history of medicine

woodcut of 15th century Italian surgical tools

Dec 30 2021

December 2021 Book of the Month from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin | Early Italian Facial Plastic Surgery

Posted on December 30, 2021December 30, 2021 by Sarah Andrews

TAGLIACOZZI, GASPARE(1545-1599). De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem. Apud Gasparem Bindonum, juniorem, 1597. 32 cm tall.

woodcut from Tagliacozzi book Tagliacozzi studied under Girolamo Cardano at the University of Bologna. After graduating, he became a professor of surgery and anatomy at Bologna. This work, “Concerning the surgery of the mutilated by grafting,” is a classic in the history of plastic surgery and is especially noteworthy for its description of rhinoplasty.

Some form of rhinoplasty had been practiced in ancient India and, in the thirteenth century, by a family of itinerant Sicilian surgeons (the Brancas) who kept the operation a family secret. This became known as the “Italian Method.” This method was included in works by Vesalius, but he described it incorrectly. Tagliacozzi learned of it, modified it, and published De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem, describing his successes and failures of his own method in detail.

The volume is divided into two parts: the first, “Theory of the art of plastic surgery,” is about the structure, function, and physiology of the nose; and the second part, “Practice of the art,” describes and illustrates the instruments and operative procedures for restoration of the nose, lip, and ear. Tagliacozzi also fully discussed the complications, such as hemorrhage and gangrene, that often occurred during these operations.

It has 22 full-page woodcut illustrations showing Tagliacozzi’s method and surgical instruments. They are well-executed and illustrate many of the techniques described in the text. The immediate popularity of the work caused it to be pirated by another Venetian printer, Roberto Meietti, who issued it under the same date. This only touches on the interesting life and work of Tagliacozzi. Read more about him here.

The book is in great condition. One leaf is stained and a few others have browned a bit over time, but it is otherwise in excellent shape. The binding consists of a modern vellum pasted over paper boards. And the full-page illustrations are crisp and jump off the page with their detail and fun flourishes. This book was purchased by Dr. John Martin in 1977 and donated to the collection.

We also have an English translation of De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem by way of the 17th-century Scottish anatomist, Alexander Read.

If you are interested in seeing this or other items in the collection, please contact Damien Ihrig at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9154 to arrange a visit in person or over Zoom.

portrait of Theodore Schwann, white man, formal 18th century clothes

Jun 29 2021

New Book: Theodor Schwann, Mikroskopische…, 1839 | John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on June 29, 2021June 29, 2021 by Sarah Andrews

portrait of Theodor Schwann, white man, formal 18th century clothes — Theodor Schwann

THEODOR SCHWANN (1810-1882). Mikroskopische Untersuchungen über die Uebereinstimmung in der Struktur und dem Wachsthum der Thiere und Pflanzen. [Microscopical researches into the accordance in the structure and growth of animals and plants] Printed by Georg Reimer in Berlin in 1839. First edition. 270 pages. 21 cm tall.

Schwann was an energetic and talented researcher, inventor, and teacher. He is recognized for many contributions to medical science. Easily his greatest contribution, though, is this foundational work on extending cell theory to animals. Working for his mentor, Johannes Peter Müller, in 1837 the 27-year-old Schwann was using the most powerful microscopes of the day to examine and describe various types of animal cells.

In one of those wonderful moments of scientific serendipity, he happened to be dining with his close friend the botanist, Matthias Jakob Schleiden, when they began to discuss plant cell nuclei. Schwann quickly realized he had seen similar structures in animal cells and that animal cells must function similarly to plant cells: as foundational structures for all living things. Schwann and Schleiden worked together to confirm this. Schwann extended the research with several more experiments on a variety of animal tissues, eventually publishing Mikroskopische in 1839.

By the middle of the 19th century, his two main conclusions, that cells are distinct, but function as the foundational, organizational structures for all living things, became the accepted description for the basic structural components of life. His third conclusion about the formation of cells was not supported by further experimental evidence and was eventually discarded. Regardless, Schwann’s work created the foundation upon which rested the important discoveries of the next century in biology and the medical sciences.

The volume we have was rebound with brown cloth. Pasted to the cloth binding are fun marbled papers, and the outside edges of the text block are decorated with a speckling of red. Inside, the paper is in good shape, although there is clear staining and rippled pages that indicate the book got very wet at some point. Someone took good care to stabilize, clean, and rebind it, although the original binding was lost to us along the way.

If your German is a little rusty, you are in luck! We also have an English translation by Henry Smith from 1847. If you are interested in seeing these or any other rare materials, please contact Damien Ihrig at damien-ihrig@uiowa.edu or 319-335-9154 to arrange a visit in person or over Zoom.

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 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.

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

Apr 15 2019

History of Medicine Society Presentations and Events | September 2019-April 2020

Posted on April 15, 2019April 16, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

University of Iowa History of Medicine Society Presentations and Events 2019-2020
All events open to the public.

Thursday, September 26, 5:30-6:30pm, 2117 MERF
Harold Adams, Professor, Neurology, University of Iowa
Stroke and the American Presidency

Thursday, October 24, 5:30-6:30pm, Kelch Conference Room, CBRB
Leslie Schwalm, Profssor, History; Chair, Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies, University of Iowa
Black Bodies, Medical Sciences and the Age of Emancipation

Thursday, November 21, 5:30-6:30pm, 2117 MERF
Dinesh Gyawali, Assistant Professor, Physiology, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA
Ayurvedic Medicine

Thursday, January 23, 5:30-6:30pm, 2117 MERF
Marygrace Elson, Clinical Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa
History of the Induction of Labor

Thursday, February 27, 5:30-6:30pm, 2117 MERF
James Bass, Freelance Editor/Writer
History of the University of Iowa Psychiatry Department

Thursday, March 26, 4:00-7:00pm, 401 HLHS
Open House in the John Martin Rare Book Room

Friday, April 24, 6:00-9:00pm, History of Medicine Society Banquet
Marie Jenkins Schwartz, Emeritus Professor, History, University of Rhode Island
Enslaved Women, Slaveholders, and Doctors: A Peculiar Medical Entanglement

Dr Laveran; man with spectacles and high color

Apr 05 2019

Malaria Discovered by Laveran | April 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

Posted on April 5, 2019May 1, 2019 by Sarah Andrews

CHARLES LOUIS ALPHONSE LAVERAN (1845-1922). Traité du paludisme. Paris: Masson, 1898.

After graduating from the University of Strasbourg in 1867, Laveran became an army physician like his well-known father. While stationed at Constantine in Algeria, he discovered the malaria parasite which he named Oscillatia malariae. One of the great discoveries of modern medicine, it was announced in 1880.

Laveran later served as professor of military hygiene at Val de Grâce and, resigning from the army, went to the Pasteur Institute where he devoted the remainder of his life to research and experimentation in tropical medicine and parasitology. He received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1907.

Traité du paludisme is the last of four separate treatises on malaria published by Laveran.

He summarizes the long history of the study of malaria;
Describes his own discovery of the malaria parasite as well as its mosquito carrier, and
Places considerable emphasis on the importance and necessity of draining marshes and stagnant bodies of water.
He also covers the clinical, pathological, and therapeutic aspects of malaria and concludes with material on related parasitic diseases and problems yet to be solved.

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.

Scanned University of California copy

Feb 20 2019

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

Posted on February 20, 2019April 19, 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

Jan 11 2019

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

Posted on January 11, 2019April 19, 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

Jan 08 2019

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

Posted on January 8, 2019April 19, 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.

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

The University of Iowa Libraries

Need to Know

Tag: history of medicine

December 2021 Book of the Month from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin | Early Italian Facial Plastic Surgery

New Book: Theodor Schwann, Mikroskopische…, 1839 | 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 Open House | John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library | Black Plague | March 26

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

History of Medicine Society Presentations and Events | September 2019-April 2020

Malaria Discovered by Laveran | April 2019 Notes from the John Martin Rare Book Room @Hardin Library

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

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

Robert Knox | Man, his structure and physiology | March 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