History of Medicine in the Norland Collection

7. History of Physiology

8. History of Medicinal Chemistry

9. History of Microbiology

10. History of Viruses

11. History of Hematology

12. History of Pathology

13. History of Disease (General)

14. History of Infectious Diseases

A. Cholera

B. Malaria

C. Plague

D. Yellow Fever

E. Others

15. History of Medical Societies

16. History of Medical Schools

17. History of Hospitals

18. History of Medical Procedures (Surgery)

19. History of Dentistry

20. History of Pharmacy

1. History of Medicine, General

R131 .B37 1979
Barquin C., Manuel. Historia de la Medicina: Su Problematica Actual. 4th ed. México, DF: Librería de Medicina, 1979.
Description: xv, 400 p.; 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This general history of medicine (in Spanish) is organized chronologically and geographically, with chapters on prehistory; ancient civilizations in the Near East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas; Islamic contributions; medieval and early modern Christian contributions; and modern medicine, including pharmacology. Contributions from the Americas are particularly highlighted, as are influential scientists from Galen to Pasteur. Diseases, treatment methods, and medical institutions are emphasized.

R131 .C613 c.2
Clendening, Logan. Source Book of Medical History. New York: Dover, 1960.
Description: xiv p., 1 l., 685 p. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This collection of important medical writings includes Egyptian papyri and the writings of noted physicians from Hippocrates to Galen, from Avicenna to Paracelsus to Harvey, from Paré to Sydenham to Jenner, from Pasteur to Nightingale to Lister. Some entries come from literature (e.g., "The Arabian Nights") rather than scientific writings. Garrison-Morton 6436.

R489.O7 C8 1940
Cushing, Harvey. The Life of Sir William Osler. London: Oxford University Press, 1940.
Description: xviii, 1417 p.: ill.; 24 cm
Note(s): "Originally published in 1925 in a two-volume edition."—Foreword
LC Subject(s): Osler, William, Sir, 1849-1919; Physicians — Canada — Biography

With extensive quotes from Osler's letters, Cushing provides a weighty biography for medical students. As noted by John F. Fulton in the foreword, "the gruesome phases of medical training and medical practice need never be repulsive or depressing if they are leavened by Osler's broad humanity, his love of life and of literature" (p. x). Osler's entire life is explored, from his early training and work in Canada to his years in Philadelphia and Baltimore to his later years at Oxford. Citing The Canadian Encyclopedia (1988), the Osler Society credits him as being "the first professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He was particularly expert in diagnosis of diseases of the heart, lungs and blood. His textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, published in 1892 and frequently revised, was considered authoritative for more than 30 years. He helped create the system of postgraduate training for physicians that is followed today."

R131 .D785 1992 fo
Duin, Nancy, and Jenny Sutcliffe. A History of Medicine: From Prehistory to the Year 2020. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1992.
Description: 255 p.: col. ill.; 31 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Duin and Sutcliffe's overview of the history of medicine has many large, full-color photos and illustrations. Early chapters cover ancient and early modern medicine, but most of the book deals with twentieth-century medicine in Europe and the United States, with particular emphasis on women's health (e.g., obstetrics, birth control), public health, and treatment methods.

R692 .E57 c.2
Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Deirdre English. Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers. Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist Press, 1973.
Description: 44 p. illus. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Women in medicine — History; Medicine — United States — History

This feminist analysis of women's roles in the medical profession in Europe and the United States links witch persecution to suppression of midwives and examines the historical trend toward male doctors and female nurses. Many black-and-white illustrations are included.

R131 .G25 c.2
Galdston, Iago, ed. On the Utility of Medical History. New York: International Universities Press, 1957.
Description: ix, 73 p. 23 cm
Alt series: New York Academy of Medicine. Institute on Social and Historical Medicine. Monograph 1
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Galdston's collection of essays on the discipline of the history of medicine contains "On the Utility of Medical History" by Iago Galdston; "Purposes and Values of Medical History" by George Rosen; "A Critique of Medical Historiography" by Owsei Temkin; "Psychology and Medical History" by Gregory Zilboorg; "On the Teaching of Medical History" by Edwin H. Ackerknecht; and "Historians, Empiricists, and Prophets" by Paul Schrecker.

R131 .G5313
Glasscheib, Hermann Samuel. The March of Medicine: Aberrations and Triumphs of the Healing Art. Translated by Mervyn Savill. London: Macdonald, 1963.
Description: 360 p., [12] leaves of plates: ill.; 23 cm
Note(s): Translation of Das Labyrinth der Medizin
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Glasscheib presents several stories of the history of medical treatments in Europe and the United States, considering the practitioners and institutions as well as methods and means. Part One deals with plague, syphilis, and tuberculosis specifically as well as the history of epidemic diseases in general. Part Two covers obstetrics, surgery, and anesthesia. Part Three explains the theories of the four humors, magnetism, homeopathy, medical shows (quacks), and dieticians. Part Four considers empirical observation, specifically tracking the importance of corpses for the study of anatomy, the stethoscope and X-rays for internal diagnosis, and psychoanalysis for the mind. Many black-and-white illustrations and photographs appear throughout the book.

R131 .G78
Guthrie, Douglas. From Witchcraft to Antisepsis: A Study in Antithesis. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1955.
Description: 53 p. 22 cm
Series: Logan Clendening Lectures on the History and Philosophy of Medicine, 5th series
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This book contains two separate lectures. The first discusses the history of witches and witch-doctors as medical practitioners (and mental patients). The second is a biography of Joseph Lister and his contributions to surgery by introducing germ theory. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 30, p. 192.

R131 .H217 c.3
Haggard, Howard Wilcox. Mystery, Magic, and Medicine: The Rise of Medicine From Superstition to Science. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1933.
Edition: [1st ed.]
Description: 192 p. illus., ports. 19 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This general history of medicine from ancient times to the modern era (to 1933) emphasizes the treatment and study of diseases. Many photographs and other illustrations as well as biographical sketches of prominent figures (e.g., Louis Pasteur, Florence Nightingale, Major Reed, Ronald Ross) in the history of medicine are included.

R722 .H23 1954
Halford, Francis John. 9 Doctors & God. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1954.
Description: xiv, 306 p. illus., ports

Halford presents a biography of nine New England missionary physicians (and their wives) who worked in Hawaii in the late nineteenth century. The introduction describes precontact medical traditions on the islands and the impact of Captain Cook's arrival. Letters and diaries that describe medical practices and reactions among the native Hawaiians, particularly the nobility, are quoted. Halford also relates the attempts by the New Englanders to recreate customs that were inappropriate to the tropics. The focus is on European-American experiences; Hawaiian syphilis, smallpox, and leprosy are mentioned almost as an afterthought. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 30, p. 289.

R131 .I55
Inglis, Brian. A History of Medicine. Cleveland, OH: World, 1965.
Description: xv, 196 p. illus., col. plates. 26 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This general history of medicine is organized chronologically, with chapters on "Primitive Man;" ancient China, Babylon, and Egypt; ancient Greece and Rome; Islamic and Christian Middle Ages; Renaissance; and early modern and modern Europe and the United States. The sections from Ancient Greece to the seventeenth century focus on physicians from Hippocrates to Avicenna to Paré to Sydenham, with chapters as well on plague and on epidemics. The early modern and modern sections focus on diagnostic methods and fields like homeopathy, microbiology, public health, and mental health. Many large photos and illustrations appear throughout, some in color.

R111 .M423
King, Lester S., ed. Mainstreams of Medicine: Essays on the Social and Intellectual Context of Medical Practice. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971.
Description: x, 186 p. 24 cm
Note(s): Originally presented at a 1969 symposium sponsored by the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio
LC Subject(s): Medicine

King's eclectic collection of essays on the history of medicine contains "Introduction: Medical Education in Mainstream" by David A. Kronick, "Great Medical Practitioners: A Historical Survey" by Chauncey D. Leake, "Medicine as a Function of Society" by George Rosen, "The Diseases of Civilization: Achievements and Illusions" by René Dubos, "Emergence of the Hospital as a Social Institution" by John H. Knowles, "The Coming Revolution in Medicine: A New Plan for Ambulatory Medical Care" by David D. Rutstein, "A Clinical Investigator Looks at Medical Education: The Discovery of the Medical Student as a Responsible Colleague" by Thomas Hale Ham, "The Impact of New Discoveries on Medical Practice: Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of the Infectious Diseases" by Harry F. Dowling, "Changing Concepts of Deviance" by Douglas Bond, "The Development of Scientific Medicine" by Lester King, and "Ethical Problems of Medical Research" by Henry Beecher.

R131 .L95 fo
Lyons, Albert S., and R. Joseph Petrucelli II. Medicine: An Illustrated History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1978.
Description: 616 p.: ill.; 34 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This very large book presents a broad overview of the history of medicine. The organization is primarily chronological (prehistory to 1978) and secondarily geographical (treating the ancient Americas, Middle East, Egypt, India, and China as well as medieval Islam before turning exclusively to Europe and the United States). Important physicians, institutions, diseases, and treatment methods are emphasized. Lyons and Petrucelli also include a few pages on women, dentistry, and veterinary medicine, as well as more than 1,000 illustrations. Garrison-Morton 6451.10.

R131 .M25 c.2 fo
Margotta, Roberto. The Story of Medicine. Edited by Paul Lewis. New York: Golden Press, 1968.
Description: 319 p. illus. 30 cm
Note(s): Translation of Medicina Nei Secoli
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Medicine and art

Margotta's general overview of the history of medicine is organized chronologically from prehistory to the modern period. Important physicians, institutions, and diseases are emphasized. The chapters cover ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China, then switch to an exclusively European and American focus. Many black-and-white and color illustrations appear throughout.

R131 .M12 fo
Marti-Ibañez, Felix. The Epic of Medicine. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1962.
Description: 294 p. illus. (part col.) 32 cm
Note(s): Originally published in 12 installments in MD, The Medical Newsmagazine
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Marti-Ibañez provides extensive historical context in this general survey of the history of medicine. Organized chronologically, chapters cover prehistory; ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; medieval Byzantine, Islamic, and Catholic states; Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment; and nineteenth and twentieth centuries (to 1978). More than 240 black-and-white illustrations and 38 full-color illustrations are included.

R131 .M272
Martí-Ibáñez, Felix. A Prelude to Medical History. New York: MD Publications, 1961.
Description: xix, 253 p. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

This loosely chronologically organized lecture contains excerpts on the history of medicine from prehistory to modern times (to 1961). Many important physicians and the advances they discovered or developed are highlighted. The index is invaluable inasmuch as the topics are wide ranging and not easy to determine from the table of contents.

R131 .O74 1923
Osler, William, Sir. The Evolution of Modern Medicine: A Series of Lectures Delivered at Yale University on the Silliman Foundation in April, 1913. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1923.
Description: xiv, 243 p. illus. 26 cm
Series: Silliman Memorial Lectures
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Osler's lectures cover general topics in the history of medicine from ancient to modern times (to 1913). More than 100 illustrations, including photographs and drawings, are included. It is "one of the most interesting short histories of medicine, written in Osler's usual charming style, and is perhaps the best book with which to commence the study of medical history" (Garrison-Morton 6414). For a biography of Sir William Osler, see Cushing in this section.

R489.O7 A16 1958
Osler, William, Sir. A Way of Life and Selected Writings of Sir William Osler, 12 July 1849 to 29 December 1919. New York: Dover, 1958.
Description: 278 p. illus. 21 cm
Note(s): Formerly titled Selected Writings of Sir William Osler (1951)
LC Subject(s): Physicians

In the editor's note, Alfred White Franklin suggests that "Osler the physician telling of his interests in the history of medicine and medical men, of his ideas about the doctor's vocation, and of his love of books still has a part to play in the training of doctors" (p. vii). The introduction provides a brief biography of Osler. The 16 essays reprinted here visit the works of Sir Thomas Browne, Gui Patin, Robert Burton, Michael Servetus, William Beaumont, and Laennec, among other topics. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 35, p. 390. For a biography of Osler, see Cushing in this section.

R131 .P64
Poynter, Frederick Noel Lawrence, and K. D. Keele. A Short History of Medicine. London: Mills & Boon, 1961.
Description: 160 p.: ill., diagrs.; 23 cm
Series: Science in Society; no. 2
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

In this general survey of the history of medicine, Part I, "Medicine and the Individual," describes important advances by scientists, and Part II, "Medicine and the Community," covers disease (particularly treatments) and medical institutions (e.g., hospitals). This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 37, p. 87.

HQ764.S3 A3 c.2
Sanger, Margaret. Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1938.
Description: 3 p. l., 5-504 p. front. (port.) 25 cm
Note(s): "First edition."
LC Subject(s): Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966; Birth control

Margaret Sanger's autobiography includes her medical training, nursing work, and groundbreaking efforts to legalize and promote birth control and sex education. She opened the first birth-control clinic in the United States and published materials that were deemed "obscene" under the Comstock Act. Her imprisonment led to popular support for the movement that led to the legalization of birth control. The American Birth Control League that she founded was the precursor to Planned Parenthood.

R134 .S6 v.4
Spector, Benjamin. One Hour of Medical History. Boston: The Beacon Press, 1935.
Description: v. front., plates, ports. 20 cm
Note(s): published by Tufts College Medical School
Author's presentation copy
LC Subject(s): Medicine — Biography; Medicine — History; Pageants

These biographies of important physicians are presented as they were enacted in a pageant by students at Tufts College Medical School. The students who chose Women in Medicine: Ancient Chinese and Japanese portrayed Hildegard von Bingen, Louyse Bourgeois, Marie Boivin, and Elizabeth Nihell. Those for the History of Circulation chose Galen, Michael Servetus, Hieronymous Fabricius, William Harvey, and Marcello Malpighi. The History of Respiration is represented by Robert Boyle, John Mayow, Joseph Priestley, and Antoine Lavoisier. Scientific drawings and likenesses of portrayed physicians are provided, as well as photos of the students in costume.

R131 .S85
Stubbs, Stanley George Blaxland, and E. W. Bligh. Sixty Centuries of Health and Physick: The Progress of Ideas From Primitive Magic to Modern Medicine. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., [1931].
Description: xvi, 253 p. col. front., illus. (plan) LXIV pl. (incl. facsims., diagr.) on 32 l. 23 cm
Note(s): Each plate accompanied by guard sheet with descriptive letterpress; Errata slip laid in
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric

This general history of medicine from ancient through modern times (to 1931) uses extensive quotes from important physicians. The early modern and modern sections focus on disease, scientific advances, and medical institutions. Included are 64 plates of illustrations.

R131 .T8
Turley, Louis Alvin. The History of the Philosophy of Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1935.
Description: 3 p. l., 9-43 p. 21 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Medicine — Philosophy

This brief overview of the history of medicine emphasizes the influence of belief systems (e.g., Christianity) and medical institutions.

R131 .W27 1959
Walker, Kenneth. The Story of Medicine. London: Arrow Books, 1959.
Edition: Grey Arrow edition
Description: 320 p., 8 leaves of plates: ill.; 18 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Walker presents an overview of the history of medicine from prehistory to the early modern period (to 1959), followed by extensive discussions of several modern topics: surgery, anaesthesia, antisepsis, inoculation, tropical diseases, deficiency diseases, and mental health. Many black-and-white illustrations are provided. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 30, p. 185.

This history of Chinese medicine is explicated within the framework of Taoist philosophy and presents biographies of influential medical figures in China. Chinese pharmacology is explored in detail, as are theories of anatomy and physiology, pathology (covering the perceived causes, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases), and dying. Illustrations of plants, people with diseases, and treatment methods for injuries are included. Another book in the collection is titled Chinese Folk Medicine but is otherwise identical to this copy.
 

2. Medical History in Images from Art and Literature

N8223 .D523 1978
Díaz Soto de Mazzei, Mariá Leticia. La Historia de la Medicina y el Arte. 2nd ed. Buenos Aires: Librería "El Ateneo," 1978.
Description: 140 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill.; 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine and art

This history of medicine and the arts (in Spanish) evaluates specific paintings from various time periods that have medical content. Topics include anatomists and surgeons at work, ophthalmology, odontology, leprosy, hypertrichosis ("Wolf people"), dwarfism, and depression.

R836 .H4713 1970 fo
Herrlinger, Robert. History of Medical Illustration: From Antiquity to 1600. New York: Editions Medicina Rara, 1970.
Description: [4], 178 p. illus. (some col.), facsims. (some col.) 30 cm
Note(s): Translated from the German edition by Graham Fulton-Smith
LC Subject(s): Medical illustration — History

Medical illustrations from antiquity through the sixteenth century are shown and described, with topics ranging from anatomy to surgery to pharmacology. Herrlinger focuses as much on illustrations as art and as part of books (bibliography) as on their importance to the history of medicine.

BL820.A4 K413 c.2
Kerényi, Karl. Asklepios; Archetypal Image of the Physician's Existence. Translated by Ralph Manheim. New York: Pantheon Books, 1959.
Description: xxvii, 151 p. illus. 26 cm
Series: Bollingen Series; 65. Archetypal Images in Greek Religion; v. 3
Note(s): Originally published in German as Der Göttliche Arzt
LC Subject(s): Aesculapius (Greek deity)

Kerényi uses archaeological evidence from cult sites, ancient literature, and art (in paintings, votive reliefs, statuary, and coins) to demonstrate how images of Asklepios, a Greek god of medicine, correlated to images of the ideal physician. He also provides descriptions of medical practice in Ancient Greece and Rome.

N8223 .M25 1965 c.2
MacKinney, Loren Carey. Medical Illustrations in Medieval Manuscripts. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965.
Description: xvii, 262 p. plates (part col.) 26 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine and art; Illumination of books and manuscripts — Specimens, reproductions, etc

MacKinney provides 104 miniatures of medical conditions or procedures, organized topically and described in detail, sometimes including translations of accompanying text. The subjects include hospitals, diagnostic methods (e.g., urology), materia medica, administration of medications (often herbal), cauterization, bloodletting, surgery, orthopedics, obstetrics, dentistry, and medicinal baths. Garrison-Morton 6524.2.

DD65 .M7 1924
Peters, Hermann. Der Arzt und die Heilkunst in der Deutschen Vergangenheit. 2nd ed. Jena: Eugen Diederichs Verlag, 1924.
Description: 136 p., [3] fold. leaves of plates: facsims.; 28 cm
Series: Die Deutschen Stände in Einzeldarstellungen; Band. 3
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Physicians

Originally published in 1900, "This book is Peters' famous history of medical illustration and art. Peters traces the history of early medicine and shows the influence that physicians and their work had on the art world" (Kenny's Book Export Company, Ireland). Included are 153 woodcuts and facsimiles reproducing early illustrations.

R702 .S26 1983
Sandblom, Philip. Creativity and Disease: How Illness Affects Literature, Art and Music. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: George F. Stickley, 1983.
Description: 138 p.: ill. (some col.); 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Creative ability; Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.); Diseases

Sandblom explores how illness affects professional artists, particularly painters but also composers and writers. He provides 60 illustrations, many in color. The "illnesses" include mental disorders, congenital malformations, infirmity from old age, physical pain (from gallstones), and tuberculosis.
 

3. History of Medicine, Ancient Civilizations (to 500CE)

R135 .S2 c.2
Saunders, John Bertrand de Cusance Morant. The Transitions From Ancient Egyptian to Greek Medicine. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1963.
Description: 40 p. 22 cm
Series: Logan Clendening Lectures on the History and Philosophy of Medicine, 10th series
LC Subject(s): Medicine, Ancient

Saunders uses parallel descriptions found in ancient Egyptian papyri and ancient Greek texts to demonstrate how the Greeks appropriated Egyptian medical paradigms, diagnostic methods, and prescriptions. Specific examples of transmission include theories and knowledge of temple incubation, pharmacology, gynecology, and the nature of diseases. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 38, p. 585.

R135 .T513 c.3
Thorwald, Jürgen. Science and Secrets of Early Medicine: Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Mexico, Peru. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston. London: Thames and Hudson, 1962.
Description: 331 p. illus., 8 col. plates, ports., maps. 24 cm
Note(s): Translation of Macht und Geheimnis der Frühen Ärzte
LC Subject(s): Medicine, Ancient; Paleopathology

Thorwald attempts to supplement Western histories of medicine based primarily on Greek sources by documenting the medicinal practices in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Asia, and the Americas. The topics include diseases (and their prevention and treatment), medical training, gynecology, surgery, pharmacology, acupuncture, yoga, sweating, medical instruments, and theories of anatomy and physiology. Extensive historical contexts are provided, and there are more than 370 illustrations.

4. History of Medicine, Medieval Period (500-1500CE)
see also MacKinney in Medical History, Images in Art and Literature

RA775 .R33 1545
De Conservanda Bona Valetudine Opusculum Scholæ Salernitanæ / Ad Regem Angliæ Versibus Conscriptum cum Arnoldi Novicomensis ... Enarrationibus; et Haec Omnia à Barbarie, & Infinitis, Quibus Scatebant, Mendis, Tam Accuratè Repurgata, Ut Iam Quasi Novam Faciem Induerint, Citraq[ue] Offensionem Legi Possint, Opera & Studio Ioannis Curionis & Iacobi Crellii. Francoforti: Apud Christianum Egenolphum, 1545.
Alt title: Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum
Description: 4 [i.e 8], 141 [i.e. 282], [4] p.; 16 cm. (8vo)
LC Subject(s): Health — Early works to 1800; Hygiene — Early works to 1800

First printed in 1484 and regularly reprinted in various forms throughout the Middle Ages, this extremely influential Latin poem set forth the Salernian rules for hygiene and medical treatment. "The earliest Italian medical school opened in Salerno in the ninth century AD, and as the place where the streams of classical, Arab and Jewish medicine flowed together was the predecessor of the medical renaissance. A number of medical texts have survived from the Salerno school on various aspects of medicine. The best known is the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, the Salerno Book of Health. The book is filled with practical suggestions for maintaining health, at a time when medicine was largely ineffective in curing sickness." (http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/medicine/units/history/salerno/)

R147.P6 F53
Fisch, Max Harold. Nicolaus Pol, Doctor, 1494; With a Critical Text of His Guaiac Tract. Edited and translated by Dorothy M. Schullian. New York: Herbert Reichner, 1947.
Description: 244, [2] p. illus., ports. 26 cm
Note(s): "This volume [was] planned and published to celebrate the semi-centennial of the Cleveland Medical Library Association."
Contents: Introduction.—Nicolaus Pol, doctor, 1494.—De Cura Morbi Gallici per Lignum Guaycanum.—The Cleveland collection of books from Pol's library.—The Yale collection of books from Pol's library.—Inclusive list of books and manuscripts known to have belonged to Nicolaus Pol.—Indices
LC Subject(s): Pol, Nicolaus, ca. 1470-1532; Medicine — Bibliography — Catalogs; Syphilis; Science — Early works to 1800 — Bibliography

Fisch provides both a biography and a bibliography of Nicolaus Pol, physician to Emperor Maximilian I and author of a posthumously printed book on the efficacy of the guaiacum plant to treat syphilis (Morbi Gallici, the French disease). This volume describes and traces the history of Pol's personal library and includes several illustrations, particularly photographs of Pol's books. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 23, p. 430.

R131 .F86 v.2
Freind, John. The History of Physick; From the Time of Galen, to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century. Chiefly With Regard to Practice. In a Discourse Written to Dr. Mead. Part 2. London: J. Walthoe, 1727.
Description: 2 v. 20 cm
Note(s): Pt. 2: the 2d ed., corrected; "Vita Gabrielis filii Bachtishuae, filii Georgii, ex arabico latine reddita a Salomone Negri Damasceno": v. 2, p. [1]-26 at end
LC Subject(s): Jibr¯il ibn Bakht¯ish¯u; Medicine — History

This second volume emphasizes medieval Arabic medicine (e.g., Avicenna, Averroes) in particular. Topics covered range from anatomy to disease to surgery to physician biographies to medical schools. "Freind was the first English historian of medicine; his book is the best English work on the period of which it treats. Freind dabbled in politics and planned the above work while committed to the Tower of London on a charge of high treason, a charge of which he was innocent. Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister at the time, suffered much from renal calculi and called in Mead, a great friend of Freind. Mead refused to treat Walpole until Freind was released, and this was speedily arranged!" (Garrison-Morton 6378).

R141 .M3
MacKinney, Loren Carey. Early Medieval Medicine, With Special Reference to France and Chartres. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1937.
Description: 3 p. l., 247 p. incl. IX pl. (plan, facsims) front. (port.) 21 cm
Series: Publications of the Institute of the History of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins University. 3d ser., vol. III
Note(s): The Hideyo Noguchi lectures; Descriptive letterpress on versos facing the plates
LC Subject(s): Medicine, Medieval; Medicine — France; Medicine — France — Chartres

MacKinney discusses medieval pharmacology for disease and injury, surgical methods (e.g., bloodletting, military amputations), and regulation of the diet and also describes monastic infirmaries, medieval physicians, and extant texts, including 9 illustrations from medieval manuscripts. Garrison-Morton 6524.

R147.S4 A52 c.2
Servetus, Michael. Michael Servetus: A Translation of His Geographical, Medical and Astrological Writings With Introductions and Notes. Translated by Charles Donald O'Malley. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1953.
Description: 208 p. port., facsims. 23 cm
Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, v. 34
LC Subject(s): Medicine — Early works to 1800; Astrology

This collection of Servetus's writings includes a brief biography in the introduction. Chapter I is "Ptolemy's Geography. 1535." Chapter II, "The Apology Against Fuchs. 1536," which is a defense of Avicenna. Chapter III, "The Syrups. 1537," containing an attack on Avicenna using a Galenic framework. Chapter IV, "The Discourse in Favor of Astrology. 1538." Chapter V, "The Second Edition of Ptolemy's Geography. 1541." Chapter VI, "The Christianismi Restitutio. 1553: The Description of the Lesser Circulation," containing "the first printed description of the lesser circulation" (Garrison-Morton, p. 98), which led to Servetus being burned at the stake.
 

5. History of Medicine, Early Modern Period (1500-1900CE)

R489.L6 A35
Abraham, James Johnston. Lettsom, His Life, Times, Friends and Descendants. London: W. Heinemann, 1933.
Description: xx, 498 p. incl. front., illus. (incl. ports., maps, facsims.) fold. geneal. tab. 26 cm
LC Subject(s): Lettsom, John Coakley, 1744-1815; Lettsom family

Abraham's detailed biography covers John Lettsom's life and, in so doing, much of the history of medicine of his time. Topics include his medical training under John Fothergill and at the University of Edinburgh, his medical practice, his books (on diseases and on botany), the Medical Society of London, campaigns against quacks, support of Jenner's smallpox vaccine, prison reform (Lettsom was a Quaker), and influence among many prominent Americans. More than 100 illustrations are dispersed throughout the text.

R529.B6 A5 1927 c.2
Boerhaave, Hermann. Hermann Boerhaaves Briefe an Johann Bapt. Bassand in Wien. Edited by Ernst Darmstaedter. Munich, Germany: Münchner Drucke, 1927.
Description: xlv, [1] p. front., illus. (facsim.) 24 cm
Series: Münchener Beiträge zur Geschichte und Literatur der Naturwissenschaften und Medizin ... III. Sonderheft
LC Subject(s): Bassand, Jean Baptiste, 1680-1742; Physicians — Correspondence

In English the title would be Hermann Boerhaave's Letters to Johann Baptiste Bassand in Vienna. Encyclopaedia Britannica praises Boerhaave as "professor of botany and of medicine, rector of the university, professor of practical medicine, and professor of chemistry. By his brilliant teaching he restored the prestige of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leiden, and students came from all parts of Europe to hear his lectures. . . . He is often credited with founding the modern system of teaching medical students at the patient's bedside. Boerhaave's principal works are textbooks that were widely used during and after his lifetime: Institutiones Medicae (1708; 'Medical Principles'), Aphorismi de Cognoscendis et Curandis Morbis (1709; 'Aphorisms on the Recognition and Treatment of Diseases'), and Elementa Chemiae (1724; 'Elements of Chemistry')." Bassand was a student of Boerhaave's who was himself prominent as a military surgeon. Bassand also attended Prince Eugene of Savoy and Maria Theresa of Austria. Of the 13 letters provided, 1 is in Latin, 2 in French, and 10 in German.

R626.A1 B66 c.3
Bowers, John Z. Western Medical Pioneers in Feudal Japan. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970.
Description: xi, 245 p. illus. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — Japan; Physicians — Japan

This history of the influence of Europeans on Japanese medicine begins with an introductory chapter on precontact medical traditions. Chapter 2, "The Early Years at Deshima: Willim Ten Rhijne and Engelbert Kaempfer," describes the small Dutch community allowed to stay in 1641 when Japan closed itself to other Europeans. The Dutch doctors studied Japanese medicine and were allowed to practice using their own methods as well. Chapter 3 focuses on Carl Pieter Balthasar von Siebold. Finally, J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort is profiled. Important figures organize the text, which describes pharmacology and medical practices exchanged between the cultures. A drawing appears at the beginning of each chapter. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 46, p. 313.

R489.S63 B7
Brooks, Eric St. John. Sir Hans Sloane, the Great Collector and His Circle. London: Batchworth Press, 1954.
Description: 234 p. illus., ports., facsims. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Sloane, Sir Hans, Baronet, 1660-1753

Sloane was a physician and botanist, but, more importantly, his collections formed the nucleus of the new British Museum. This biography emphasizes his correspondence, his travels (e.g., to Jamaica, which led to his Natural History of Jamaica, 1725), and his association with the College of Physicians, Royal Society, and, of course, the British Museum.

R489.C45 A38
Cheyne, George. The Letters of Doctor George Cheyne to Samuel Richardson (1733-1743). Edited by Charles F. Mullett. Columbia: University of Missouri, 1943.
Description: 137 p. facsims., port. 27 cm
Series: The University of Missouri Studies. (1926) Vol. XVIII, no. 1
LC Subject(s): Medicine — Early works to 1800

Mullett provides a biographical sketch of Cheyne (author of The English Malady and The Natural Method of Cureing the Diseases of the Body) and the background of his correspondence with Richardson (a British novelist) in the introduction. The two main themes in the reprinted letters are Cheyne's medical advice to Richardson and Cheyne's publications, specifically requests for critiques of drafts and details about the publishing process (e.g., publisher fees, type of paper used).

R489.B86 F5 c.3
Finch, Jeremiah Stanton. Sir Thomas Browne: A Doctor's Life of Science & Faith. New York: Henry Schuman, 1950.
Description: viii, 319 p. illus., ports. 22 cm
Series: [Life of Science Library]
LC Subject(s): Browne, Thomas, Sir, 1605-1682

Sir Thomas Browne is revered as the author of Religio Medici, which "like Sir William Osler, many a physician has found . . . a companion through the cares of professional life, and it has been the subject of addresses and essays by distinguished members of the medical calling" (p. 5). Finch brings together various sources to tell the story of Browne's life, particularly his medical practice and his ideas about the usefulness of religion that have resonated with readers down through the centuries. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 26, p. 194.

R489.F6 A4 1971 c.2
Fothergill, John. Chain of Friendship: Selected Letters of Dr. John Fothergill of London, 1735-1780. With Introduction and Notes by Betsy C. Corner & Christopher C. Booth. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1971.
Description: xxiv, 538 p. illus., facsims., geneal. table, map, ports. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Physicians — Correspondence

An introductory chapter provides a biographical sketch of Fothergill's life and influence. Some 200 letters are then reprinted in chronological order. Fothergill, a prominent London physician, was a friend of Americans Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and Benjamin Waterhouse. Fothergill's practice included a preference for sustaining food, fresh air, and clean linens rather than the common practices of purging and bleeding. His interest in pharmacy led him to establish a botanical garden in Essex, and he donated books and supplies to the new Pennsylvania Hospital.

R605 .H77
Honigberger, John Martin. Thirty-five Years in the East. Adventures, Discoveries, Experiments, and Historical Sketches, Relating to the Punjab and Cashmere; in Connection With Medicine, Botany, Pharmacy, Etc. London: H. Baillière, 1852.
Description: xxix, 214 p. front. (port.) plates, facsim. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — India; Botany — India; Materia medica — India; India — History; India — Description and travel

The title describes this book well. Honigberger left his native Transylvania in 1815 for the East. He describes his medical practice en route in Constantinople and Baghdad before reaching Lahore. His lively account includes descriptions of local illnesses and injuries as well as their treatment methods. Lithographic engravings of his Indian acquaintances are included.

R152 .K36 1967
Karolevitz, Robert F. Doctors of the Old West: A Pictorial History of Medicine on the Frontier. New York: Bonanza Books, 1967.
Description: 192 p. illus., facsims., ports. 28 cm
LC Subject(s): Physicians — United States — Pictorial works; Medicine — United States — Pictorial works

"Being a pictorial history, its [this book's] approach is broad, and the words 'frontier' and 'Old West' are loosely applied. It is not a dates-and-places chronicle, but a nostalgic glance backward at the collective activities of all the saddlebag practitioners from the prairies to the Pacific. Appropriately, the story also includes the professional allies of the doctor . . . the pioneer hospital—and . . . the patent medicines, cure-alls, health caves and sanitaria which flourished during the period" (p. 7). Included are chapters like "Saga of Scalps and Scalpels"; "Purge, Blister and Bleed"; "Regulars, Eclectics and God-Knows-What"; "Tools, Techniques and Aching Teeth"; "From Shank's Mare to Stanley Steamers"; "From the Pest House: Nowhere but Up"; "Leeches, Laudanum and Soda Water"; "Quackery: By Truss and Tonic"; "Never Call Them the Weaker Sex"; and "A Gallery of Pioneers."

R148 .K5 c.2
King, Lester Snow. The Medical World of the Eighteenth Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958.
Description: 346 p. illus. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History

Chapter I, "Apothecary and Physician," describes formal medical institutions of the day. Chapter II, "Quack and Empiric," describes practitioners who lacked formal training. Chapters III and IV provide a biography of Hermann Boerhaave. Chapter V is "Of Fevers." Chapter VI, "Similia Similibus," describes homeopathy. Chapter VII, "Nosology," explains the classification of diseases. Chapter VIII is "The Development of Medical Ethics." Chapter IX is "The Rise of Modern Pathology." Chapter X, "The Practice of Medicine," quotes specific examples of cases of disease and considers the medical practitioners' roles in their treatment. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 32, p. 576.

R558.T67 L36 c.2
Lanning, John Tate. Pedro de la Torre, Doctor to Conquerors. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1974.
Description: xiv, 145 p. facsims. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Torre, Pedro de la, b. ca. 1507; Medicine — Mexico — History

This biography reveals Pedro de la Torre, page to Erasmus and later doctor to the conquerors who followed Cortés to Mexico. De la Torre was charged with practicing without a valid medical license in Veracruz at the height of a smallpox epidemic, at a time when two of the three other doctors refused to treat poor or indigenous peoples. Six years later, de la Torre ran afoul of the Inquisition, although he was ultimately spared. Lanning uses this physician's career to demonstrate the low level of medical professionalism in the new American colony in the sixteenth century.

R489.C3 O6 c.2
O'Malley, Charles Donald. English Medical Humanists, Thomas Linacre and John Caius. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1965.
Description: 54 p. 22 cm
Series: Logan Clendening Lectures on the History and Philosophy of Medicine; 12th series
LC Subject(s): Caius, John, 1510-1573; Linacre, Thomas, 1460-1524

As the inside jacket cover explains, "though Linacre, an associate of Erasmus and Sir Thomas More, has been remembered as a leader in the advancement of Greek studies in England, his role in the founding and direction of the College of Physicians and the regulation of English medical practice is less familiar. John Caius, 'Galenist and spiritual descendant of Thomas Linacre,' was also a leading humanist, whose work supplemented that of his predecessor." The work of Caius included anatomy lectures to London surgeons and the publication of descriptions of a sweating sickness outbreak in 1552. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 40, p. 181.

R154.T47 R4
Reid, Edith Gittings. The Life and Convictions of William Sydney Thayer, Physician. London: Oxford University Press, 1936.
Description: x, [2], 243 p. fronts., ports. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Thayer, William Sydney, 1864-1932

Reid's biography of William Sydney Thayer, close associate of Sir William Osler and influential professor of medicine in the early years of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School, also covers his impressions of Russia, where he was sent to serve with the Red Cross during World War I. The author knew Thayer well, so can speak both to his personal life and to his professional life, drawing on private papers as well as published works like his Lectures on the Malarial Fevers (1897).

R154.H667 R6
Robbins, Christine Chapman. David Hosack, Citizen of New York. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1964.
Description: vii, 246 p. illus., geneal. table, map, ports. 24 cm
Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, v. 62
LC Subject(s): Hosack, David, 1769-1835

David Hosack is noteworthy as the founder of the Elgin Botanic Garden in New York, the first in the United States, but this biography also deals with his medical practice: "As a practicing physician he lived through some of the most disastrous epidemics the city was to know, and early in his career he took a bold stand on the origin and treatment of yellow fever. He practiced vaccination for smallpox when it was still a controversial issue among his own profession, and was deeply involved in one of the most turbulent periods in the history of medical education in this country" (p. 3). Hosack was also the attending physician of Alexander Hamilton at his duel with Aaron Burr. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 40, p. 92.

R520.B32 B33
Schullian, Dorothy M., ed. The Baglivi Correspondence From the Library of Sir William Osler. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974.
Description: xxi, 531 p. 29 cm
Series: Cornell Publications in the History of Science
LC Subject(s): Baglivi, Giorgio, 1668-1707; Physicians — Correspondence; Medicine — Early works to 1800

"The group [of 173 letters and drafts] at the Osler Library was written in the period 1677–1698; it includes letters to Baglivi, numerous drafts of his replies, and a few letters or copies of letters neither to nor by him . . . preserved in his files" (p. xv). The letters are presented in Latin, Italian, or French, with English summaries. Baglivi was "born in Dubrovnik in 1668, trained by the Jesuits there, . . . assisted Marcello Malpighi in Rome from 169 to 1694 . . . practiced in Rome, taught in its university, and published in Latin works based on mechanistic principles" (p. xvi). The index is helpful for such an extensive collection of letters. Topics include contemporary medical practice, institutions, and literature.

R148 .S45 c.2
Shryock, Richard Harrison. Medicine and Society in America: 1660–1860. New York: New York University Press, 1960.
Description: 182 p. 22 cm
Series: Anson G. Phelps Lectureship on Early American History
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Medicine — United States

Chapter 1, "Origins of a Medical Profession," examines the evolution of the profession whose members, training methods, and licensing requirements have changed over time. In Chapter 2, "Medical Thought and Practice: 1660–1820," Shryock presents paradigms for the nature of disease, contrasts the viewpoints of Cotton Mather and Benjamin Rush (and highlights other important figures), discusses the nature of surgery, and documents the dearth of research in anatomy and physiology. Chapter 3, "Health and Disease: 1660–1820," opens with a discussion of the exchange of diseases (and remedies) among European colonials, indigenous Native Americans, and Africans. The spread and decline of malaria and other infectious diseases is considered next, with emphasis on climate, public hygiene, and living conditions. In Chapter 3, "Medicine and Society in Transition: 1820–1860," sentimentalism is contrasted with empiricism, surgical advances are explored, and the changing nature of medical schools and hospitals is noted, including the return of female doctors. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 35, p. 186.
 

6. History of Anatomy
see also Knight in History of Physiology

QM16.L4 B4 1969 c.2
Belt, Elmer. Leonardo the Anatomist. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1956.
Description: 76 p. illus. 23 cm
Series: Logan Clendening Lectures on the History and Philosophy of Medicine, 4th series
LC Subject(s): Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519

Belt describes da Vinci's contributions to anatomy and comparative anatomy. Included are 14 of da Vinci's drawings. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 30, p. 282.

QM16.R3 C3
Cannon, Dorothy F. Explorer of the Human Brain: The Life of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934). New York: Henry Schuman, 1949.
Description: xv, 303 p., illus., map, plates, ports. 22 cm
Series: The Life of Science Library
LC Subject(s): Ramón y Cajal, Santiago, 1852-1934

Several books in the Norland Collection deal with Santiago Ramón y Cajal. This Spaniard had wanted to become an artist, but his father convinced him to pursue medicine instead. Ramón y Cajal's artistic talents are evident, however, in his medical drawings. After obtaining his medical degree, he was drafted into the Army Sanitary Corps and sent to Cuba, where he contracted malaria and tuberculosis while serving as an army doctor in 1874–1875. He then returned to Spain to recuperate, where he would pursue the study of anatomy and eventually (in 1906) be awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the structure of the nervous system. This biography includes quotes from Ramón y Cajal, photos of him and his family, and some of his medical drawings.

QL805 .C6 c.2
QL805 .C6 c.3
Cole, Francis Joseph. A History of Comparative Anatomy: From Aristotle to the Eighteenth Century. London: Macmillan, 1949.
Description: viii, 524 p. illus. (incl. facsims.) 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Anatomy, Comparative — History

As noted on inside jacket cover, Cole provides "a critical review of the development of comparative anatomy from Aristotle up to the end of the seventeenth century. . . . There are nearly two hundred photographs. . . . The author classifies the material chiefly under the various comparative anatomists, beginning with the Greeks, through the sixteenth century, followed by the development of craftsmanship to Harvey and the Encyclopaedists. This is followed by the new outlook on comparative anatomy, which led up to the famous Dutch school. Academies and societies, the method of teaching anatomy, and the anatomical museums receive special consideration." Garrison-Morton 356. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 18, p. 566.

QM33.5 .K4
Kevorkian, Jack. The Story of Dissection. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959.
Description: 80 p. illus. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Dissection — History

Kevorkian presents a brief outline of the history of dissection from antiquity to modern times in the West. Included are 16 illustrations of physicians from Hippocrates to Virchow. Yes, the author is the (in)famous euthanasia proponent.

QM33.5 .L3 c.2
Lassek, Arthur Marvel. Human Dissection: Its Drama and Struggle. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1958.
Description: 310 p. illus. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Human dissection — History

This history of dissection from ancient to modern times in Europe, the Middle East (i.e., among Medieval Arabs), Asia, and the Americas emphasizes biographies of anatomists like Galen, Vesalius, and Knox. Other chapters focus on dissections in early modern and modern medical schools in the United States. Extensive historical and cultural context is provided. Some illustrations, mostly likenesses of physicians, are included. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 33, p. 279.

QM16.T9 M6
Montagu, M. F. Ashley. Edward Tyson., M. D., F. R. S., 1650–1708, and the Rise of Human and Comparative Anatomy in England: A Study in the History of Science. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1943.
Description: xxix, 488 p. front., illus. (incl. ports., facsims., coat of arms) fold. geneal. tab. 24 cm
Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society ... vol. xx, 1943
LC Subject(s): Tyson, Edward, 1650-1708; Anatomy — History; Science — History

Edward Tyson was an English physician best known for his detailed comparative studies of primates (particularly orangutans and chimpanzees) that suggested their similarities to humans a century before the theory of evolution was developed. Details of both his personal and his professional life are included in this biography. More than 50 illustrations, including portraits, pages from Tyson's writings, and maps are also provided. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 14, p. 529.

QL953 .N4 1959 c.3
Needham, Joseph. A History of Embryology. 2nd ed. New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1959.
Description: 303 p. illus., ports., diagrs., facsim. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Embryology — History; Embryology — Bibliography

Needham provides "an exhaustive history of the subject. Deals with embryology from the earliest times to the beginning of the 19th century and includes a valuable bibliography and many illustrations" (Garrison-Morton 533). Arranged chronologically, Needham's sources in antiquity are Egyptian, Indian, and Greek; in the Middle Ages are from Jews, Muslims, and Christians; and in the early modern period are European. He quotes prominent physicians and includes illustrations such as portraits, anatomical drawings, and charts.

QM16.V5 O43 c.2
O'Malley, Charles Donald. Andreas Vesalius of Brussels, 1514–1564. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964.
Description: xv, 480 p. illus., ports., facsims. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Vesalius, Andreas, 1514-1564

This thorough biography of Andreas Vesalius, the great anatomist, includes context of prior and contemporary work in the field and draws on recent sources not available to Moritz Roth, who wrote the definitive Vesalius biography in 1892. Many illustrations, including drawings by Vesalius and by other anatomists, portraits, book title pages, and city views are included.

QM16.K6 R3
Rae, Isobel. Knox: The Anatomist. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1964.
Description: v, 164 p., 8 leaves of plates; 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Knox, Robert, 1793-1862

Robert Knox is best known for his School of Anatomy, which was infamous as the site where Burke and Hare were caught selling the bodies of their murder victims. Rae's biography also relates Knox's early service in Brussels attending the wounded from the Battle of Waterloo. Included are a few photos and caricatures of Knox and his associates. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 41, p. 86.

QM11 .S6 1957 c.2
Singer, Charles Joseph. A Short History of Anatomy From the Greeks to Harvey. (The Evolution of Anatomy.) 2nd ed. New York: Dover, 1957.
Description: 209 p. illus. 21 cm
Note(s): First ed. published in 1925 under title: The Evolution of Anatomy
LC Subject(s): Human anatomy — History; Anatomists

As the title indicates, this book is a concise history of anatomy from Ancient Greece to Harvey in the seventeenth century, with several chapters devoted in particular to Galen and Vesalius. Included are many detailed drawings (e.g., from the Fabrica of Vesalius) throughout, as well as maps, likenesses of physicians, and a few charts. "This invaluable reference book is an expansion of the FitzPatrick Lectures, 1923–24" (Garrison-Morton 454). This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 32, p. 477.

QM33.5 .T3 v.1
Tarin, Pierre. Anthropotomie, Ou l'Art de Disséquer: Les Muscles, les Ligamens, les Nerfs, & les Vaisseaux Sanguins du Corps Humain. . . . Paris: Chez Briasson, 1750.
Description: 2 v.: ill.; 17 cm. (4to)
Note(s): Attributed to P. Tarin in: Dictionnaire des Ouvrages Anonymes / par Ant.-Alex. Barbier. Hildesheim: Olms, 1963. Tome I, col. 209
LC Subject(s): Human dissection — Early works to 1800; Human anatomy — Early works to 1800

This rare volume (in French) includes not only detailed descriptions of dissection methods but also drawings of instruments useful for dissections. Tarin was a French anatomist who contributed to Diderot's Encylopédie and worked with the Gautier D'Agoty group to publish medical illustrations.

QM16.R3 W5
Williams, Harley. Don Quixote of the Microscope: An Interpretation of the Spanish Savant, Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934). London: Jonathan Cape, 1954.
Description: 255 p. illus. 21 cm
LC Subject(s): Ramón y Cajal, Santiago, 1852-1934

See Cannon in this section for a description of Ramón y Cajal's life. This biography includes two of Ramón y Cajal's medical drawings and a photograph.
 

7. History of Physiology
see also American Physiological Society in History of Medical Societies

QP26.P35 B3 c.4
Babkin, Boris Petrovich. Pavlov: A Biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949.
Description: xiii, 364 p. illus., ports. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich, 1849-1936

This biography of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov was written by one of his students. Part I is a biography of Pavlov's personal life, medical training, and scientific beliefs and research methods. Part II relates his early work on circulation of the blood, Part III his work on the digestive glands, and Part IV his well-known work on conditioned reflexes. Six illustrations include photographs and line drawings.

QP26.H3 C52
Chauvois, Louis. William Harvey: His Life and Times: His Discoveries: His Methods. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957.
Description: 271 p. illus. 24 cm
Note(s): Translated from the French William Harvey: Sa Vie et Son Temps: Ses Découvertes: Sa Méthode
LC Subject(s): Harvey, William, 1578-1657

Chauvois provides a thorough if idolatrous treatment of Harvey's life and scientific contributions to physiology and medicine. Included are the historical context of medicine in the Middle Ages and the works of earlier theorists on physiology, as well as a critical examination of Harvey's text, the judgment of contemporaries and posterity on Harvey's description of circulation of the blood, and the significance of his experimental methods. The book covers personal as well as professional events and contains many illustrations, including scientific line drawings.

R134 .D45
Dempster, James Herbert. Pathfinders of Physiology. Detroit, MI: Detroit Medical Journal Co., 1914.
Description: 66 p., [4] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Physicians — Biography; Physiologists — Biography

Breakthroughs in the history of physiology from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century are traced by examining the lives and works of key "pathfinders." Chapter 1 is "The Circulation of the Blood—William Harvey." Digestion is dealt with in Chapters 2 (Stahl and Boerhaave, Peyer and Brunner, Borelli and Sylvius, Haller, Reaumur, Spallanzani, Stevens) and 3 (William Beaumont). Chapter 4 is "Glycogenic Function of the Liver—Vaso Motor Nerves—Claude Bernard." Chapter 5 deals with respiration (Boyle, Hooke, Mayow, Priestly, Lavoisier). Chapter 6, the nervous system (Galen, Willis, Glisson, Goll, Bell and Magendie, Broca, Tuke, Rush, and Pinel). Chapter 7 concludes the book with cell theory (Bichat, Schleiden and Schwann, Muller, Virchow, Dujardin, Starling).

QP21 .F75 1970
Foster, Michael, Sir. Lectures on the History of Physiology During the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries. New York: Dover, 1970.
Description: vii, 310 p. illus. 21 cm
Note(s): First published in 1901
LC Subject(s): Physiology — History; Medicine — History

Foster delivered these lectures at the Cooper Medical College (now part of Stanford University) in 1900. He describes the contributions to physiology of Vesalius, Harvey, Borelli, Malpighi, Van Helmont, Sylvius, Black, Priestley, and Lavoisier, among others. The introduction notes "generous quotations translated by Foster the classicist from the original Latin texts" (p. vi). Garrison-Morton 1575.

QP21 .G63
Goodfield, G. J. The Growth of Scientific Physiology: Physiological Method and the Mechanist-Vitalist Controversy, Illustrated by the Problems of Respiration and Animal Heat. London: Hutchinson, 1960.
Description: 174 p. 20 cm
Series: Nuffield Foundation. Unit for the History of Ideas. History of Scientific Ideas: A Teachers' Guide
LC Subject(s): Physiology — History; Animal heat; Respiration

The title explains the book well. Extensive quotes from scientists trace the evolution of competing theories. The technical language may be difficult for readers who are unfamiliar with the topic.

QP21 .G7
Graubard, Mark. Circulation and Respiration: The Evolution of an Idea. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964.
Description: ix, 278 p. illus., facsim. 21 cm
Series: Ideas in Science
LC Subject(s): Blood — Circulation; Respiration; Physiology — History

Theories of circulation and respiration are reprinted from 17 contributors: Aristotle, Galen, Ibn Nafis, Andreas Vesalius, Michael Servetus, Realdus Columbus, Andreas Caesalpinus, Hieronymous Fabricius, William Harvey, Marcello Malpighi, Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, Philosophical Transactions, Robert Hooke, Richard Lower, John Mayow, Robert Boyle, and Giovanni Borelli.

QP21 .K57
Knight, Bernard. Discovering the Human Body: How Pioneers of Medicine Solved the Mysteries of the Body's Structure and Function. New York: Lippincott & Crowell, 1980.
Description: 192 p.: ill.; 28 cm
LC Subject(s): Human physiology — History; Human anatomy — History; Body, Human

Knight's overview of the history of human anatomy and physiology is organized by structures: heart and circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, brain and central nervous system, ears, eyes, blood and lymph, the cell, endocrine system, sex organs, pregnancy and the unborn child, and dissection. Many large illustrations and biographical sketches with portraits appear throughout the book.

QP25 .L3 c.2
Lain Entralgo, Pedro. Dos Biologos: Claudio Bernard y Ramon y Cajal. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Espasa-Calpe Argentina, 1949.
Description: 143 p.; 18 cm
Series: Colección Austral
LC Subject(s): Bernard, Claude, 1813-1878; Ramon y Cajal, Santiago, 1852-1934; Anatomists — Biography; Physiologists — Biography

Written in Spanish, these biographies are of Claude Bernard, the physiologist hailed as the "Founder of Experimental Medicine," and Santiago Ramon y Cajal, the Spanish anatomist and Nobel Prize winner in medicine (see Cannon in the History of Anatomy section regarding Ramon y Cajal). The section on Bernard includes chapters that provide the historical context and describe the experimental method he developed for studying animal physiology, his findings, his influence on the medical community, and written works by and about him. Ramon y Cajal's section describes his scientific work—how he was drawn to the microscope and the study of cells, what he discovered, and its influence on the scientific community.

QP26.B5 O39 c.2
Olmsted, James Montrose Duncan, and E. Harris Olmsted. Claude Bernard & the Experimental Method in Medicine. New York: H. Schuman, 1952.
Description: 277 p. illus. 22 cm
Series: Life of Science Library, no. 23
LC Subject(s): Bernard, Claude, 1813-1878

Olmsted's biography of Claude Bernard, the "Founder of Experimental Medicine," describes his early life, training at medical school in Paris, and the nature of his experiments and discoveries. Bernard's correspondence with other scientists is also highlighted. The book focuses on his professional life but also adds personal notes like his illnesses and reactions to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871.
 

8. History of Medicinal Chemistry

R487 .D4 c.2
Debus, Allen G. The English Paracelsians. New York: Franklin Watts, 1966.
Description: 222 p. 4 plates. 23 cm
Series: Watts History of Science Library
LC Subject(s): Paracelsus, 1493-1541; Medicine — History; Medicine — Great Britain

Debus posits this book as "an attempt to define some of the major problems of concern to the English iatrochemists prior to 1640" (p. 9). These iatrochemists were alchemists who focused on medicinal uses of substances. Their efforts contributed to the recognition of chemistry as a respectable science. Debus argues, "in Paracelsus and his followers there was a curious blend of the occult and the experimental approaches to nature. These men were neither exclusively 'ancients' nor 'moderns'—rather, their work reflects strongly both ancient philosophical thought and the opening phases of the Scientific Revolution" (pp. 9–10). Six plates showing sixteenth- and seventeenth-century illustrations are included. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 44, p. 182.

QP511 .C47 c.2
Needham, Joseph, ed. The Chemistry of Life: Eight Lectures on the History of Biochemistry. Cambridge, UK: University Press, 1970.
Description: xxix, 213 p. illus., plates, ports. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Biochemistry — History

Based on a series of lectures at Cambridge University from 1958 to 1961, this book contains many illustrations, including photographs, line drawings of structures and instruments, and microscopic slides. Chapter 1 is "The Growth of Our Knowledge of Photosynthesis" by Robert Hill. Chapter 2 is "The History of Enzymes and of Biological Oxidations" by Malcolm Dixon. Chapter 3 is "The Development of Microbiology" by E. F. Gale. Chapter 4 is "Some Biological Signposts in the Progress of Neurology" by Kendal Dixon. Chapter 5 is "The Evolution of Ideas About Animal Hormones" by F. G. Young. Chapter 6 is "The Discovery of Vitamins" by Leslie J. Harris. Chapter 7 is "The Historical Foundations of Modern Biochemistry" by Mikulás Teich. The volume concludes with Chapter 8, "Some Lone Pioneers of Biochemistry in the Nineteenth Century" by Sir Rudolph Peters.
 

9. History of Microbiology

QR31.B8 A3 1969 c.2
Burnet, Macfarlane, Sir. Changing Patterns: An Atypical Autobiography. New York: American Elsevier, 1969.
Description: 282 p. illus., ports. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Burnet, Frank Macfarlane, Sir, 1899-

As the inside jacket cover explains, "Changing Patterns covers essentially the story of Macfarlane Burnet's career in research, first as a virologist and epidemiologist and, more recently, as a contributor to the understanding of immunity. Running through the book there is the personal thread of Macfarlane Burnet's picture of himself as a biologist, from the country boy who collected beetles, to the senior scientist who talked the hours away with Konrad Lorenz in an Austrian garden. . . . Changing Patterns is an account of the way in which scientific aspects of medicine have changed, how the approach to biological research has been modified, and how new concepts of human biology have emerged during one man's professional lifetime." Burnet was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1960 and, in addition to his research papers, has published many books on viruses and on infectious diseases. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 47, p. 533.

R566.C3 A46
Carro, Joannes de. Letters of Jean de Carro to Alexander Marcet, 1794-1817. Edited by Henry E. Sigerist. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1950.
Description: vii, 78 p. port. 26 cm
Series: Supplements to the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, no. 12
LC Subject(s): Marcet, Alexander, 1770-1822; Physicians — Correspondence

The introduction provides biographical sketches of de Carro and Marcet. Jean de Carro was a Swiss physician who introduced Jenner's vaccine for smallpox throughout Europe. Alexander Marcet, a lecturer in chemistry at Guy's Hospital in London, was notable as the first to identify bicarbonate as the major blood buffer. The 22 letters (2 in English and 20 in French) were written from 1794 to 1817 and "probably give a truer picture of what actually happened on the Continent [as Jenner's vaccine using cowpox was taught] than the books written several years later" (p. v).

QP601 .P57 1958 c.3
Chas. Pfizer & Company. The Pasteur Fermentation Centennial, 1857–1957: A Scientific Symposium on the Occasion of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Publication of Louis Pasteur's Mémoire Sur la Fermentation Appelée Lactique. New York: 1958.
Description: xii, 207 p. plates, ports., diagrs., facsims., tables. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Pasteur, Louis, 1822-1895. Mémoire sur la fermentation appelée lactique; Fermentation

The morning program includes an introduction by James A. Shannon, "The Story of Pasteur's Discovery of the Cause of Fermentation" by L. Pasteur Vallery-Radot, "Pasteur and Modern Science," by René J. Dubos, "New Developments and Prospects in Fermentation Chemicals" by Marvin J. Johnson, and "Trends in Antibiotic Research" by Paul R. Burkholder. The first symposium, "Cellular and Biochemical Interplay Between Host and Parasite," included "The Cellular Management of Bacterial Parasites" by David E. Rogers, "The Role of Humoral Factors in Immunity" by Derrick Rowley, "The Metabolic Interrelationship Between Host and Parasite as Exemplified by the Albino Mouse and Salmonella Typhimurium" by L. J. Berry, and "Cellular and Biochemical Interplay Between Host and Parasite" by W. Wilbur Ackermann. The next symposium, "New Developments and Prospects in Fermentation Chemicals," was moderated by Marvin J. Honson and conducted by J. J. H. Hastings, A. F. Langlykke, Frank H. Stodola, and J. C. Sylvester. The final symposium, "Trends in Antibiotic Research," included "Note on the Antitoxic Properties of Penicillin" by Arturo Curbelo, "Genetics and Antibiotics" by Milislav Demerec, "Some Theoretical Problems in the Search for Anticancer Antibiotics" by G. F. Gause, "Mechanism of Action of Penicillin" by Jack L. Strominger, and "Trends in Antibiotics" by Hamao Umezawa. The evening program comprised tributes to the life and work of Louis Pasteur.

QR21 .C55 c.2
Clark, Paul Franklin. Pioneer Microbiologists of America. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1961.
Description: 369 p. illus. 25 cm
LC Subject(s): Microbiology — History

After an introductory section that traces the general history of epidemiology in the West, Clark proceeds to explore the development of theories of public hygiene, medical school training, and bacteriology (or microbiology) itself. The book is organized geographically, moving from the East Coast (with emphasis on Walter Reed and yellow fever, Trudeau and tuberculosis, and Park and diphtheria) to the Midwest (especially the University of Michigan Medical School, Chicago's sanitation problems, and the University of Wisconsin) to the West (especially Ricketts and Rocky Mountain spotted fever and the Gold Rush and those who combated the infectious diseases with which it was associated). Included are 38 photographs of microbiologists. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 36, p. 381.

QR31.A1 D4 1926 c.18
De Kruif, Paul. Microbe Hunters. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926.
Description: 363 p. ports. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Bacteriologists; Bacteriology — History; Microorganisms

This classic bestseller (still in print) popularized the work of microbiologists. The chapters are "Leeuwenhoek: First of the Microbe Hunters," "Spallanzani: Microbes Must Have Parents!" "Pasteur: Microbes Are a Menace!" "Koch: The Death Fighter," "Roux and Behring: Massacre the Guinea-Pigs," "Metchnikoff: The Nice Phagocytes," "Theobald Smith: Ticks and Texas Fever," "Bruce: Trail of the Tsetse," "Ross vs. Grassi: Malaria," "Walter Reed: In the Interest of Science—And for Humanity!" and "Paul Ehrlich: The Magic Bullet."

QR31.D4 A3 c.2
De Kruif, Paul. The Sweeping Wind: A Memoir. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962.
Edition: [1st ed.]
Description: 270 p. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): De Kruif, Paul, 1890-1971

De Kruif's autobiography begins with his first sight of his wife—in the bacteriology lab of the University of Michigan shortly after World War I—and continues to relate his associations with top microbiologists that led him to publish his highly popular books such as Microbe Hunters. De Kruif's interest usually turns on the stories of how researchers stumbled onto groundbreaking treatment methods and on the importance of their correspondence with other researchers.

QR6 .D6 c.2
Doetsch, Raymond Nicholas. Microbiology: Historical Contributions From 1776 to 1908 by Spallanzani, Schwann, Pasteur, Cohn, Tyndall, Koch, Lister, Schloesing, Burrill, Ehrlich, Winogradsky, Warington, Beijerinck, Smith, Orla-Jensen. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1960.
Description: xii, 233 p. illus. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Microbiology

In these edited presentations of original research by key microbiologists, "the development of microbiology as a science may be discerned. One proceeds from the question of the origin of microbes (Spallanzani, Schwann, Tyndall), to their role in fermentations (Schwann, Pasteur), to methods for dealing with them in the laboratory (Koch, Ehrlich) and classifying them (Cohn, Orla-Jensen), to a recognition of the importance of their activities as biological entities (Lister, Schloesing, Warington, Winogradsky, Burrill, Smith, Beijerinck). Most of the papers are from journals relatively inaccessible to the modern reader, and a number have not been previously translated into English" (pp. v–vi). Illustrations include photographs, diagrams of instruments, and pictures of bacteria. Garrison-Morton 2581.2. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 35, p. 481.

R626.N6 E3 c.2
Eckstein, Gustav. Noguchi. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931.
Description: ix p., 1 l., 419 p. front., plates, ports. 25 cm
Note(s): First edition
LC Subject(s): Noguchi, Hideyo, 1876-1928

This biography of Japanese bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi covers his upbringing, medical education, and scientific work. Encyclopaedia Britannica credits Dr. Noguchi as the "first [who] discovered Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, in the brains of persons suffering from paresis. He also proved that both Oroya fever and verruga peruana could be produced by Bartonella bacilliformis. . . . Noguchi devised means of cultivating microorganisms that had never before been grown in the test tube. He studied poliomyelitis and trachoma and worked on a vaccine and serum for yellow fever."

R489.J5 F5 c.2
Fisk, Dorothy. Dr. Jenner of Berkeley. London: Heinemann, 1959.
Description: 288 p. illus. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Jenner, Edward, 1749-1823

Fisk's biography presents the personal and professional life of Edward Jenner, the physician who developed the smallpox vaccine. Jenner's surgical training under John Hunter is discussed, as are his efforts to convince physicians and the public alike that inoculation with cowpox is a better treatment than inoculation with smallpox. Among the 10 illustrations provided is a satirical cartoon warning against vaccination.

RA638 .I57 1913
International Medical Congress. The History of Inoculation and Vaccination for the Prevention and Treatment of Disease: Lecture Memoranda. London: Burroughs Wellcome, 1913.
Description: 310, [4], xvi p., [1] leaf of plates: ill. (some col.), facsims., maps (4 fold. col.), ports. (some col.); 18 cm
LC Subject(s): Vaccination — History

The first 120 pages present the history of inoculation and vaccination, with chapters on "Inoculation in Antient Times," "Smallpox Inoculations — Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century," "Inoculation in British Isles," "Genesis of Vaccination," "Discoverer of Vaccination" (Edward Jenner), "Progress of the Principles of Vaccination and Inoculation," "Bacteriology," and "Modern Developments." Another 200 pages fully advertises the pharmaceuticals and other medical products of the publisher, Burroughs Wellcome. Their materia medica farm is described, as is their medical equipment (used on polar expeditions, trips to Africa, in warfare, and in aviation). A thorough formulary of their products follows, and a folded map of London is provided at the end of the book. Many illustrations appear throughout.

QP624 .J82 1979
Judson, Horace Freeland. The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.
Description: 686 p., [16] plates: ill.; 25 cm
LC Subject(s): DNA — History; Molecular biology — History

In Part I Judson relates the discovery of DNA, culminating in a reprint of Watson and Crick's 1953 Nature article. Part II explains "RNA — The Functions of the Structure: The Breaking of the Genetic Code, the Discovery of the Messenger." Part III concerns the elucidation of how protein molecules work. Illustrations include many photographs, chemical structures, schematic diagrams, and pictures of cellular structures. Garrison-Morton 145.2.

QR21 .L4 c.2
Lechevalier, Hubert A., and Morris Solotorovsky. Three Centuries of Microbiology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965.
Description: 536 p. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Microbiology — History

Using extensive quotes from researchers' original works, Lechevalier and Solotorovsky trace the growth of microbiology in 12 chapters: "From Fracastoro to Pasteur," "Pasteur," "Koch," "Bacteria as Agents of Disease," "Immunology: Cellular," "Immunology: Humoral," "From Soil Microbiology to Comparative Biochemistry," "Viruses and Rickettsiae," "Mycology," "Protozoology," "Chemotherapy," and "Genetics." Garrison-Morton 2581.5.

R512.E4 M3 1951
Marquardt, Martha. Paul Ehrlich. New York: Henry Schuman, 1951.
Description: xx, 255 p. illus., facsims, ports. 22 cm
Note(s): "An extension of [the author's] ... Paul Ehrlich als Mensch und Arbeiter."
LC Subject(s): Ehrlich, Paul, 1854-1915

Encyclopaedia Britannica cites Paul Ehrlich as "the German medical scientist known for his pioneering work in hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy and for his discovery of the first effective treatment for syphilis [the drug salvarsan]. He received jointly with Élie Metchnikoff the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1908." Marquardt particularly highlights Ehrlich's laboratory methods as well as public and professional reactions to his work. Photographs and other illustrations appear throughout the text. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 28, p. 198.

RA638 .O8
O'Scanlan, Timoteo. Práctica Moderna de la Inoculación: Con Varias Observaciones y Reflexiones Fundadas en Ella, Precedidas de un Discurso Sobre la Ultilidad de Esta Operación, y un Compendio Histórico de su Origen, y de su Estado Actual, Particularmente en España; con un Catálogo de Algunos Inoculados. Madrid: En la Imprenta de Hilario Santos, 1784.
Description: [34], 449, [4 folded] p.; 15 cm. (8vo)
Note(s): Preface signed: Timothéo O-Scanlan
LC Subject(s): Vaccination — Early works to 1800; Vaccination — Spain

Published in 1784 in Spanish, this "Modern Practice in Inoculation" begins with a discussion of smallpox, then turns to cinchona (quina, the tree bark processed to make quinine) and mercury treatments, references other works available (in Spanish) on the subject, argues for the efficacy of O'Scanlan's preferred approach, quotes letters of support from Spanish authorities, and covers the history of inoculation in Spain and elsewhere. Chickenpox and other related diseases are also considered.

RA639.5 .P5 1974
Pierce, William Dwight. The Deadly Triangle: A Brief History of Medical and Sanitary Entomology. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1974.
Description: iv, 138 p.; 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Insects as carriers of disease — History

"The Deadly Triangle of the Biological Complex is like a folding chain of triangles, and consists of the kind of disease organisms at one series of apices; the host animals, including man, at the second series of apices; and all of the arthropod vectors or transmitters at the third series of apices" (p. 6). This book traces the history and study of infectious diseases (particularly plague, malaria, yellow fever, and sleeping sickness) from ancient times to the twentieth century. Accounts of epidemics, descriptions of medical breakthroughs, changes in public health policies, the events of wars, and Pierce's "general principles governing insect transmission of disease" (p. 100) are included.

QR31.F5 R7
Rowland, John. The Penicillin Man: The Story of Sir Alexander Fleming. New York: Roy, [1957].
Description: 155 p. illus. 21 cm
LC Subject(s): Fleming, Alexander, 1881-1955

Rowland's biography of Sir Alexander Fleming covers his personal life from childhood, his medical training, and his work in bacteriology, especially on gangrene following surgery, on lysozyme, and on penicillin. Rowland emphasizes not only Fleming's discoveries but also their dissemination and reception among his colleagues and the wider public.

QR21 .S8
Stimson, Arthur Marston. A Brief History of Bacteriological Investigations of the United States Public Health Service. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1950 [c1938].
Description: iii, 83 p. illus. 23 cm
Series: U. S. Public Health Service. Supplement no. 141 to the Public Health Reports
On cover: Bacteriological Investigations of the United States Public Health Service
LC Subject(s): United States. Public health service; Bacteriology — History

Stimson opens with an overview of the history of the U. S. Public Health Service itself (providing photos of buildings and doctors) and then relates the Service's efforts to address suspected public health threats due to bacteriological contagions: anaphylaxis, anthrax, biologics control (including botulism, meningitis, scarlet fever, smallpox, and tetanus), brucellosis, cholera, diphtheria, encephalitis, infectious jaundice, influenza, leprosy, measles, pellagra, plague, poliomyelitis, psittacosis, rabies, relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, trachoma, tuberculosis, tularaemia, typhoid fever, typhus fever, venereal diseases, and yellow fever.

QR21 .V3
Vandervliet, Glenn. Microbiology and the Spontaneous Generation Debate During the 1870's. Lawrence, KS: Coronado Press, 1971.
Description: 134, 12 p. illus. 22 cm
Series: Coronado Publications in History of Science
LC Subject(s): Spontaneous generation; Microbiology — History

"This study will discuss the men and events which led to the discovery of bacterial endospore formation, to the recognition of the many factors which influence microbial thermal resistance, and to the development of efficient and effective means of heat sterilization. The scope of this work will be confined to three significant episodes during the 1870's and to the most important investigators who played some role in the turnip-cheese infusion, hay infusion, and urine episodes. The figures who participated in one or more of these three episodes were: Henry Charlton Bastian, John Scott Burdon-Sanderson, Ferdinand Julius Cohn, Robert Koch, Edwin Ray Lankester, Louis Pasteur, William Roberts, and John Tyndall" (p. 14). The illustrations are four wood engravings from the Chronique de Nuremberg (1493).

QR31.H3 W3 c.2
Waksman, Selman Abraham. The Brilliant and Tragic Life of W. M. W. Haffkine, Bacteriologist. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1964.
Description: 86 p. illus., port. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Haffkine, Waldemar Mordecai Wolff, 1860-1930

Haffkine was a Russian-born microbiologist who worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris before going to India to test his cholera vaccine. After a bout of malaria, Haffkine developed a prophylactic inoculation against plague. Waksman describes Haffkine's experimental methods and efforts to disseminate his findings.

QR31.W3 A3 1958
Waksman, Selman Abraham. My Life With the Microbes. London: Scientific Book Club, 1958.
Description: 320 p.; 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Waksman, Selman A. (Selman Abraham), 1888-1973; Microbiologists — Biography

In his autobiography, Waksman describes his early work on soil microbiology and humus as well as his later work on "the associative and antagonistic effects of the microorganisms, to the formation of antibiotic substances, to their effect upon bacteria, and finally—and all this was particularly new—to their potential use in the control of disease" (pp. 297–298). Waksman is noted for his work in isolating neomycin, an antibiotic for tuberculosis (see Garrison-Morton, p. 251).

10. History of Viruses

QR364 .E76 1981
Eron, Carol. The Virus That Ate Cannibals. New York: Macmillan, 1981.
Description: xii, 193 p., [16] p. of plates: ill.; 22 cm
Note(s): "A portion of this book originally appeared in different form in The Washington Post, March 7, 1977" — copyright page
LC Subject(s): Virology — Popular works

After a chapter on the general nature of viruses, Eron presents six stories: "The Sting of Death" on yellow fever, "The Sculptor" on polio, "Anatomy of a Cold," "The Virus That Ate Cannibals" on kuru in Papua New Guinea, "A Perfect Crime" on cancer, and "Pay Dirt" on two manufactured drugs that destroyed viruses.

QR360 .S553 1965
Smith, Kenneth Manley. The Biology of Viruses. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Description: vii, 142 p. illus. 17 cm
Series: The Home University Library of Modern Knowledge, 254
LC Subject(s): Viruses; Virus diseases

Smith explains in the preface that he "selected a number of viruses affecting plants and animals [including humans] and described their 'life-history' or 'biography' if one can use such terms in reference to viruses. Each virus, or group of viruses, has been deliberately chosen because their study has resulted in a discovery of some importance or has led to the development of new techniques which have increased our knowledge of the subject" (p. ix). Chapters 1–7 deal with plant, bacterial, and insect viruses, and Chapters 8–12 cover viruses affecting humans and higher animals (enteroviruses, pox viruses, herpesviruses, myxoviruses, and tumour viruses).

QR360 .W5 c.3
Williams, Greer. Virus Hunters. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1960.
Description: 503 p. illus. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Viruses; Physicians; Scientists

This history of viruses, virologists, and vaccines includes the stories of Jenner, Pasteur, Stanley, Theile and yellow fever, Salk and polio, influenza strains, and cancer. Photographs of both viruses and virologists are provided.
 

11. History of Hematology

RB145 .D77
Dreyfus, Camille. Some Milestones in the History of Hematology. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1957.
Description: 87 p. ill. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Hematology — History

"These pages constitute not a history of hematology but rather a selection of landmarks along the long road the interest in the study of the blood had to travel before it reached its present-day status" (p. 1). Dreyfus begins with an overview of the study of the blood, utilizing many direct quotations. Chapters on chronic hemolytic jaundice, leukemia, and plethora vera are "most instructive to follow step by step the evolution of the knowledge of a disease" (p. 46). The final chapter is a biography of Georges Hayem, a prominent French hematologist perhaps best known for his solution used for counting erythrocytes. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 32, p. 93.
 

12. History of Pathology

R489.O7 C78
Cunha, Felix. Osler As a Gastroenterologist. San Francisco: 1948.
Description: 57 p. port., facsims. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Osler, William, Sir, 1849-1919

The first two chapters describe Osler's profound influence on almost every aspect of medicine, but most of the book is devoted to his studies — and particularly his publications on gastroenterology (e.g., cirrhosis of the liver, abdominal tumors, cancer of the stomach). Some of Osler's general comments on medicinal practice are also provided. (For a full biography of Osler, see Cushing in the History of Medicine, General section.)

RB15 .L62 1965
Long, Esmond Ray. A History of Pathology. New York: Dover, 1965.
Edition: [Enl. & corr. ed.]
Description: xviii, 199 p. illus., facsim., ports. 22 cm
Note(s): First published in 1928
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Pathology — History

This history of pathology is largely biographical in nature, organized chronologically (with about half the book covering the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). The chapters are "The Pathology of Antiquity," "Galen and the Middle Ages," "The Pathology of the Renaissance," "The Seventeenth Century," "Morgagni and the Eighteenth Century," "The Paris School at the Opening of the Nineteenth Century," "Pathology in England in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century," "Rokitansky and the New Vienna School," "Virchow and the Cellular Pathology," "Pathological Histology and the Last Third of the Nineteenth Century," "The Rise of Bacteriology and Immunology," and "Experimental and Chemical Pathology." An appendix considers "Recent Trends in Pathology, 1929–1963." Among the 55 illustrations are portraits and examples of damaged structures. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 40, p. 585.

R489.P2 A2
Paget, James, Sir. Memoirs and Letters of Sir James Paget. Edited by Stephen Paget. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1901.
Description: 438 p. front., plates, ports., facsim. 23 cm

Paget's memoirs and letters relate his childhood, medical apprenticeship, work at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London from 1834 to 1871, private practice, and publications. Along with his friend Rudolf Virchow, Paget is considered to be one of the founders of modern pathology. His anatomical studies led to many descriptions of diseases, and his popularity and success led to his appointment as surgeon to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales.
 

13. History of Disease (General)

R131 .A173 c.3
Ackerknecht, Erwin Heinz. History and Geography of the Most Important Diseases. New York: Hafner, 1965.
Edition: [1st ed.]
Description: xii, 210 p. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Medical geography

This concise survey of the history of 38 diseases from prehistory to the present (1965) covers all parts of the world. Ackerknecht emphasizes etiology, the effects of disease (e.g., Black Death) on important historical events, and geographical distributions. Symptoms, treatments, scientific contributions, and public reactions to diseases are also considered. He first deals with the acute communicable diseases: plague, chlolera, typhus, relapsing fever, dysentery, yellow fever, dengue, smallpox, chicken pox, measles, rubella, scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza, encephalitis, poliomyelitis, and epidemic meningitis. Next are chronic communicable diseases: malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, and syphilis. Also included are chronic tropical diseases (trypanosomiasis, hookworm disease, filariasis, schistosomiasis, and leishmaniasis), ergotism and milk sickness, deficiency diseases (scurvy, pellagra, beriberi, and rickets), endocrine diseases (goiter, diabetes), cancer, rheumatic diseases, mental diseases, and allergies. Thirteen maps and charts are included. "Originally published in German, 1963" (Garrison-Morton 1685.1).

RA651 .G48
Gill, Clifford Allchin. The Genesis of Epidemics and the Natural History of Disease: An Introduction to the Science of Epidemiology Based Upon the Study of Epidemics of Malaria, Influenza, & Plague. London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1928.
Description: xxvi, 550 p. tables, diagrs., charts (1 fold.) 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Epidemics; Malaria; Influenza; Plague; Diseases — Causes and theories of causation

Gill was Director of Health in Punjab, India. His thorough scholarly treatment of epidemics in general and malaria, influenza, and plague in particular emphasizes natural history, etiologies, prevalence, and symptoms. Extensive statistics on colonial India are provided, but he barely brushes on treatment and prevention. Many charts and maps are also included.

R148 .H4 1802a
Heberden, William. Commentaries on the History and Cure of Diseases. New York: Hafner, 1962.
Description: 483 p. 21 cm
Series: The History of Medicine Series, no. 18
Note(s): "Facsimile of the London 1802 edition"
LC Subject(s): Medicine — Early works to 1800; Medicine — Practice

This reprint of the English translation of Commentarii de Morborum Historia et Curatione was "published by Heberden's son and at once acquired a European reputation; '[it] had the distinction of being the last important medical treatise written in Latin' (Rolleston)" (Garrison-Morton, p. 285). It contains detailed descriptions of the symptoms and treatment, as well as etiology of, about 100 different illnesses, ranging from scarlet fever to drunkenness to smallpox to madness.

RA792 .H413 1966
Henschen, Folke. The History and Geography of Diseases. Translated by Joan Tate. New York: Delacorte Press, 1966.
Edition: [1st American ed.]
Description: xiii, 344 p. illus., maps, ports. 24 cm
Note(s): Translation of Sjukdomarnas Historia Och Geografi (Swedish)
LC Subject(s): Medical geography; Medicine — History

Henschen's description of diseases is divided into categories of infectious and non-infectious, the latter organized by affected areas of the body. Included are historical contexts, etiologies, descriptions of symptoms (often with pictures), and sometimes statistics on affected groups. Treatments are not usually emphasized. Many reproduced drawings, from ancient to modern times, and photographs of people with diseases are included. Lengthier descriptions are reserved for diseases with important historical consequences. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 42, p. 282.

R702 .M27 1958
Major, Ralph Hermon. Disease and Destiny. Logan Clendening. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1958.
Description: 49 p. illus. 22 cm
Series: Logan Clendening Lectures on the History and Philosophy of Medicine, 8th series
LC Subject(s): Clendening, Logan, 1884-1945; Medicine — History

The first part of the book considers the impact of diseases on Western history (e.g., plague in the Peloponnesian War, Black Death, Lenin's paresis). The second part is a biography of Logan Clendening, a University of Kansas doctor who emphasized physical diagnoses and keenly studied the relationship of history and disease. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 34, p. 191.

RA792 .P75
Poincaré, Léon. Prophylaxie et Géographie Médicale des Principales Maladies Tributaires de l'Hygiène. Paris: G. Masson, 1884.
Description: 500 p.: col. maps; 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Medical geography; Public health; Epidemics

Poincaré's history and medical geography of diseases (in French) begins with general considerations of malarial diseases before turning to typhoid fever, relapsing fever, typhus fever, intermittent fever, smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera, yellow fever, and plague. The second part of the book considers sicknesses related to diet: ergotism, pellagra, Trichinosis, alcoholism, scurvy, kidney stones, and gout. The final section covers meteoric diseases: pneumonia, influenza, dysentery, and hepatitis.

R708 .S59 c.2
Sigerist, Henry Ernest. Civilization and Disease. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1943.
Description: xi, [1], 255 p. plates, ports., map, facsim. 24 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine — History; Medicine and art; Medicine — Philosophy

Sigerist examines in turn how disease, particularly in Europe and the United States, has historically affected civilization. He begins by tying living conditions to the genesis and spread of disease then includes chapters on disease and economics, law, history, religion, philosophy, science, art, and literature. Included are 52 illustrations, art works, and photographs. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 16, p. 328.

R135 .S82 c.2
Steuer, Robert Otto, and John Bertrand de Cusance Morant Saunders. Ancient Egyptian & Cnidian Medicine: The Relationship of Their Aetiological Concepts of Disease. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.
Description: 90 p. illus. 20 cm
LC Subject(s): Medicine, Egyptian; Medicine, Greek and Roman; Cnidian school

Drawing primarily on ancient Egyptian papyri and works of Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen, Steuer and Saunders demonstrate a link between the Egyptian concept of whdw, "a basic aetiological principle . . . adherent to the fecal content of the bowel" (p. 3), and the Greek concept of perittoma. They thus argue that Egyptian theories of disease etiology were appropriated by the Cnidians, Greek physicians in Asia Minor. Extensive quotes are provided in Greek and Egyptian. This book is reviewed in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 35, p. 281.

RA424 .W52 c.2
Winslow, Charles-Edward Amory. Man and Epidemics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952.
Description: 246 p. illus. 23 cm
LC Subject(s): Public health — History; Sanitation; Epidemics — History

Chapter 1, "The Evolution of the Public Health Program," includes a brief overview of historical views on the causes of diseases, from ancient theories to recent advances in germ theory and health education. Chapter 2, "Objectives and Approaches," profiles efforts to contain a particular epidemic disease: typhoid fever. Chapter 3, "The Problem of Pure Water," considers water supply issues and purification methods. Chapter 4, "Disposal of Human Wastes," considers sewage policies. Chapter 5 turns to "Milk Supply," and Chapter 6 covers other "Sanitary Problems of Food Supply." Chapter 7 turns to "Insects and the Transmission of Disease," particularly malaria and yellow fever. Chapter 8, "Scourges of the Past," discusses plague, typhus fever, and other Rickettsial diseases. Chapter 9, "Challenges of the Future," concludes with tropical diseases, the relationship of poverty to disease, and international programs for sanitation.
 

14A. History of Infectious Diseases-Cholera

RC126 .B47
Benson, John Alfred. Asiatic Cholera: Its Genesis, Etiological Factors, Clinical History, Pathology, and Treatment. Chicago: J. Harrison White Co., 1893.
Description: 248 p. incl. front., illus. fold. pl. 20 cm
LC Subject(s): Cholera

Benson's detailed lectures on cholera include (as the title indicates) its etiology, effects, and treatments. In addition to biological information, historical contexts are often provided, as well as some moralizing. Highlighted epidemics include those of 1629, 1817, 1882, and 1892 in the United States and Europe, as well as in India and the South Pacific (as transmission routes). Attention is given to landscaping (e.g., drainage), public-health policies, and the efficacy of various drugs and of immunization.

RC131.A3 C5 c.2
Chambers, John Sharpe. The Conquest of Cholera: America's Greatest Scourge. New York: Macmillan, 1938.
Description: xiv p., 1 l., 366 p. front., plates, ports., maps, 2 facsim. 22 cm
LC Subject(s): Cholera — United States

Chambers begins by providing a broad historical context of Western medicine, with particular note of Sydenham's linking malaria to cholera. He then tracks the arrival of cholera in New England in 1832 and its spread throughout Canada and the United States, noting especially nineteenth-century living conditions of European immigrants as a cause. Discussion of cholera during the Black Hawk War includes quotes from letters and reports of U.S. soldiers but ignores Native American perspectives and information.