKellar, PhD bio

Jan 25 2019

William Osler: His Life and Human | History of Medicine Lecture by Robert Rakel, MD | Thursday, February 28, 5:30pm

Posted on January 25, 2019February 8, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

image of Dr. Robert Rakel, white man, glasses, suit and tie — Robert Rakel, MD
Professor Emeritus, Family & Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

On the 100th anniversary year of William Osler’s death, the University of Iowa History of Medicine Society invites you to hear Robert Rakel, MD speak.

William Osler: His Life and Sense of Humor
Thursday, February 28, 2019
5:30-6:30PM
2117 Medical Education and Research Facility

Osler was the most famous physician in the world at the time of his death. This presentation will review his major accomplishments and his sense of humor–appropriate for his day, but would not be considered funny today.

Osler Pamphlet Collection at the John Martin Rare Book Room

The Principles and Practice of Medicine by Osler (standard text for 40 years)

More information / donate to the History of Medicine Society

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 call Janna Lawrence at 319-335-9871.

image of white man with beard and mustache in robe

Jan 03 2019

Aulus Cornelius Celsus, De Medicina | January 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on January 3, 2019January 31, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

AULUS CORNELIUS CELSUS (25 B.C.-50 A.D.). De medicina. Venice: Philippus Pincius, for Benedictus Fontana, 1497.

Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a Roman encyclopaedist, known for his extant medical work, De Medicina, which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia. The De Medicina is the oldest medical document after the Hippocratic writings. It was written about 30 A.D. De Medicina was one of the first medical books printed after printing was invented.

Celsus has left the best account of Roman medicine; he was the first important medical historian. The manuscript of the De Medicina was lost during the Middle Ages and rediscovered in Milan in 1443. Celsus was probably not a professional physician–his work seems to be a compilation of the work of others–echoing the Greeks and especially Hippocrates. Nevertheless, it is an extremely able and interesting history of medicine and surgery, including descriptions of symptoms and treatment of disease as well as descriptions of plastic surgery, goiter operations, tonsillectomies, treatment of fractures, and dental procedures.

This Celsus volume is one of few volumes in the John Martin collection which has been completely digitized. View the book online: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/jmrbr/id/6326/rec/1.

The John Martin Rare Book Room copy is in Latin and bound in Eighteenth-century half calf and floral boards.

Nov 08 2018

Arthur Hill Hassall | Food and its Adulterations | November 2018 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room

Posted on November 8, 2018February 8, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

ARTHUR HILL HASSALL (1817-1894). Food and its adulterations. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855.

Hassall studied medicine as his uncle’s apprentice in Dublin and later
returned to England where he received a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1839 and an M.D. from the University of London in 1851.

An individual of many scientific interests, he earlier published the first English textbook on microscopic anatomy–Microscopic anatomy of the human body. The John Martin Rare Book holds both an 1849 and 1851 version of this title. Hassall then began to work in the field of public health, publishing a pamphlet title A microscopial examination of the water supplied to the inhabitants of London and the surburban districts, which helped implement water reform.

Poor health forced him to abandon his general practice and he turned to analytical chemistry. His communication to the Botanical Society concerning the adulteration of coffee soon brought him to the attention of the Analytical Sanitary Commission of Lancet and later the post of chief analyst of the commission. The work of this commission, established by Lancet, eventually resulted in legislation to curb the rampant adulteration of foodstuffs then prevalent in England.

Representing an immense amount of analytical work, he reported on nearly 2500 samples of foods, beverages, and tobacco products, providing detailed analyses and illustrations of his findings as well as identification of the sample’s vendor or manufacturer. Hassall’s work was so accurate that only one legal action was threatened but that was later dropped.

Digital copy of Food and its adulterations

Oct 02 2018

Guido Guidi | October 2018 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on October 2, 2018February 1, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

GUIDO GUIDI (1508-1569). Chirurgia è Graeco in Latinum conversa. Paris: Excudebat Petrus Galterius, 1544

Guidi, a successful Florentine surgeon, was invited to Paris in 1542 to help the French King Francis I apply medical advances of the Italian Renaissance to French medicine. Francis appointed Guidi his personal physician and chair of surgery at the Collège de France. Upon the death of Francis I in 1547, Guidi was recalled to Italy by Cosimo I, ruler of Tuscany, and became his personal physician and professor of philosophy and medicine at Pisa.

When Guidi came to Paris, he brought with him a copy of a tenth-century Greek surgical manuscript as a gift for the French monarch. Guidi was able to complete his Latin translation and commentary on the manuscript and published this work. The book is a compilation of what was then known about treating wounds and fractures, especially war wounds. Most of the book is devoted to Hippocrates’ writings on ulcers, fistulas, and head wounds with Guidi’s commentaries and observations, and Galen’s commentaries on Hippocrates’ works on fractures and joints.

The artist of this book is thought to be Francesco Salviati and was formerly attributed to artist Francesco Primaticcio. This book is often considered to be the finest textbook of surgery printed in the 16th century.

image of bandaging head wounds from book — Guido Guidi (Florence 1509–1569 Pisa)
Chirurgia è Graeco in Latinum conversa, Vido Vidio Fiorentino interprete, 1544
French,
Printed book with 210 woodcut illustrations; Overall: 14 3/4 x 10 x 1 15/16 in. (37.4 x 25.4 x 5 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1947 (47.21)
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/351242

View a digitized reproduction of this book from Gallica.

Sep 30 2018

Dotter and Gruentzig : Cardiovascular Pioneers | History of Medicine Lecture | Thursday, November 8, 5:30pm

Posted on September 30, 2018November 14, 2018 by Sarah Andrews

image of Dr. Mark, white man, glasses, suit — Dr. Allyn Mark, Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Division

The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society and Hardin Library invite you to a lecture by Dr. Allyn Mark:
Charles Dotter and Andreas Gruentzig: the Personal Stories of Two Pioneers Who Transformed the Practice of Cardiovascular Medicine

Thursday, November 8
5:30-6:30pm
Hardin Library Room 401

Using photographs and videos of “Crazy Charlie Dotter” and Andreas Gruentzig in Action, Dr. Mark tells the personal stories and pioneering discoveries that transformed radiology and cardiology in the late 20th Century. Dotter emerged as the father of interventional medicine and Gruentzig as father of interventional cardiology. Dotter and Gruentzig were colorful, charismatic and lived life on the edge.

1964 Life Magazine story on Dr. Dotter

4min. video on origins of interventional procedures

biographic sketch of Charles Dotter, includes video made by Dr. Dotter

biographic sketch of Andreas Gruentzig, includes video of first coronary angioplasty

For more information on the History of Medicine Society, or to donate, please see http://hosted.lib.uiowa.edu/histmed/index.html

Aug 05 2018

Ring the Fire Bell: Iowa Civil War Medical Center | History of Medicine Lectures & Book Signings | September 27 & 28

Posted on August 5, 2018October 31, 2018 by Sarah Andrews

The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society invites you to book talks and signings by Charles Driscoll, MD, author of Ring the Fire Bell: The Incredible Story of an Iowa Civil War Medical Center.

Thursday, September 27, 5:30-6:30pm talk, 6:30 book signing

2117 Medical Education Research Facility (MERF)

or

Friday, September 28, 12:00-1pm, 1pm book signing
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) Conference Room, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics C-44-A GH (Elevator B to 4th Floor)

During the Civil War, Iowa provided more soldiers per capita than any other Union state and most embarked from Keokuk, Iowa, via steamboat on the Mississippi River. Many returned the same route in a broken condition.

While bullets flew in the East, the war was no less intense in the West. There was a desperate need for a medical system capable of treating sick and injured soldiers. Enter the citizens of Keokuk, the doctors of Military General Hospital #1 of the Department of the Northwest, and the University of Iowa Medical School located in Keokuk at that time. These were heroes and heroines that fulfilled the need for expert and compassionate care.