Soemmerring’s text-book contained only facts actually observed by him. He departed from the usual practice of including physiology with anatomy. The book was very popular in German medical schools, and Meckel considered it Soemmerring’s best work. It includes a very full list of what Soemmerring considered his anatomical discoveries.

Soemmerring was noted for his accuracy in anatomical illustration, and the above work is a fine example of his artistic sense. For it he selected the skeleton of a well-built girl of 20 years. Great care was taken in selecting the most appropriate posture and the contour of an ideally perfect female body in which the skeleton might be drawn in order properly to observe its proportions.

“Without contest the most beautiful of all anatomies for the artist and one of the most remarkable books of its time” (Hahn & Dumaitre). The plates in this work are more fantastic than any other anatomy, suggesting the work of Goya, who may have known or studied with Gamelin since Gamelin taught in Rome during the time Goya was there.

The most accurate neuroanatomical work produced before the advent of microscopic staining techniques. Vicq d’Azyr identified accurately for the first time many of the cerebral convolutions, along with various internal structures of the brain. This was the first volume of an ambitious study of anatomy and physiology which remained unfinished at Vicq d’Azyr’s premature death.

“The first great textbook contributed by the British school to modern anatomy” (Russell, No. 461).

Published in 7 fascicules and appendix while Bell was still a student, this was Bell’s first independent venture as an author. The anatomical work of Charles Bell and his brother John was among the most significant in the British Isles during the early part of the 19th century; from the artistic point of view it was probably the finest during that period.

Bichat revolutionized descriptive anatomy. Where Morgagni and others had conceived of whole organs being diseased, Bichat showed how individual tissues could be separately affected. He covered tissue pathology, system by system in the Anatomie générale, showing that tissues from different organs are similar and subject to the same diseases, and identifying 21 different types of tissues. This was done essentially without a microscope, but marks the beginning of modern histology. The above work and No. 404 are remarkable in their total reliance on verbal description to convey anatomical detail, since neither work contains a single illustration. Translated into English by George Hayward as General anatomy, applied to physiology and medicine. 3 vols., Boston: Richardson and Lord, 1822. Digital facsimile of the French edition from the Internet Archive at this link. Digital facsimile of the English translation also from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bichat was the creator of descriptive anatomy. He introduced the terms “animal” and “vegetative” system. This was his last work, unfinished at his death. Vol. 4 was prepared by Bichat's student and cousin, Mathieu-François Buisson, and vol. 5 by Philibert-Joseph Roux. Vol. 3, pp. 319-68 includes Bichat's Nerfs de la vie organique. Digital facsimiles of all 5 vols are available from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Burns was the first to suggest (p. 31) ligature of the innominate artery. His book describes “Burns’s space”, the fascial space at the suprasternal notch.

The first recorded case of chloroma (myeloid sarcoma, granulocytic sarcoma, extramedullary myeloid tumor), a manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia, is found on p. 396 of this book. This was of course, about 30 years before leukemia was understood as a disease.

This anatomy for artists and sculptors contains 38 good copperplates in black and red.

First anatomical illustrations of frozen sections. De Riemer appears to have been the first to freeze tissues in order to permit fine sectioning for the purposes of diagnosing diseased tissue. Digital facsimile from UniversitatsBibliothek Heidelberg at this link.

The first anatomical atlas illustrated by lithography, containing 300 plates in folio format. This was one of the most elaborate of the lithographic “incunabula” produced by Charles Philibert de Lasteyrie, one of the pioneer lithographers in France. In planning this atlas Cloquet intended to exploit the faster production speed resulting new technology of printing by lithography; however, no matter how fast the plates could be drawn on stone, the publication in fascicles or parts was inevitably delayed by time required to do the dissections and prepare the original drawings. Jules began his career as an apprentice to his father, J.B.A. Cloquet, an artist and engraver and art teacher, and went to medical school after working as a wax-modeler for the Paris Faculty of Medicine. Jules illustrated his own doctoral thesis on hernia, and what was more unusual, he also drew the plates on stone for the lithographic reproductions in the version of his thesis that was commercially published in 1819. For this large anatomical atlas Jules and his artist sister, Lise, created the drawings for approximately 150 plates that were original for the work. The remaining 150 plates not after drawings by the Cloquets were copied from publications by William Hunter, Soemmerring, Tiedemann, Haller, Walter, Mascagni, Charles Bell, Scarpa, and others. There were more than 3000 separate figures on the 300 plates in the complete atlas. The art was drawn on stone by Haincelin, Feillet and Dubourjal. The lithographs were printed at the presses of de Lasteyrie, Godefroy Engelmann (the other pioneer lithographer in France), and Brigeaut, a workman at de Lasteyrie's press who set up his own shop. 

A few copies of the second edition in reduced quarto format, (Paris, 1825-[36]), were issued with the plates hand-colored.

The largest of all medical books from the standpoint of format. The 44 life size engraved plates are reproduced in double elephant folio size measuring 950 x 635 mm., and include an almost incredible level of detail. Published posthumously in fascicules over ten years, very few sets were issued, some hand-colored by the artist, Antonio Serrantoni. Three plates placed end-to-end illustrate the entire figure life-size. A lithographed edition, almost indistinguishable from the engraved edition, was issued nearly simultaneously by Francesco Antommarchi (Paris, 1823-26); G-M 7242). Antommarchi, Mascagni's literary executor, had been Napoleon's physician on St. Helena, and had presided over Napoleon's autopsy. For a longer discussion of Antommarchi's version, and why two versions of this huge publication were issued almost simultaneously, see "The Double Publication of the Double Elephant Folio of Anatomy," at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. A small folio authorized version of the Pisa edition, with more conveniently sized versions of the dramatic color plates, was issued in 2 vols., Florence, Batelli, 1833. 

Among the most important of the English textbooks on anatomy. An eleventh edition was published in 1908-29.

Digital facsimile from digitalcollections.nypl.org at this link.

Classic work on the anatomy, physiology, bio-mechanics, comparative anatomy, and adaptive importance of the hand. Issued as a volume in a series entitled the "Bridgewater Treatises." The first edition has 288pp. An enlarged second edition with 314pp. was also published in 1833, without notice on the title page

“Huxley’s layer” and “membrane” of the root sheath of hair follicles.

Hyrtl’s Lehrbuch passed through 22 editions and was translated into the principal modern languages.

Hyrtl, professor of anatomy at Vienna, published the first text on topographical anatomy in German. He was for 30 years the most popular lecturer on the subject in Europe, and ranks as one of the greatest of medical scholars.

Knox, remembered because of his indiscreet association with the Edinburgh “resurrectionists”, was one of the best teachers of anatomy during the 19th century.

Pirogov was the greatest of Russian surgeons. He introduced the teaching of applied topographical anatomy in Russia. His atlas of 220 plates represents the first use on a grand scale of frozen sections in anatomical illustration, an idea first carried out by de Riemer (No. 408).

Considered by many authorities to be the greatest of the 19th-century systems of anatomy. Many structures are named after Henle, including the looped portion of the uriniferous tubules of the kidney, the layer of cells in the root sheath of a hair, and the ampulla of the uterine tube.

Gray’s textbook of anatomy remains today a standard work on the subject in the English-speaking world. The 37th edition appeared in 1989; the first American edition was published at Philadelphia, 1859. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Humphry was professor of anatomy at Cambridge and became the first professor of surgery there. He founded the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology in 1867. “Humphry’s ligament” of the knee-joint is described on p. 546 of the above book and pictured on plate 53, fig. 1.

“Ollier’s layer”, the osteogenetic layer of the periosteum.

Leidy illustrated this book himself. He was professor of anatomy at Philadelphia and the leading American anatomist of his time.

Sibson was professor of medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital. “Sibson’s fascia” and “muscle” are named after him. Plates 19-21 show movements, structure and sounds of the heart.

Fine illustrations of frozen sections. Translated into English by Edward Bellamy as An atlas of topographical anatomy after plane sections of frozen bodies. (Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1877).

Hyrtl significantly enhanced the techniques of corrosion anatomy, a technique of preparing anatomical specimens invented by Frederik Ruysch. He built up a collection unsurpassed in Europe. In this work Hyrtl described a method that he invented in which he injected the blood supplies of the different organs, the adjacent parts being eaten away by acids, in order to show the finest ramifications. The technique of wax impregnation and later corrosion was also known to the Hunters. Digital facsimile from the Heidelberg University at this link

Reid’s base line – the anthropometric base line on the skull.

“Illustrated with lithographs from hand-drawings, photographs from the nude, ethnic studies of facial features…The text…is of unusual historic interest, and includes special chapters on the anatomy of the infant, human proportions, and ethnic morphology” (Choulant, transl. Frank).

7th edition, 1921-23.

“Brodie’s ligament”, the transverse humoral ligament, described.

16th edition in English, 1967.

Intended to supplement and illustrate Macewen’s neurosurgical textbook published the same year (No. 4872). Includes coronal, sagittal and horizontal sections with commentary on each.

His was largely responsible for the Basle Nomina Anatomica, the first attempt to produce a standard anatomical nomenclature. English translation by L.F. Barker, 1907.

An important collective work.

Includes historical sketch of the systems of anatomical nomenclature.

The culmination of the life work of one of the greatest, and most prolific, anatomical illustrators of the 20th century. Includes 514 full-color plates, many of which were created for this atlas. Reproduction of previously published plates was enhanced in this superbly produced work. With S. Colacino, consulting editor.

A biobibliographical survey to 1755, including dentistry.

Haller is one of the greatest names in medical bibliography. While pursuing his monumental scientific career he found time to compile bibliographies of botany, anatomy, medicine and surgery which together form the most exhaustive summary of previous writings on these subjects. Reprinted, Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1969.

Anatomical terms used in antiquity, representing to a certain, extent a survey of the literature of ancient medicine available to Hyrtl. Digital facsimile from The Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

In this classic work Choulant traced the evolution of anatomical illustration from the early schematic plates up to his own time, including a valuable bibliography. Reprinted, Wiesbaden, 1974. An English translation by Mortimer Frank appeared in 1920 (Chicago, University Press), enriched by a chapter on anatomical illustration since Choulant, written by F. H. Garrison. A reprint of the translation appeared in 1945 with additional essays by Garrison et al, plus a new historical essay by Charles Singer. This was reprinted in 1962.  In 1843 Choulant issued a preliminary study of anatomical illustration: Die anatomischen Abbildungen des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts. Historisch und bibliographisch Erlaeutert (Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1843).

Reprinted in 1874 by Lippincott as a separate pamphlet, and in Keen’s Addresses and other papers, Philadelphia, 1905.

Hyrtl, professor of anatomy at Prague and Vienna, retired in 1874 and devoted his leisure to the writing of this and his Onomatologia anatomica. Garrison considered Hyrtl, along with Littré, among the greatest medical scholars.

A classic work on anatomical terminology. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

First-hand account of the activities of the so-called “sack-em-up” men who flourished in England and Scotland until passage in 1832 of the Anatomy Act provided legal means for physicians to obtain cadavers for dissection. The text of this book may be read at Project Gutenberg at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Medizin, Breslau, Heft 9.

Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin, Leipzig, Heft 4. Reprinted Hildesheim, 1964.

This invaluable reference book was reprinted under the title A short history of anatomy and physiology from the Greeks to Harvey, Dover, 1957.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Full descriptions, frequently annotated, of 901 items.

Full descriptions and illustrations of 355 of the most important paintings, prints, sculpture, and book illustrations concerning anatomy in its widest sense.

A history of medical illustration, but primarily covering the history of anatomy. English translation of Vol. 1 (to 1600), London: Pitman, 1970. Vol. 2, edited by Marielene Putscher, extended the work to close to time of publication. The second volume was not translated.

Includes  English translations of texts by Alessandro Achillini, Alessandro Benedetti, Berengario da Carpi, Gabriele Zerbi, Niccolo Massa, Andrés de Laguna, J. Dryander and G. B. Canano.

Includes Aristotle's De historia animalium, De partibus animalium, and De generatione animalium. Aristotle was the first scientist to gather empirical evidence about the biological world through observation. By his careful observations and excellent accounts of the natural history of those living creatures which he was able to investigate in De historia animalium Aristotle may be considered the first scientific naturalist. English translation in his Works...edited by J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross, Oxford, 1910, vol. 4.

Aristotle's De partibus animalium is the first animal physiology. English translation in his Works edited by Smith and Ross, vol. 5. That edition excluded annotations by the translator,  William Ogle, that were published in the edition of London, 1882.

Aristotle's De generatione animalium is the first textbook on embryology. "The depth of Aristotle's insight into the generation of animals has not been surpassed" (Needham). English translation in his Works, edited Smith & Ross, vol. 5. Later translations are also available.

ISTC: ia00973000

Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link

An improved version of Rösslin’s Swangern frawen. This contains the first true anatomical pictures in an obstetrics book. Rueff described smooth-edged forceps for delivery of a live baby, preceding Chamberlen, and a toothed forceps for extraction of the dead fetus. He developed a method of cephalic version combining internal and external manipulation. A Latin translation of his book, De conceptu et generatione hominis, was published by Froschauer in the same year. English translation, London, 1637.

The illustrations show contemporary ideas about mammalian embryology.

According to Charles Singer, Aranzi gave the first adequate printed account of the gravid uterus, and finally dispelled the idea of a human cotyledonous placenta. He gave by far the best description of fetal anatomy up to that time, especially examining the fetal heart, where he saw the ductus arteriosus and foramen ovale (and described their occlusion after birth). Aranzi believed the maternal and fetal circulations to be separate. He also described the ductus venosus of the fetus, and the corpora Arantii in the heart valves. Incidentally, he was the first to record a pelvic deformity. Digital facsimile of the Leiden, 1564 edition from Google Books at this link.

Coiter made several important contributions to the study of human anatomy, and was the first to elevate comparative anatomy to the rank of an independent branch of biology. His Externarum et internarum principalium humani corporis partium tabulae is a collection of ten short works, among which are the first monograph on the ear (De auditus instrumento); the earliest study of the growth of the skeleton as a whole in the human fetus (Ossium tum humani foetus . . .); the first descriptions of the spinal ganglia and musculus corrugator supercilii (in Observationum anatomicarum chirurgicarumque miscellanea); and Coiter's epochal (although unillustrated) investigation of the development of the chick in ovo (De ovorum gallinaceorum generationis. . .), based upon observations made over twenty successive days. This last was the first published study of chick embryo development based upon direct observation since the three-period description (after three, ten and twenty days of incubation) given by Aristotle in his Historia animalium two thousand years before.

Coiter was one of the first physicians to draw the illustrations for his own publications, and to take credit for them in print. It is believed that Vesalius may have done some of the simpler illustrations for the Fabrica; however, none of the Fabrica images are signed, and questions concerning their authorship have led to centuries of speculation and debate. Coiter's illustrations of the adult skeleton and skull, after Vesalius, are superior in anatomical detail; and his sketches of fetal skeletons are original. English translation with parallel Latin text and biographical introductions as Opuscula Selecta Neerlandicorum de Arte Medica XVIII (Amsterdam: Sumptibus Societatis, 1955).  See No. 284.

For further details see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Fabricius wrote at great length on embryology, inventing many theories, some of which were false. His illustrations marked a great advance on previous work. Fabricius recorded for the first time the dissection of several embryos. Facsimile reprint with translation by H. B. Adelmann, 1942.

Harvey was among the first to disbelieve the erroneous doctrine of the “preformation” of the fetus; he maintained that the organism derives from the ovum by the gradual building up and aggregation of its parts.  The chapter on on labor (“De partu”) in this book is the first work on that subject to be written by an Englishman, and the first original work on obstetrics by an English author. This book also demonstrates Harvey’s intimate knowledge of the existing literature on the embryology. He corrected many of the errors of Fabricius. Harvey considered this to be the culminating work of his life, and more significant than De motu cordis. See The analysis of the Degeneratione animalium of William Harvey by A. W. Meyer, Stanford Univ. Press, 1936. First English translation, London, 1653. New translation, with introduction and notes by G. Whitteridge, Oxford, Blackwell, 1980.

Highmore’s account of the development of the chick is the first embryological study based on microscopical examination, predating Malpighi (No. 468) by more than twenty years. This is also the first book in English to refer to the microscope. It was published within weeks of Harvey’s book (No. 467). Harvey and Highmore had collaborated on embryological research at Oxford since the 1640s.

Founding work of developmental chemical embryology, the first book to report chemical experiments on the developing mammalian embryo, and the first to give practical instructions on dissection of embryos. Needham was also the first to describe the solid bodies in the amniotic fluid, and to give a comparative account of the secondary apparatus of generation.

First accurate description, from the microscopical point of view, of the chick embryo. See No. 467.1. English translation in No. 534.1

This and the De ovo incubato (No. 468) placed the study of embryology on a sound basis, surpassing in accuracy all other contemporary work on the subject and foreshadowing some of the more important general lines of research in embryology. Malpighi's study of the development of the chicken in the egg went far beyond the work of Harvey and Fabrici, dealing with the internal structures to an unprecedented extent: his chief discoveries, illustrated in his four beautifully detailed plates, were the vascular area embraced by the terminal sinus, the cardiac tube and its segmentation, the aortic arches, the somites, the neural folds and neural tube, the cerebral and optic vesicles, the protoliver, the glands of the prestomach, and the feather follicles. According to Adelmann, Malpighi illustrated very clearly the three primary brain vesicles, and then the five secondary brain vesicles (along with the two optic vesicles).English translation in No. 534.1.

Important tracts on the anatomy and physiology of the ear. Cassebohm’s studies of the embryonic ear far surpassed his predecessors, including Valsalva and Morgagni, and were not themselves surpassed until the work of Huschke and von Baer.

Haller devised a numerical method to demonstrate the rate of growth of the fetus, showing that the rate of growth is relatively rapid in the earlier stages but that the tempo gradually decreases. He calculated the rate of growth of the chick and of the human embryo.

Wolff observed in great detail the early processes of embryonic differentiation. He disposed of the “preformation” theory, substituting his view that the organs are formed from leaf-like (blastodermic) layers. He thus laid the foundation of the “germ-layer” theory of Baer and Pander. His book includes descriptions of the “Wolffian bodies” and “ducts”. Reprinted 1966.

One of the acknowledged classics of embryology. Wolff’s description of the formation of the chick’s intestine by the rolling inwards of a leaf-like layer of the blastoderm was important as proving his theory of epigenesis. A German translation by J. F. Meckel was published in 1812.

Bonnet’s theory of generation offered the best synthesis of 18th century ideas of development and remained a leading authority until von Baer. Bonnet believed in the preformation of the embryo. He used many of Haller’s arguments to support his own opinions. J. Needham (No.533) calls him an organicistic preformationist, for his objection to epigenesis lay in the fact that it apparently did not allow for the integration of the organism as a whole.

Soemmerring met William Hunter during a visit to London in 1778. The latter’s classic work on the pregnant uterus (No. 6157) dealt only with the latter half of pregnancy. Soemmerring therefore decided, in a supplementary volume, to deal with the appearance of the embryo during the first half of pregnancy. This book is one of the best illustrated of Soemmerring’s works.

Pander’s doctoral thesis (unillustrated) in which he announced his discovery of the trilaminar structure of the chick blastoderm, a term that he coined. Pander's discovery stimulated von Baer’s research. Also in 1817 Pander paid for the publication of an illustrated German-language edition of the thesis: Beiträge zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des Hühnchens im Eye (Würzberg, 1817). Digital facsimile of the Latin edtion from the Internet Archive at this link. Digital facsimile of the German-language edition from Google Books at this link.  

Prévost and Dumas proved that the frog egg is fertilized by the entry of spermatozoa.

Discovery of the Müllerian duct.

First description of the germinal vesicle in the embryo, “Purkynĕ’s vesicle” This is located on the spot of the yolk where the embryo develops. Later identified with the cell nucleus, this formed a bridge between the large avian egg and the small ova of other animals, stimulating the researches of von Baer (No. 477). Reprinted in his Opera selecta, Prague, 1948, pp. 1-25; 2nd ed. Leipzig, L. Voss, 1830, reprinted in his Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 195-218. English translation of 2nd ed., in Essays in biology in honor of Herbert M. Evans (1943).

Announces Baer’s discovery of the mammalian ovum, the culmination of a search begun by scientists at least as early as the work of de Graaf in the 17th century (No. 1209). The pamphlet was reprinted in facsimile in Isis, 1931, 16, 315-30. English translation by C. D. O’Malley, Isis, 1956, 47, 117-53.

First description of the segmentation of the frog’s egg.

Baer, the founder of modern embryology, definitely established the “germ-layer theory”, discovered the notochord and the human ovum, and postulated the law of corresponding stages in embryonic development. With Cuvier he is the founder of modern morphology. Later in his life he devoted much time to the study of anthropology. Part of vol. 1 was published in No. 599. In response to demands by subscribers to the treatise, the publishers issued vol. 2 in incomplete form in 1837. The conclusion to vol. 2, sometimes called volume 3, was edited by Ludwig Stieda and published 12 years after von Baer’s death.

Rathke’s most notable discovery was of structures homologous with gill slits in bird and mammalian embryos. He discredited the vertebral theory of the skull.

Proof that air is necessary in the development of the embryo. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

First description of the visceral arches in vertebrates.

“Rathke’s pouch”, a diverticulum from the embryonic buccal cavity.

Bischoff contributed important original work on the development of the rabbit.

Barry was the first to observe the spermatozoon within the ovum.

Simplification of von Baer’s classification of the germ-layers.

Proof that the ovum is unicellular in all vertebrates.

First book on comparative embryology.

Best contemporary description of the segmentation furrowing of the egg.

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A new classification of tissues based on histogenesis.

“Langhans’s layer”—the cytotrophoblast, the individual cells of which are termed “Langhans’s cells”.

Waldeyer discovered the germinal epithelium.

In this work His compared the various layers and organs of the embryo to a series of elastic tubes and plates. He thought that the local inequalities of growth and the differences in the consistency of the tissues might account for the various organs and structures. This work led to the idea of “developmental mechanics”.

Demonstration that the spermatozoon enters the ovum and that fertilization occurs by the union of the nuclei of the male and female sex cells. Hertwig also established that the transfer of hereditary material is part of the same nuclear process. Hertwig was professor of anatomy at Jena and Berlin.

First detailed description of the segmentation of the mammalian ovum.

Independently of Flemming, van Beneden discovered the centrosome.

Discovery of the centrosome.

The study of cell-lineage was initiated by Whitman’s paper on Clepsine.