An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

JAMES, Robert

2 entries
  • 6799

A medicinal dictionary: Including physic, surgery, anatomy, chymistry, and botany, in all their branches relative to medicine. Together with a history of drugs; An account of their various preparations, combinations, and uses; and an introductory preface tracing the progress of physic, and explaining theories which have principally prevail'd in all ages of the world. With copper plates. 3 vols.

London: T. Osborne, 17431745.

The largest, most exhaustive and most learned medical dictionary written in English prior to the early 19th century. Samuel Johnson wrote the dedication and some of the articles. This was Johnson’s first venture into lexicography, and when he was done, a syndicate of booksellers asked him to write his famous dictionary. Denis Diderot collaborated on the French translation, 6 vols., Paris, 1746-48. That experience gave Diderot the idea of producing the famous Diderot et d’Alembert Encyclopédie.



Subjects: Dictionaries, Biomedical › Lexicography, Biomedical
  • 12628

Dictionnaire universel de médecine, de chirurgie, de chymie, de botanique, d'anatomie, de pharmacie, d'histoire naturelle, &c. Précédé d'un discours historique sur l'origine et les progrès de la médecine. Traduit de l'anglois de M. James. Revue, corrigé & augmenté par M. Julien Busson. 6 vols.

Paris: Briasson, David, Durand, 17461748.

James, it may be assumed, had little or nothing to do with this translation, because copyright between England and France was essentially non-existent at the time. In the process of supervising this large publication, Diderot collaborated with three "philosophes", of which only Busson was a physician. Experience with this publication gave Diderot the idea of undertaking the much larger scale project, the Encyclopédie des sciences.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.



Subjects: Dictionaries, Biomedical