Recovery of influenza C virus.

Schäfer showed the close serological relationship between human influenza viruses and their avian counterparts and suggested that members of this group might change their host specificity.

Wagner separated rubella from measles and scarlet fever.

Veale introduced the term “rubella” to describe German measles.

On p. 113 is Filatov’s account of a form of rubella with a scarlatiniform rash. To this he gave the name “rubeola scarlatinosa”. (See also No. 5505.)

First description of acute infectious erythema, “fifth disease”, called also “Sticker’s disease” after the latter’s description of it in Z. prakt. Aerzte, 1899, 8, 353.

Dukes described a condition similar to that noted earlier by Filatov (No. 5503). Dukes called it the “fourth disease”, distinguishing it from scarlet fever, measles, and rubella on the ground that an attack of any of these diseases gives no immunity. The autonomy of this disease (“Filatov–Dukes disease”) is not universally accepted.

Roseola (exanthema) subitum first described as a distinct entity.

Experimental proof that rubella is caused by a virus.

Successful transfer of rubella to children by means of filtered nasal washings.

Gregg drew attention to congenital defects in infants following rubella in the mother during the early part of pregnancy.

Successful transmission of rubella.

Figures demonstrating that rubella in the first or second month of pregnancy always results in an abnormal infant. With A. L. Tostevin, B. Moore, H. Mayo, and G. H. B. Black.

Isolation of rubella virus. It was simultaneously isolated by P. D. Parkman, et al. (No. 5509.2.)

Isolation of the rubella virus.

With T. C. Panos.

With five co-authors.

First effective description of Actinomyces bovis.

Israel contributed an important early paper on the ray fungus Actinomyces. He included some drawings made by Langenbeck in 1845 and was the first to describe a human case of actinomycosis.

Ponfick recognized the causative role of Actinomyces in human actinomycosis; he established the identity of the human and animal forms of the disease. He published a book on the subject, Die Actinomykose des Menschen, eine neue Infectionskrankheit (Berlin,1882).

The first pathogenic aerobic actinomycete to be described. It was later named Nocardia farcinica and is probably identical with N. asteroides.

Isolation of Actinomyces graminis from human actinomycosis, and staining method for Actinomyces.

Eppinger isolated Cladothrix (Nocardia) asteroides in a patient suffering from pseudotuberculosis with brain abscesses and meningitis.

Isolation of Actinomyces bovis, later called Actinomyces israelii.

Nocardiosis described.

Underwood laid the foundation of modern pediatrics. His work was superior to anything that had previously appeared and remained the most important book on the subject for sixty years, passing through many editions. The first edition (p.76) includes the first description of sclerema neonatorum (“Underwood’s disease”). That edition also contains a description of "aphthae of thrush."

In the second edition (1789, volume 2, pp. 122-27) Underwood presented a description of congenital heart disease in children. This was the first pediatric treatise to do so. Also, in the second edition, volume 2, pp. 53-57 entitled "Debility of the lower extremities," Underwood was the first to consider poliomyelitis as an entity.

Discovery of Candida albicans, which Berg (No. 5518) showed to be the causal organism in thrush.

Discovery of Candida albicans in thrush.

Independently of Berg, Gruby found Candida albicans in thrush. He demonstrated its fungal nature.

Euricius Cordus, father of Valerius, wrote an important account of sweating sickness. Another edition was published at Nuremberg, also in 1529. Reproduced in Gruner’s Scriptores, 1847 (No. 5524).

Schyller’s book on sweating sickness deals with the German epidemic of 1528-30.

First English book on sweating sickness, and the first devoted to a single disease to be published in England. Caius’s work appeared a year after the last epidemic visit of the disease. From it we learn that the disease was febrile, the sweating merely a manifestation of the fever, and that it was accompanied by pain in the limbs, nausea, vomiting, and delirium. A facsimile edition of the book was published in New York, 1937; it also appears in Gruner (No. 5524) and in the 1844, 1846, and 1859 editions of No. 1678.

First modern account of the occurrence of parotitis and orchitis complicating it. Hamilton’s paper, read in 1773, by its fullness and clarity made the disease more generally known, so that within a few years many text books included descriptions of it.

A collection of all the important earlier writings on sweating sickness.

Verruga peruana.

Botriomycosis first described.

First description of psittacosis in a human.

First authentic case reported in man.

As an intern in Buenos Aires, Posadas described an Argentine soldier who had a dermatological problem since 1889. Posadas had seen the patient while a medical student in 1891, and skin biopsies revealed organisms resembling the protozoan Coccidia. See No. 5528.2.

Posadas (No. 5528.1) and Wernicke, a professor pathology in Buenos Aires, were the first to report cases of coccidioidomycosis. German translation of Wernicke’s paper in Zbl. Bakt., 1892, 12, 859-61.

U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, Bulletin No. 1. Discovery of the parasite of Texas cattle fever, Pyrosoma bigeminum, and proof that its transmission is due to the cattle tick, Boöphilus bovis. This was the first demonstration of arthropod transmission of disease. Pyrosoma bigeminum is now known as Babesia bigemina, and Boöphilus bovis as B. annulatus.

“Busse–Buschke disease” –blastomycosis of the skin due to Cryptococcus neoformans. See also No. 5529.2. Busse first described it in Zbl. Bakt., 1894, 16, 175-80.

See No. 5529.1.

“Carrion’s disease” (Oroya fever) was named by the Peruvian physician Ernesto Odriozola, after Daniel Alcides Carrión Garcia (1859-85), a student. In order to prove or disprove the connection between Oroya fever and verruga peruana Carrión had himself inoculated with blood from a patient suffering from verruga peruana, and later died of the disease.

Gilchrist’s description of blastomycosis (“Gilchrist’s disease”, “Busse-Buschke disease”, Nos. 5529.1 and 5529.2), is an important contribution to the knowledge of the infectious granulomata involving the skin.

Toxoplasma described.

Recognition that the protozoan was the pathogenic phase of a mycelial fungus.

Discovery of the actinobacillus.

Strong described organisms consistent with Histoplasma capsulatum before Darling, although his work was overshadowed by the latter.

Histoplasmosis (Histoplasma capsulatum), “Darling’s disease”.

South American blastomycosis.

The causal organism of Oroya fever and verruga peruana, endemic in Peru, was named Bartonella bacilliformis after Barton, who was one of the first to observe it.

Toxoplasma described. English translation in Kean (No. 2268.1).

Splendore discovered Toxoplasma in a rabbit; it was named T. cuniculi.

Hemisporosis described.

Castellani was first to suspect that toxoplasmosis could affect humans.

Thèse de Paris, No. 267, 1914. Magrou showed botriomycosis (granuloma pyogenicum) to be due to a staphylococcus.

Description of Torula histolytica infection in man, later shown to be identical with Cryptococcus neoformans. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

First description of herpangina, an acute infection associated with Coxsackie viruses.

Ashworth was the first to show that Rhinosporidium was a fungus.

Phlebotomus sand flies shown to be the vector of Oroya fever. With R. C. Shannon, E. B. Tilden, and J. B. Tyler.

Becker first clearly described Colorado tick fever as a separate entity and suggested that the causal organism was transmitted by the tick, Dermacentor andersoni.

Discovery of the causal agent of psittacosis, Chlamydia psittaci. Simultaneously A. C. Coles (Lancet, 1930, 1, 1011-12) and R. D. Lillie (Publ. Hlth. Rep., Wash., 1930, 45, 773-78) made the same discovery, and the elementary bodies of psittacosis are known as the Levinthal–Coles–Lillie (LCL) bodies.

First full description of epidemic myositis, “Bornholm disease”. See also Sylvest’s monograph on the subject, London, 1934.

First description.

Conclusive proof of the causal relationship of the psittacosis agent to the infection.

Cultivation of Histoplasma capsulatum before DeMonbreun (No. 5542); preliminary announcement in Science, 1933, 77, Suppl. 2002, p. 8. DeMonbreun and Hansmann & Schenken independently and almost simultaneously demonstrated the fungal nature of the pathogen.

Demonstration of the fungal nature of the pathogen.

Isolation of mumps virus.

Definite recognition of human toxoplasmosis. See also their later paper in the same journal, 1938, 7, 266-83.

With E. P. Maris, and L. W. Kane.

Isolation of the Coxsackie virus from the stool of a patient residing in Coxsackie, New York.

Isolation of the Coxsackie virus from patients with poliomyelitis. With E. W. Shaw.

Authoritative and well-illustrated history with excellent chronological bibliography.

Isolation of the virus of Colorado tick fever. With M. S. Miller and E. R. Mugrage.

First description.

An arenovirus infection first noted in Lassa, N. E. Nigeria, in 1969. With J. M. Baldwin, D. J. Gocke, and J. M. Troup.

Preliminary note in Nature (Lond.), 1970, 227, 174. Lassa Hemorrhagic Fever is endemic to the West African countries of Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

An extensive bibliography, and substantial excerpts from practically every important reference made to each of 30 communicable diseases, from 1800 onwards.

Digital facsimile from Washington State University Digital Collections at this link.

At Luxor, Egypt, in 1862 the American collector and dealer in papyri Edwin Smith purchased the papyrus which bears his name. It is preserved at the New York Academy of Medicine. The original text was written about 3000 BCE; the present manuscript is a copy dating from about 1600 BCE. It is the oldest known surgical treatise and consists entirely of case reports; it describes 47 different cases of injuries and affections of the head, nose, and mouth, together with methods of bandaging. 

A more recent edition in French is: Claude Carrier and Dider Fournier, Le papyrus chirurgical Edwin Smith (New York Academy of Medicine Library). Brest: PAM, 2015. This edition includes a transcription of the text with philological analysis followed by a medical analysis case by case.

A Greek-French edition with extensive notes and commentaries by J. E. Pétrequin, surgeon-in-chief of the Hôtel-Dieu of Lyon. Operations attributed to Hippocrates included trephination and paracentesis; his most important successes were in the reduction of fractures and dislocations.

De Medicina is the oldest Western medical document after the Hippocratic writings. Written about 30 CE, it remains the greatest medical treatise from ancient Rome, and the first Western history of medicine. Celsus’s superb literary style won him the title of Cicero medicorum. De medicina deals with diseases treated by diet and regimen and with those amenable to drugs and surgery. The surgical chapters contain the first accounts of the use of ligature, excellent descriptions of lateral lithotomy and herniotomy, and the earliest discussion of the surgical remedies for mutilations -- what we now call plastic surgery, including plastic operations for restoration of the nose, lips, eyelids, ears, etc. Celsus also included numerous important contributions to dentistry, including some of the earliest Western accounts of the treatment of toothache, oral surgery, tooth extraction, and fractures of the jaw.

The text of De Medicina seems to have been neglected at some point during the Middle Ages, and when it was no longer copied, it was eventually lost. A copy was discovered in Milan in 1443. ISTC no. ic00364000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Paul of Aegiina was the most famous physician and surgeon in the Byzantine Empire during the seventh century, and probably thereafter. According to Eugene F. Rice, "Paulus Aegineta", Catalogus translationum et commentariorum IV (1980) p. 146, more codices of his works prior to the 13th century survived than any other Greek texts except the Bible and some patristic works, indicating that Paul's writings continued to be recopied and widely read. Paul gave original descriptions of lithotomy, trephining, tonsillectomy, paracentesis and amputation of the breast. The first clear description of the effects of lead poisoning also comes from him, indicating that lead poisoning was known in antiquity.

The work also contains extensive discussion of oral health including preservatives of teeth and dentrifices, affections and inflammations of the teeth and gums, on loosening teeth and removing them, on tongue-tied afflictions, and fracture of the jaws.

Paul's work, which did not have a formal title, was first published in print in the original Greek by the Aldine Press in 1528, edited by F. Torresani [Asulanus]. The manuscript on which Torresani based his text was copied by the scribe Manuel Pancratios in 1312. It is preserved in the Bibliòtheque Nationale de France (Par. gr. 2210), and bears Torresano's ownership inscription.

Three Latin translations were published in 1532. The first, entitled Opus divinum was translated from the Aldine edition by A. Torinus, and published by A. Cratander. It included books 1-5 and 7. The second, entitled De medica materia… published in Venice by L. Giunta, included the sixth book on surgery. The third, entitled Opus de re medica, published in Paris by S. de Colines, was based on a new, improved text and included all seven books in the translation of Johann Guinter von Andernach. 

This parallel Arabic-Latin edition prepared by the apothecary John Channing is the first printed edition in Arabic, and the first modern edition of the text. Digital facsimile of the 1778 edition from Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

In Roger of Salerno's Practica chirurgiae, which appeared about 1180, end-to-end suture is described, as is the value of mercurial inunction in chronic skin diseases; in his recommendation of seaweed for the treatment of goitre Roger anticipated Coindet (No. 3812). Roland of Parma [Rolando Capelluti or Capezutti] (fl. early 13th century) was a pupil of Roger, and edited his master’s books about a.d. 1230. The work was one of the most important emanating from the School of Salerno. A color facsimile with Italian translation of an illuminated medieval manuscript of Roland’s version of Roger’s work in the Bibliotheca Casanatense Roma was published in Rome, 1927. Digital facsimile of the 1854 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Theodoric, a Dominican friar, was a pupil of Hugh of Lucca (circa 1160-1257), whose teachings are reflected in his writings. Allbutt considered Theodoric to be one of the most original surgeons of all time. Borgognoni was an early advocate of cleanliness in surgical dressings. This may be viewed as foreshadowing antisepsis. His advocacy for hygienic treatement of wounds was not adoped by other authorities.

Saliceto was Professor of Surgery at Bologna about 1268; his treatise on surgery, written about 1275, was the leading work on the subject in the 13th century. William broke with tradition by claiming that pus formation was bad for wounds and for the patient. His treatise on surgery promoted the use of a surgical knife over cauterizing. 

This Italian translation is the first medical book printed in Italian, and probably the first work on surgery ever printed; the original Latin text was printed two years after the Italian edition. Book IV contains the first known treatise on surgical anatomy. English translation by Leonard D. Rosenman as The Surgery of William of Saliceto (2002).  ISTC no. is00027000. Digital facsimile from Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana at this link.

Lanfranc, the founder of French surgery, was a pupil of William of Salicet. He enjoyed a great reputation for his lecturing and bedside teaching. His Chirurgia magna was completed in 1296. According to Hirsch and others it was first published in Venice in 1490, but no copy of this edition has been traced. Above is a French translation; an English version appeared in 1565. Lanfranc was the first surgeon to describe cerebral concussion and to distinguish between simple hypertrophy and cancer of the breast. He wrote a Chirurgia parva about 1295.  ISTC No. il00051000. Very rare. The ISTC cites only 3 copies: Paris BnF, Torino N, New York, NYAM.

Henri de Mondeville was the teacher of Guy de Chauliac; he belonged to the School of Montpellier. His work was first printed as above; French translations by E. Nicaise, 1893, and A. Bos, 1897; the latter was reprinted in 1965.

Jan Yperman, became the first authority on surgery in the Low Countries during the 14th century. He was also the first medical writer in the Dutch language. He probably born in or near Ypres in Belgium, and may have studied in Paris under Lanfranc, whom he often mentions in his work. His work was first printed in Ann. Soc. Méd. Gand, 1854, 32, and re-issued as above. Another edition was published in Paris, 1936. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Guy de Chauliac studied medicine and surgery in Montpellier and Paris, and served as the personal physician to Popes Clement VI, Innocent VI and Urban V. His Chirurgia magna, written in the early 1360s, remained a standard surgical text up to the time of Ambroise Paré. The work was a compilation of the best medical ideas of the time, containing very little original material and drawing heavily upon the classical Greek and Arabic medical writings; however, Guy often used his own experience as a basis for criticism of those canonical texts.

The book’s seven chapters cover a broad range of subjects, from cancers to wounds to dentistry. Of particular interest is Guy’s insistence that surgeons study anatomy (“the surgeon who is ignorant of anatomy carves the human body as a blind man carves wood”), and his description, in his chapter on abscesses and tumors, of the Avignon plagues of 1348 and 1360, which he blamed upon the Jews and an evil conjunction of the planets. The book’s preface (“Capitulum singulare”) is an essay on the general facts that Guy thought all surgeons should know, including the liberal arts, diet, surgical instruments and operating methods; it also contains a brief history of medicine in the form of notes on earlier physicians and surgeons

Guy distinguished the various kinds of hernia from varicocele, hydrocele, and sarcocele, and described an operation for the radical cure of hernia. His book includes Guy’s views on fractures, and gives an excellent summary of the dentistry of that period. Guy discussed the anatomy of the teeth and their eruption. He also listed the maladies to which the teeth are subject, and their cures, including hygienic rules which for the most part remain true today. He described the double-lever pelican and its method of use. He also recorded how surgeons were using botanic medicines to prevent their patients from feeling pain during operations.

The first edition of 1478 was the first important medical book printed in French. ISTC no. ig00560700.  This edition is extremely rare; the ISTC cites only two copies, both in Paris: Paris BnF; Moulins BM (imperfect, fragment).

John of Arderne was the first English surgeon of note. The Stockholm manuscript preserved in the National Library of Stockholm is an illustrated vellum roll nearly 18 feet long and 15 inches wide written in England in 1412. It was written in two or three columns and includes 130 miniature paintings in color, often both artistic and humorous. The roll was first reproduced in black & white facsimile in an edition limited to 100 copies, Stockholm, Generalstabens Litografiska Anstalt, 1929. See No. 3416. The roll was first translated into English by D'Arcy Power in De arte phisicale et de cirurgia of Master John Arderne: Surgeon of Newark dated 1412  "from a transcript made by Eric Millar from the replica of the Stockholm manuscript in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum" (1922). In the 2014 annotated translation (in codex form) the entire roll and all individual miniatures were reproduced in color. Digital facsimile of the 1922 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Although not printed until 1868, this treatise was written about 1460, and is the first work of the early German surgeons. Pfolspeundt was a Bavarian army surgeon; his book includes the first allusion to the extraction of bullets, and gives an account of rhinoplasty. Some authorities have used the name “Pfolsprundt”; for an explanation of this mistake, see Muffat, in S. B. k. bayer. Akad. Wiss. München, 1869, 1, 564. It includes the earliest western account of rhinoplasty after Celsus, probably learned from one of the Brancas, itinerant Sicilian surgeons of the early 15th century. Pfolspeundt also described harelip and its treatment. Digital facsimile from Heinrich Heine Universität Dusseldorf at this link.

The first important printed surgical treatise in German. It combines a compilation of the ancient and medieval authorities with Brunschwig’s own extensive experience. It contains the first detailed account of gunshot wounds in medical literature, and is notable for its woodcuts— some of the earliest specimens of medical illustration. It was reproduced in facsimile in 1911 (Munich), 1923 (Milan), and 1967 (Gertenbach). English translation, Southwark (London), 1525.  ISTC No. ib01225000 indicates that "Several variants are known; in one the colophon reads 'M.ccc.xcvii.' Sometimes found with the 'Anathomia', which GW (Anm. 2) suggests was an addition, not earlier than Dec. 1497, to the original edition, and which is also found independently." Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

The first complete system of surgery after that of Guy de Chauliac. In 1503 Vigo became the personal surgeon to Pope Julius II. His Practica in arte chirurgia copiosa was completed in 1514 and first published in Latin. It consists of nine books ranging from a consideration of anatomy necessary for a surgeon, to sections on abscesses, wounds, ulcers, benign and malignant tumors, fractures and dislocations, pharmaceuticals, ointments and plasters, as well as sections on dentistry, exercise, diet, syphilis, among others.

De Vigo introduced a novel approach for treating mandible dislocations and described a trephine he invented, as well as a number of new instruments. He had a broad spectrum of knowledge in surgery based in part on the ancient Greek and Arabic medical literature, but mainly on his personal experience.  He contributed significantly to the revival of medicine in the sixteenth century, and can be considered as a bridge between Greek medicine of antiquity, Arabic medicine, and the Renaissance. His Practica contains an account of gunshot wounds and a section on syphilis. The book went through 40 editions; an English translation by B. Traheron was published in London, 1543. 

Gersdorff performed nearly 200 amputations. He opposed Paré’s abandonment of boiling oil for the cauterization of wounds. The book contains some instructive pictures of early surgical procedures and includes the first printed picture of an amputation. It also contains a famous image of a craniotomy. Reprinted, Darmstadt, 1967. Digital facsimile from Heidelberger historische Bestände at this link.

Paracelsus was a doctor, chemist, lecturer, and reformer. His novel doctrines gained him many followers. He expressed novel ideas for the treatment of wounds, disbelieving in the use of boiling oil for the purification of gunshot wounds. His "Chirurgia magna" went through many editions and translations. The first edition cited here was unauthorized by Paracelsus and was criticized by him.

A collection made by Gesner of various surgical works by ancient and recent authors including M. A. Blondus, A. Bolognini, G. Dondi, A. Ferri, Galen, C. Gesner, J.Langius, B. Maggi, Marianus Sanctus, Oribasius, and J. Tagault. The list of surgical writers and their works which Gesner appended to this book is one of the earliest bibliographies of surgery.

Würtz was a friend of Gessner and an admirer of Paracelsus; his book went through many editions and was translated into English, French, and Dutch. It describes the treatment of gunshot wounds, fractures, and dislocations, but does not include operative surgery.

Würtz left an unpublished work on pediatrics that was first published by his brother Rudolf in an expanded edition of Practica der Wundartzney, Basel: Sebastian Henripetri, 1612. This work was traditionally considered the first work on pediatric surgery; however, Würtz did not describe any operations—only splinting and bandaging of deformed limbs. English translation, London, 1656, which was reprinted in J. Ruhräh's Pediatrics of the Past (1925). Digital facsimile of the Basel, 1596 edition from Google Books at this link. Digital facsimile of the Basel, 1612 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. 

Paré’s first general treatise on surgery, and the most comprehensive of his treatises before his collected works (1575). Dix livres included Paré's first description of the use of the ligature in amputations, one of his greatest contributions. Paré began the work with an exposition of his method of treating gunshot wounds, including descriptions and illustrations of the instruments he used. In his second chapter he discussed the treatment of arrow wounds, reminding us that arrows were still a major weapon of war in the 16th century. In his third chapter he discussed his methods of treating fractures, and the instruments, splints, and bandaging methods required. His fourth book covered the treatment of contusions, and the use of many instruments. His fifth book concerned the treatment of burns. The sixth book concerned what he called  "caries of the bones" which caused ulceration and putrefaction. These wounds he often treated with cautery. The seventh book concerned gangrene and "mortification," their treatment by amputation, and prostheses which Paré designed for these patients, including artificial legs and artificial hands. In his eighth book Paré discussed urological diseases including surgery for urinary stricture The ninth book concerned surgery for kidney and bladder stones. The tenth book further discussed urological problems, followed by a long section in which Paré illustrated and described the widest range of his instruments and the uses for each.

Paré also had an extensive dental practice and his books contain much information on the subject. He designed several instruments for extracting teeth, including an extraction forceps for breaking and pulling the teeth, sponge obturators, and an obturator with screw closure and special forceps for placement. He described a variety of pelican which he called a daviet. He also described and illustrated artificial teeth made of bone which he attached by silver wire. English translation as Ten books of surgery with the magazine of the instruments necessary for it. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1969. See No. 55. Digital facsimile of the 1575 edition from BnF Gallica at this link

Paré was the greatest of the army surgeons before Larrey. Born in poor circumstances, he became the most famous surgeon in France. He is particularly remembered for his abandonment of boiling oil and the cautery (No. 2139), for his revival of podalic version (No. 6140), his re-introduction of the ligature and his invention of many new surgical instruments. He was the first to suggest that syphilis is a cause of aneurysm. He popularized the truss, introduced artificial limbs, and (in dentistry) reimplantation of the teeth. See also No. 59. This folio is the first edition of his collected works, reprinting texts that Paré previously published separately in octavo format. The fifth and most complete edition of the Oeuvres, containing the first printing of Paré’s final revisions, was published in Paris, 1598. English translation (from the 1582 Latin translation of the second [1579] edition) by botanist and apothecary Thomas Johnson, London, 1634. Digital facsimile of the 1575 edition from BnF Gallica at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1649 second edition in English from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Fabricius, the “Father of German Surgery”, was the first to advocate the amputation above the gangrenous or injured part. He is accredited with the first amputation of the thigh. In his work he makes no reference to Paré’s methods; he believed in the efficacy of the “weapon-salve”. See also No. 5570.

Guillemeau was Paré’s son-in-law. His splendidly illustrated work is of special importance for dentistry and for surgery for cleft lip. It describes pyorrhea alveolaris for the first time and is also the first work to refer to inorganic materials for tooth fillings and for the construction of artificial teeth. English translation, Dordrecht, 1597.

The first systematic work on the whole subject of surgery written in England. Lowe was the founder of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. This was the first medical organization in Great Britain to include physicians and surgeons together. Lowe trained in Paris but settled in Glasgow after practicing on the Continent and in London.

An anthology of 16th century writers; a good summary of the surgical knowledge of that period.

The first book on first-aid. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Fabricius’s most important work; it was the best collection of case-records available for many years. Among other things, Fabricius used a magnet to extract an iron splinter from the eye – an idea suggested to him by his wife – and he described the first field-chest of drugs for army use. He was first to remove a gallstone from a living patient (1618).

Scultetus is famous for his illustrations of surgical procedures and both surgical and dental instruments. With respect to dentistry he describes and illustrates stomatological operations and includes fine illustrations of extraction instruments. The first edition was the only edition published in folio format. This was the most popular surgical text of the 17th century. It underwent numerous editions and translations. That with the most expanded text and illustrations was published in Amsterdam, 1672. English translation from a less expanded Dutch edition, London, 1674. Digital facsimile of 1655 edition from Google Books at this link.

Pietro de Marchetti was Professor of Surgery at Padua. His book contains many valuable observations in surgery.\\

Wiseman ranks in surgery as high as does Sydenham in medicine. He made many valuable contributions to the subject; he was the first to describe tuberculosis of the joints (“tumor albus”) and he gave a good account of gunshot wounds. Wiseman became surgeon to Charles II in 1672. Books V, VI, and VII reprinted, Bath, Kingsmead, 1977.

This “quiz-compend” passed through eighteen editions. Among other things it mentions the use of vitriol buttons for checking hemorrhage and the mode of manual compression used at the Hôtel-Dieu. English translation, London, 1696.

Dionis taught operative surgery at the Jardin-du-Roi, Paris, a famous training ground for surgeons. English translation, London, 1710.

Heister was the founder of scientific surgery in Germany. His book contains many interesting illustrations and includes an account of tourniquets used in his time; Heister introduced a spinal brace. This was the most popular surgical text of the 18th century; it underwent numerous editions and translations. First English translation, London, 1743. Digital facsimile of the 1724 edition from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

Important classification of ulcers.

Bell studied under the Monros at Edinburgh. He was surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, for 29 years. He improved the methods of amputation, introducing the “triple incision of Bell”. Above is his best work.

Desault was one of the first professors at the École Pratique de Chirurgie, Paris. He made many suggestions regarding the treatment of fractures and dislocations and is one of the founders of modern vascular surgery. In Remarques et observations sur l’opération de l’anévrisme (Vol. 2,  553-80) he described his technique of tying blood vessels for the treatment of aneurism.  Desault was Xavier Bichat’s teacher, and Bichat edited the first edition of this set.
In the second edition (3 vols., 1801-3) volume 3, which concerns urological diseases, was edited by P. J. Roux. With Chopart, Desault founded urological surgery, and was one of the first to have a clear understanding of urological disease. Vol. 1 was translated into English as A Treatise on Fractures, luxations and other affections of the bones, Philadelphia, 1805. The translation of vols. 2 & 3 was entitled The Surgical Works, 2 vols., Philadelphia, 1814. Desault edited the first journal specifically on surgery: Journal de chirurgie, 4 vols., 1791-92. 

John Bell, the Scottish anatomist and brother of Charles Bell, is regarded as a founder of surgical anatomy. He was first to ligate the gluteal artery (Vol. I, pp, 421-26), and tied the common carotid and internal iliac. His illustrations were his own work, and were of a high standard.

Hey is remembered for “Hey’s saw” and “Hey’s internal derangement of the knee,” a phrase that he coined. He was an outstanding surgeon in his day; he founded and was senior surgeon of the General Infirmary, Leeds. He devised a type of amputation of the foot (“Hey’s amputation”). His book includes the description of the falciform ligament of the saphenous opening, “Hey’s ligament”. Hey described subacute osteomyelitis of the tibia before Brodie (No. 4311). He may have become interested in the knee after banging his own knee while getting out of a bath in 1773. He remained lame for the rest of his life. 

Famous as anatomist, physiologist, and neurologist, Charles Bell was also, like his brother John, an eminent surgeon. His artistic talent was even greater than that of his brother. (See No. 5588.)

A pupil of John Hunter, Abernethy became a leading surgeon in London. He was most industrious, and it is said that not even on his wedding day did he fail to give his usual daily lecture at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. His book was, in the view of D’Arcy Power, epoch-making; on pp. 234-92 he recorded the first successful ligation of the external iliac artery for aneurysm, an operation carried out by Abernethy in 1796. 

Cooper was surgeon on the field at Waterloo, and was later appointed to the chair of surgery at University College, London. His great dictionary went through seven editions during his lifetime and was translated into French, German and Italian.

The first systematic treatise on surgery written by an American. The work is notable for containing not only Dorsey’s original contributions, but for its publication of the work of Dorsey’s uncle and teacher, the pioneer American surgeon, Philip Syng Physick (1768-1837). Physick, who never learned to become a competent writer, asked his nephew to organize his teachings into a surgical handbook.

Physick, the “Father of American surgery”, graduated at Edinburgh, having been a pupil of John Hunter. He introduced several new procedures in surgery, one of which was the use of absorbable kid and buckskin ligatures to replace silk or flax sutures then in use.

Cooper, the pupil and great interpreter of Hunter, was the most popular surgeon in London during the Regency. In 1802 he gained the Copley Medal of the Royal Society. Travers was surgeon to St. Thomas’s Hospital, and particularly distinguished himself in vascular surgery and ophthalmology. The book includes a description of “Cooper’s tumor”.

In 1817 Cooper ligated the abdominal aorta. The patient died next day, but examination showed that his aorta was so diseased that he could never have recovered, while the ligation was so well performed that with a lesser degree of aortic disease the man would probably have survived. Cooper published the report of this operation in Vol. 1, 101-30.

One of the most dramatically and beautifully illustrated works in the entire literature of surgery. Hand-colored copies show more blood than is usual for surgical treatises of this period. From publication in fascicules, 1820-21. A second, undated issue appeared circa 1830. One of the images of shows an operation done on the head of a black man. This may be the earliest depiction of a black person in a medical work.

Jameson was surgeon to Baltimore Hospital for 20 years. This essay described some of the earliest multiple animal experiments used in American medical research.

Larrey’s most comprehensive surgical treatise, and the only one of his works that is extensively illustrated. Many of the plates concern surgical pathology.

Dupuytren was born in poverty and died a millionaire. He became the best surgeon of his time in France. He was a “shrewd diagnostician, an operator of unrivaled aplomb, a wonderful clinical teacher, and a good experimental physiologist and pathologist” (Garrison); his greatest contributions were in the field of surgical pathology. Vol. 1, p. 424 contains Dupuytren's classification of burns. English translation by A. S. Doane, Boston, 1833.

Malgaigne was a brilliant lecturer, notable also as a historian of medieval surgery. His Manuel was an important work on operative surgery, and was translated into English, German, Italian, and Arabic.

In its time this was the most comprehensive work on operative surgery in France; it contains some useful historical information. The first English translation appeared in New York, 1835. The atlas for that edition was never published. The best edition was the English translation annotated and significantly expanded by Valentine Mott (1785-1865), 3 vols. and atlas, New York, 1845-47.

In his day Liston was the most dexterous and resourceful surgeon in the British Isles. He was the first in the country to remove the scapula and the first – on 21 Dec. 1846 – to perform a major operation with the aid of an anesthetic. On p. 350 Liston suggested the use of a mirror which could be used for viewing edematous tumors of the larynx.

Fergusson was the founder of conservative surgery. He was surgeon of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, before being appointed to the chair of surgery at King’s College Hospital, London, a position to which he was succeeded by Lister.

Nélaton was a great teacher and operator at the Hôpital St. Louis. He invented several surgical instruments. The description of “Nélaton’s tumor” of bone appears in vol.. 2, p. 46,  and on p. 441, “Nélaton’s line”.

Pancoast was Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Jefferson Medical College. He was a fine operator and devised a number of new surgical operations and instruments. This was work contains 80 fine lithographed plates, and among its important contributions was the first extensive section on plastic surgery in an American surgical textbook. A relatively small number of copies were issued with the plates colored by hand. See No. 5746.2.

Dieffenbach’s most comprehensive work, covering in addition to reconstructive procedures, virtually all other types of procedures including amputations, paracentesis, laparotomy, hysterectomy, dental extractions, etc.

Syme, one-time colleague of Liston, succeeded to the latter’s extensive practice in Scotland. He came to London for a short time as Professor of Surgery at University College, but soon returned to Scotland. He was a popular teacher and a fine, conservative surgeon, one of the first to adopt ether anesthesia and to welcome the antiseptic principles laid down by his son-in-law, Lister.