An English translation was published in London, 2 vols., 1909-25.

One of the best single-volume histories of medicine from the bibliographical point of view, mainly for 19th century and earlier material. A rather compressed work with much detail, this is really more of a reference work than something to read from cover to cover. Garrison had a special gift for distilling the complex lifetime achievements of great physicians into a few paragraphs. In his time he was the leading American authority on the subject and wrote many papers on various aspects of medical history. Those published in Bull. N. Y. Acad. Med., 1925-35 were collected under the title of Contributions to the history of medicine, New York, Hafner, 1966. Garrison saw his so-called Introduction through four editions, the last of which appeared in 1929. That edition was frequently reprinted. See the biography by S.R. Kagan, Boston, 1948. See also "Fielding H. Garrison: the man and his book," by G. H. Brieger, Trans. Stud. Coll. Phycns. Philad., Med. Sci., 1981, 3, 1-21.

A collection of essays by several authorities, unusually well produced and illustrated for the time. Introduction to vol. 1 by Sir William Osler. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

5th edition, 1965, under the title Illustrierte Geschichte der Medizin.

The final text of these lectures, which Osler characterized as "an aeroplane flight over the progress of medicine through the ages," remained unfinished at Osler’s death, and Osler requested in his will that this and his other unfinished works not be published. In spite of this, the work was prepared for the press by Harvey Cushing, Edward Streeter, Fielding Garrison, and Leonard Mackall, and published two years after Osler's death. It remains one of the most interesting short histories of medicine, written in Osler’s usual charming style, and is still one of the best books with which to commence the study of medical history.

This was the first text that my historically-oriented physician father suggested I read regarding the history of medicine when I was about ten years old. Six and a half decades later I cannot remember how much of the text I comprehended at the time, but I recall that it made a favorable impression. We might say that it began to lay the groundwork for what came later.... - JMN.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The standard work on the history of the doctrine of “the healing power of Nature”. English translation, New York, 1932.

This work is similar in plan and scope to that of Garrison (No. 6408). Much attention is devoted to palaeopathology, with valuable accounts of the School of Salerno, and medieval and Renaissance Italian medicine. An English translation by E. B. Krumbhaar was published in 1941 and revised in 1947; new Italian editions, 1936 and 1938.

An extensively annotated bibliographical survey to the end of the 14th century. 

A highly readable outline history. Second edition revised by E.A. Underwood (1962).

Vols. 1-2 deal with the first 13 centuries of the Christian era; vols. 3-4 with the 14th and 15th centuries, vols. 5-6 with the 16th century, and vols. 7-8 with the 17th century.

Traces the evolution of medicine from the stage of superstition and magic to the present time, and shows how our knowledge of the subject has developed through the study of anatomy and physiology. Translated in English as Man and Medicine (New York, 1932).

This splendidly produced work, beautifully illustrated, was written by experts in each branch of the subject, with Laignel-Lavastine as general editor.

New edition 1968.

Shryock was one of the historians who founded and shaped the technique of writing the social history of medicine. This was his most influential work. Revised edition, 1947, translated into French, German and Japanese.

Reprinted, Dover Publications, 1960.

Posthumously published after the author died three days after childbirth.

2nd edition, 1964.

1. Primitive and archaic medicine. 2. Early Greek, Hindu and Persian medicine.

Contains extensive bibliographies.

1. Ancient science through the golden age of Greece. 2. Hellenistic science and culture in the last three centuries B.C.

Vol. 1 contains over 10,000 and vol. 2 over 7,000 references to books and papers. Vol. 1 edited by W. Artelt, vol. 2 edited by J. Steudel. Covers the years 1945-48 and 1949-52.

Includes over 1,000 illustrations, many in color.

A quarterly subject index to periodical literature on the history of medicine. Also lists new books alphabetically by author. Discontinued. See No. 6451.11

Subject section: 9 vols.; Biographical section: 5 vols.; Topographical section: 4 vols. Reproduces the card subject catalogue of the library and includes a cumulation of Current Work in the History of Medicine (No. 6451.1). Includes material published to 1977.

Digital facsimiles from the Hathi Trust at this link.

A general history of medicine from a Marxist perspective.

Over 4,000 annotated citations of works dealing with all aspects of the history of medicine and biology, including a section on individual and collected biographies.

French translation, 1978.

Rush was the first American physician to publish a detailed study of native American medicine. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Folk-Lore Society Publication No. 12. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bourke, a U.S. Army officer with experience on the American Indian frontier, was a pioneer student of native American medicine and anthropology. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Reprinted, New York, Hafner, 1962.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Navajo sandpaintings are traditionally made only for the healing ceremony in which they are used, and then destroyed. This book contains superb reproductions on sand-colored paper of watercolor versions of the sandpaintings painted by the medicine man, himself. The paintings are accompanied by an essay on this ancient form of medicine, in which the patient sat in the center of the painting and the healer chanted, and a cure was effected through the identification of the patient with divine powers portrayed in the painting and chant.

Volume 95 of The Civililization of the American Indian Series.

See also No. 6448

The Ebers Papyrus dates from about 1552 BCE. It measures 20.23 m. in length and 30 cm. in height, and is, along with the Edwin Smith Papyrus, one of the two most important surviving medical papyri. It was written in hieratic script and contains the most complete surviving record of Egyptian medicine, and dentistry, referring to diseases of the teeth and offering various toothache remedies. Like the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the Ebers Papyrus came into the possession of Edwin Smith (1822-1906) in 1862. The source of the papyrus is unknown, but it was said to have been found between the legs of a mummy in the Assassif district of the Theban necropolis. The papyrus remained in the collection of Edwin Smith until at least 1869 when it apeared in the catalog of an antiquities dealer, described as "a large medical papyrus in the possession of Edwin Smith, an American farmer of Luxor." It was purchased by Egyptologist Georg Ebers in 1873-74, who published the first edition of the text in facsimile with an introduction in 1875. It was translated into German as Papyros Ebers. Das älteste Buch über Heilkunde. Aus dem Aegyptischen zum erstenmal vollständig übersetzt von H. Joachim (Berlin, 1890). The papyrus was translated into English by B[endix Joachim] Ebell as The papyrus Ebers. The greatest Egyptian medical document. (Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard: London: Oxford University Press, 1937). It was retranslated by Paul Ghalioungui and published in 1987. See No. 8315. Digital facsimile of vol. 1 of the 1875 edition from Heidelberger historische Bestände at this link; of vol. 2 from the same source at this link. Digital facsimile of the 1890 German translation from Heidelberger historisch Bestände-digital at this link.

The Greater German Papyrus (Brugsch Papyrus) dates from about 1300 BCE. The above facsimile reproduction and translation forms vol. 1 of the Medizin der alten Aegypter series. Digital facsimile from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

A hieratic papyrus of the 13th-12th century BCE. It is a fragment of a monograph on diseases of the anus. The papyrus was reproduced with transcription by A. H. Gardiner in 1935. See No. 8318.

The first significant work on the history of Egyptian medicine, and one of the first European studies of non-European medicine. Alpini became professor of botany at Padua after having spent three years in Egypt. French translation by R. de Fenoyl, 2 vols, Cairo, Inst. Française d’Archéologie Orientate, 1979.

Sammlung gemeinverständlicher wissenscbaftlicher Vorträge, No. 255.

Clio Medica series.

A guide to the chief medical papyri, with particular attention to therapeutics.

Vol. 1. H. Grapow, Anatomie und Physiologie (1954)

Vol. 2. H. Grapow, Von den medizinischen Texten (1955)

Vol. 3. H. Grapow, Kraner, Krankheiten und Arzt (1956)

Vol. 4.1. H. von Dienes, H. Grapow, W. Westendorf, Ubersetsung der medizinischen Texte (1958)

Vol. 4.2. H. von Dienes, H. Grapow, W. Westendorf, Ubersetsung der medizinischen Text Erläuterungen (1958)

Vol. 5. H. Grapow, Die medizinischen Texte in Hieroglyphischer Umschreibung autographiert (1958)

Vol. 6. H. von Dienes, H. Grapow, Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Drogennamen (1959).

Vol. 7.1. H. von Dienes, W. Westendorf, Wörterbuch der medizinischen Texte, erste Häfte (3-r) (1961)

Vol. 7.2. H. von Dienes, W. Westendorf, Wörterbuch der medizinischen Text, zweite Häfte (h-d) (1962)

Vol. 8. W. Westendorf, Grammatike der medizinischen Texte (1962)

Vol. 9. H. von Dienes, H. Grapow, W. Estendorf, Ergänzungen (Dorgenquanten, Sachgruppen, Nachträge, Bibliographie, Generalregister) (1973).

These volumes represent the most comprehensive study of the Egyptian medical papyri.

"A full hieroglypic transcription of the most important medical papyri is to found in volume V. Paragraphs are arranged according to the parts of the body in which disease occurs and not sequentially as the papyrus was written. Thus sections of different papyri appear together, particularly for parallel passages. Any section of a particular papyrus may be found by reference to the concordance at the back of Volume V;  this also indicates page number for the corresponding German translation in Vol. IV.1. The commentary is in volume IV.2. Egyptian-German vocabulary for names of drugs is in volume VI, while all other Egyptian words are treated in volumes VII.1 and VII.2, which include citations for the more important appearances of the words in the various medical texts. The system is inevitably cumbersome to use, but the wealth of information is incomparable and unlikely to be surpassed in the foreseeable future" (Nunn, Ancient Egyptian medicine (1996) p. 25).

The Code of Hammurabi was found among the cuneiform tablets of the library of Ashurbanipal. It is now in the Louvre. It was first published in Scheil, "Textes élamites-sémitiques. Deuxième série: accompagné de 20 planches hors texte," Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse, Paris, 1902, 4, 4-162. The Code mentions the fees payable to a physician following successful treatment; these varied according to the station of the patient. Similarly, the punishment for the failure of an operation is set out. At least this shows that in Babylon 4,000 years ago the medical profession had advanced far enough in public esteem to warrant the payment of adequate fees. Digital facsimile of the 1904 translation from the Internet Archive at this link, of the 1902 edition in French at this link.  See also The Hammurabi code and the Sinaitic legislation. With a complete translation of the great Babylonian inscription discovered at Susa, by Chilperic Edwards (London, 1904). Digital facsimile of the Edwards version from the Hathi Trust at this link. 

Cuneiform medical texts from the library of Ashurbanipal, together with German translations. A valuable paper on this subject is M. Jastrow’s "The medicine of the Babylonians and Assyrians," Proceedings Royal Society of Medicine. 1913-14, 7, Sect. Hist. Med., 109-76. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link

Facsimiles of the texts of 660 cuneiform medical tablets, many of which were hitherto unpublished, from the library of Ashurbanipal. The tablets date back to the seventh century B.C. No translations are included, but Thompson interpreted and systematized many of the texts in a later work (Proceedings Royal Society of Medicine, 1924, 17, Sect. Hist. Med., 1-34; 1926, 19, Sect. Hist. Med., 29-78). Digital facsimile from Stony Brook University at this link.

Medicine preserved on cuneiform tablets, with a chronological account of discoveries in this field. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The texts of cuneiform medical tablets with extensive indices listing all known parallel passages.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

FitzPatrick Lectures, 1909-10. Allbutt was Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge and a great literary stylist. Underwood described him as the most learned and distinguished physician of the last hundred years.

Re-examination of the question of whether the public physicians employed by the Greek city-states derived their entire income from their salaried positions and thus provided free medical care or whether they received fees for their individual medical services.

Emphasizing surgery, this is an exceptionally imaginative and exquisitely designed and illustrated history of medicine in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China.

English translation entitled, Diseases in the ancient Greek world, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1989.

Ayurveda is the most ancient system of Hindu medicine; only fragments of the original remain. The early Hindus believed it to be of divine origin and ascribed it to Brahma. It dates from circa 1400-1200 BCE. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Sanskrit text. Authorities vary as to the date of Charaka. He is said to have lived at times varying between 800 BCE and 78 CE. The Samhita, or Sanhita, is one of the most ancient and complete systems of Hindu medicine to have survived. It is arranged in the form of dialogues between master and pupil and is divided into eight books. Charaka’s writing is superior to that of Susruta in the accuracy of his descriptions. What Susruta is to surgery, Charaka is to medicine.

First translation of the Suśruta Samhitā into Latin, and the first publication of this text in the West. Suśruta is said to have lived in the 6th or 5th centuries, BCE. The principal medical contribution of the ancient Hindus was in the field of surgery, and the greatest early Hindu surgeon was Suśruta, a quasi-legendary character about whose dates there is some confusion. His collection, or "Samhitā," is one of the two foundation works of ancient Indian medicine, the other being the Charaka Samhitā, a work devoted to medicine.

The Suśruta Samhitā includes the earliest description of plastic surgery; this is contained in chapter XVI of the first volume, which is devoted to the repair of torn earlobes and damaged noses, and includes the first recorded description of the pedicle flap method, subsequently named the "Indian" method. Suśruta is also credited with the description of 127 surgical instruments, and his descriptions of the operative techniques for abscesses, lithotomy, amputation, treatment of fractures and dislocations, hernia reduction and removal of foreign bodies were especially useful.

"The Suśruta-samhitā, in its extant form, in 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. The text discusses surgical techniques of making incisions, probing, extraction of foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, tooth extraction, excisions, and trocars for draining abscess, draining hydrocele and ascitic fluid, removal of the prostate gland, urethral stricture dilatation, vesicolithotomy, hernia surgery, caesarian section, management of haemorrhoids, fistulae, laparotomy and management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines and accidental perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principles of fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, apposition and stabilization including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetic. It enumerates six types of dislocations, twelve varieties of fractures, and classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery" (Wikipedia article on Sushruta, accessed 05-2017).

The Sanskrit text was published as: Suśruta Samhita. The system of Hindu medicine taught by Dhanwantari. Compiled by Suśruta. Edited by Pandit-Kulapati Jibananda Vidyasagara. 5th ed. Calcutta: Vidyasagara, Pandit-Kulapati Jibananda Vidyasagara, 1909.

From the Wikipedia: "Bhagvatsingh Sahib GCSI GCIE was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Gondal from 1869 till his death in 1944, in whose reign the state was raised to 11-gun salute state.^[1] He was the only Maharaja to take a medical degree and other degrees. Bhagvatsingh was educated at The Rajkumar College, Rajkot^[2] followed by the University of Edinburgh in 1892, where he graduated as a medical doctor in 1895 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the only princely ruler ever to do so. In 1894, he became the President of the Organising Committee of the 8th International Congress of Hygiene and Demography at Budapest. He later rose to become Vice-President of the Indian Medical Association." 2nd ed., Gondal, 1927. Digital facsimile of the 1896 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.    

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

All published.

Vol. 2 consists of plates.

Reprinted New Delhi, 1974.

Revised edition, Bombay, 1969.

A short history of the four systems of medicine practiced in India.

The first Western book on Chinese medicine, with a few brief comments on Japanese methods. This anonymous collection of translations of early Chinese texts on pulse medicine has been variously attributed to different Jesuits working in China at the time. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

One of the earliest studies of Chinese medicine published in the West. (See also Nos. 6472.10 et seq.). Cleyer edited these translations of Chinese medical texts, reproducing a series of 30 plates dealing with Chinese pulse-lore. Acu-tracts are illustrated but no acu-points. The book concerns Chinese doctrines of the pulse rather than acupuncture. Abridged English translation in No. 2670.

Translations of Chinese treatises on pulse medicine with illustrations of hands and wrists to illustrate pulse-taking. The texts published here are different from those published by Cleyer in No. 6492. Previously published in Misc. cur. Acad. Nat. Cur. (Nürnberg), Dec. II, 4, 1686, 1-144. Digital facsimile of the 1686 edition from Biusante.Parisdescartes.fr at this link.

The best account of Chinese medicine published in Europe during the 19th century, including translations from original Chinese medical texts. Dabry was French consul at Hang-Keou. Soubeiran, a pharmacist, edited his work for publication. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The writers spent 15 years in the compilation of this work, the first important contribution to the history of Chinese medicine for Western readers. Beginning with demonology, plant lore and folk medicine, the writers deal with the subject from the earliest times to the present. They tell of the high standards attained by the Chinese in the 8th century b.c., of the effect of Confucianism upon the development of surgery, of the “doctrine of the pulse”, of Chinese pharmacy and acupuncture, and of the establishment of Western medicine in present day China. Second edition, Shanghai, National Quarantine Service, 1936, reprinted, New York, AMS Press, 1973.

English translation by B. Fielding, London, 1968.

A section of Needham’s Science and civilisation in China series, separately published. Includes the best bibliography of early Western treatises on acupuncture.

The first comprehensive and analytical history of therapeutic concepts and practices in China, encompassing all aspects of Chinese medicine over 3500 years. Approximately one third of the work consists of primary texts in translation. 25th anniversary edition with new long, annotated preface, issued by same publishers in 2010.

2nd edition, 1965.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The most popular and influential medical work by Maimonides, the most famous of early Jewish physician/philosophers. This is a collection of about 1500 aphorisms derived from Galen, and divided into 24 treatises. In the 25th and final treatise Maimonides discusses Galen’s teleological ideas from the Biblical standpoint. See also No. 53. The collection also includes translations of works by Mesue and Hippocrates by Gerard of Cremona, and a translation of Rhazes by Aegidius Lusitanus (Aegidius de Scalabis).  ISTC no. im00077000. Digital facsimile from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek at this link.

A study of the diseases mentioned in the Bible.

The only significantly illustrated early book on medicine in Hebrew. This is an encyclopedia, of which approximately half concerns medicine. One of the first Jews from the Eastern ghetto to obtain a medical education at a German university, Cohn completed his degree at Padua, and served as court physician to the Turkish Sultan.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

3rd edition, 1923. Translated as Biblical and Talmudic medicine. Translated by Fred Rosner. New York, Sanhedrin Press, 1978, with enlarged index and expanded references.

References to medicine in the Old Testament, with notes and definitions, and references to the Talmud.