Progesterone obtained in crystalline form.

First complete synthesis of a sex hormone (androsterone). With M. W. Goldberg, J. Meyer, H. Brüngger, and E. Eichenberger. Ruzicka shared the 1939 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Butenandt (No. 1195).

Isolation of testosterone from the testis. With E. Dingemanse, J. Freud, and E. Laqueur.

Isolation of oestradiol. With S. A. Thayer and E. A. Doisy.

First account of the islets of Langerhans. In 1893 Édouard Laguesse attached the name of Langerhans to the structures. Langerhans did not suggest any function for them. The book was reprinted with an English translation by H. Morrison, Bull. Hist. Med., 1937, 5, 259-97.

De Meyer was apparently the first to suggest the name “insuline” for the substance then believed to be secreted by the pancreas.

This paper reports the isolation of insulin. An extract from the pancreas of a dog, removed after ligation of the excretory duct, was found to exercise a reducing influence on the percentage of sugar in the blood. Digital facsimile from insulin.library.utoronto.ca at this link.

Crystalline insulin first obtained. See also J. Pharmacol., 1927, 31, 65-85.

Sanger sequenced the amino acids of insulin, the first of any protein. His work “revealed that a protein has a definite constant, genetically determined sequence—and yet a sequence with no general rule for its assembly. Therefore it had to have a code” (Judson, The Eighth Day of Creation, p. 188). With Andrew Peter Ryle, L. F. Smith and R. Kitai. Sanger received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 for this work; he shared the Prize in 1980 for work on the sequencing of DNA.

Observationes anatomicae, a work of 232 leaves printed in the comparatively small octavo format, with no illustrations, was the only work Fallopio published before his death from tuberculosis at age thirty-nine, and is thus the only one that can be said to be fully authentic. The remainder of Falloppio's works were edited for publication from his lecture notes, and may represent more or less than the author's original intention. Observationes was not an all-inclusive textbook of anatomy but rather a detailed critical commentary on Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica (1543), in which Falloppio attempted to correct errors in the earlier work, and to add material that Vesalius had overlooked; for this reason, there was no need for illustrations. The large amount of new material included Falloppio's investigations of primary and secondary centers of ossification, the first clear description of primary dentition, numerous contributions to the study of the muscles (especially those of the head), and the famous account of the uterine ("Falloppian") tubes, which he correctly described as resembling small trumpets (tubae), definitely proved the existence of the seminal vesicles. He also gave to the placenta and vagina their present scientific names, provided a superior description of the auditory apparatus (including the first clear accounts of the chorda tympani and semicircular canals), and was the first to clearly distinguish the trochlear nerve of the eye. Vesalius responded positively to Falloppio's work with his posthumously published Examen on Falloppio (1564).

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

De Graaf demonstrated ovulation anatomically, pathologically and experimentally. In the above work he included the first account of the “Graafian follicle”. Translation of Chapter XII, dealing with the ovaries, by G. W. Corner in Essays in biology in honor of Herbert M. Evans, Berkeley, 1943. Complete English translation of this and No. 1210 by H.D. Jocelyn and B.P. Setchell, J. Reprod. Fertil., Suppl. 17, 1972.

Exact and detailed account of the male reproductive system. This work and No. 1209 were translated into English and published as Suppl. 17 to J. Reprod. Fertil, 1972. Facsimile of originals, Nieuwkoop, De Graaf, 1965.

After de Graaf published his work on ovulation (No. 1209), Swammerdam asserted his priority in the above work, noting that his researches had been acknowledged in 1668 by van Horne.

Includes a brief description of “Cowper’s glands”.

Description of the “canal of Nuck”.

Cowper’s description of the glands which bear his name. He was forestalled in their discovery by Jean Méry.

“Littre’s glands” described.

The Nabothian cysts and glands of the cervix uteri first described (sect. xv).

Douglas described the peritoneum in detail; his name is perpetuated in the “pouch”, “line”, and “fold of Douglas”. He was a friend of John Hunter and brother of John Douglas, the lithotomist.

Cruikshank showed that the impregnated ovum stayed in the Fallopian tube for a period before implantation in the uterus.

Demonstration of the cellular origin of spermatozoa.

The “cave of Retzius” described.

Leydig was the first to describe the interstitial cells of the testis (“Leydig cells”).

Important studies of the erector mechanism.

Proof that the spermatozöon possesses a nucleus and cytoplasm.

“Skene’s glands”  described.

“Mackenrodt’s ligaments”, the uterosacral ligaments.

Investigation of the effect of starvation and overfeeding on the gonads and on sexual capacity.

Eustachius is credited with several anatomical discoveries, among them the tensor tympani muscle and the Eustachian tube, published in his chapter entitled De auditus organis. In the last respect, however, he was anticipated by Alcmaeon, about 500 BCE. Eustachius was the first to describe the chorda tympani as a nerve. Plate VIII illustrates the “Eustachian valve”, the valvula venae cavae in the right auricle. Eustachius recognized the thoracic duct in the horse and even detected some of its valves. His work on this structure was forgotten until Aselli’s description of the lacteals. This work includes first description of the adrenals. Several of the plates deal with the structure of the kidney.

Basing his work on the dissection of fetuses and newborn children, Eustachi was the first to study the teeth in any considerable detail. In his Libellus de dentibus attached to this work he provided an important description of the first and second dentitions and described the hard outer tissue and soft inner structure of the teeth. He also attempted an explanation of the problem of the sensitivity of the tooth’s hard structure. The Libellus has a separate title page dated 1563. It was reprinted with German translation, Wien, Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1951. It was translated into English by Joan H. Thomas and edited and introduced by David A. Chernin and Gerald Shlklar as as A little treatise on the teeth. The first authoritative book on dentistry (1563) (Canton, MA, 1999). Eustachi’s illustrations of the teeth were first published in his Tabulae anatomicae, edited by Giovanni Maria Lancisi (No. 391). For further information, including a discussion of the states of the Opuscula, see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link.

Digital facsimile of the 1563 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Classic description of the gross anatomy of the kidney. Bellini discovered the renal excretory ducts (“Bellini’s ducts”) and advanced a physical theory of the secretion of the urine. A translation of an extract from the 2nd ed. (1663) is in J. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd ed., 1966, pp. 350-52.

Includes (pp. 71-100) his essay, De renibus, in which he described the uriniferous tubules and the “Malpighian bodies”. The great detail and clarity of Malpighi’s description was unsurpassed until Bowman (No. 1231). The book also includes (pp. 125-26) the first description of Hodgkin’s disease. Strangely enough, Malpighi gives no illustration of the kidney in this work. For a reproduction and English translation  see Annals of Medical History 1925, 7, 245-6 

“Bowman’s capsule”. Bowman provided convincing evidence that the glomerular corpuscle is continuous with the renal tubule and gave the first adequate description of the vascular supply of the nephron. He described the afferent and efferent arterioles as they enter and emerge from the capsule which now bears his name. In the same paper he stated his theory of renal secretion. Bowman’s work became the basis for all future studies on the physiology of the kidney. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 258-91.

Ludwig wrote a classic monograph on renal secretion. He theorized that urine formation could be explained purely in terms of the laws of physics and chemistry, and that under the hydrostatic pressure of the blood in the capillaries of the glomerulus, protein and cell-free fluid is separated from the blood by a simple physical process of filtration. This theory contradicted Bowman’s contention that the glomerulus secretes fluid. See also Ludwig’s habitation thesis, from which the above work was expanded: De viribus physicis secretionem urinae adjuvantibus. Marburg, Elwert, 1842. Digital facsimile of th 1843 work from Goethe Univerität at this link.

Isaacs confirmed and corrected the findings of Bowman; he introduced dye experiments in the study of the kidney, from which he drew the important conclusion that the Malpighian bodies are the most important agency in the secretion of urine.

Bernard was the first to describe an effect of the renal nerves on urine flow.

Heidenhain’s “secretion” theory of renal function.

Discovery that a pressor substance (renin) is produced by the kidneys and enters the circulation by the renal veins. Abridged English translation in No. 3160.1.

Magnus and Starling reported that pituitary extracts caused expansion of the kidney and a marked and often prolonged diuresis. This was the first indication that the neurohypophysis plays a part in the regulation of urine secretion.

Starling put forward the idea that renal excretion of salt (and water) was conditioned by the volume of body fluids, particularly the blood volume. He suggested that the sum total of body fluids was arranged so that the blood supply to the brain was maintained at a point just equal to its need.

Cushny’s theory of urinary secretion was similar to that of Ludwig, with some modifications. Subsequent work of Richards and his co-workers confirmed his theory.

Proof of tubular secretion in mammals.

Richards made many experiments concerning the secretion of urine. Among other things he collected and analysed the fluid from a single glomerulus; his work confirmed the theories of Ludwig and Cushny.

Experimental proof that the initial step in urine production is the formation in Bowman’s space of a protein-free ultrafiltrate of plasma and that reabsorption of certain substances must occur in the tubules since they were present in the filtrate but absent from the final urine. One of the most significant of all publications in renal physiology.

Demonstration that the anti-diuretic action of vasopressin is exerted directly on the kidney, and that tubules of the kidney reabsorb water.

First attempt to determine the glomerular filtration rate in man.

Proof that the tubules of the kidney of a vertebrate could secrete foreign substances.

This was the first (and for many years) the only application of the Wearn-Richards procedure (No. 1239) to the mammalian kidney.

Verney elucidated the factors that determine the release of antidiuretic hormone, and introduced the osmoreceptor concept.

With A. E. Barclay, P. M. Daniel, K. J. Franklin, and M. M. L. Prichard. In studying the anurias which follow injury, especially crushing injuries and burns, Trueta’s team demonstrated that both the processes of filtration and of re-absorption are subject to nervous control, leading to the development of a more rational therapy for these conditions.

An encyclopaedic presentation of kidney physiology, including the many contributions of the author.

A theoretical treatment of the countercurrent hypothesis accompanied by data from a working model.

The initial experimental evidence advanced in support of the countercurrent hypothesis. With B. Hargitay and W. Kuhn.

Proof that tubular fluid is first concentrated in the loop of Henle, then diluted in the ascending limb of the loop before its final concentration in the collecting ducts, as predicted by the countercurrent hypothesis.

Ariëns Kappers was Professor of Neuroanatomy at Amsterdam. English translation, 1936, reprinted New York, Hafner Press, 1967.

Includes excellent bibliography.

Meckel’s graduation thesis contains the first really detailed account of the trigeminal nerve’s distribution (along with a meticulous treatment of the earlier literature), and in it he describes for the first time the pterygopalatine ganglion (Meckel’s ganglion) and the dural recess (Meckel’s cave) that lodges the trigeminal (Gasser’s) ganglion.

See also his supplementary papers on the subject, in Phil. Trans., (1767), 1768, 57, 118-31; (1770), 1771, 60, 30-35. Revised edition in book form, Shrewsbury, 1771.

The “Gasserian ganglion”, already described by Santorini and others, was named after Johann Ludwig Gasser (fl. 1757-65), Professor of Anatomy at Vienna, by his pupil Hirsch. Also published in Ludwig, C. F., Scriptores, 1791, vol. 1, pp. 244-62.

Wrisberg, Professor of Anatomy at Göttingen, is remembered for his discovery of the nervus intermedius (“nerve of Wrisberg”), described in the above treatise.

This elegantly illustrated anatomical atlas is regarded as Scarpa’s greatest work. The result of 20 years of research, it includes the first proper delineation of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, hypoglossal, and cardiac nerves, and the first demonstration of cardiac innervation. Scarpa was a skilful draughtsman. He personally trained Faustino Anderloni, the artist who made the drawings and engraved the copperplates for his books.

Contains first reference to experimental work on the motor functions of the ventral spinal nerve-roots, without, however, establishing the sensory functions of the dorsal roots. This very rare privately printed pamphlet, the original edition was limited to 100 copies, is reproduced in Medical Classics, 1936, 1, 105-20. Facsimile reprint, London, 1966. Bell’s own annotated copy, preserved in the library of The Royal Society, is reproduced in Cranefield, The Way In and the Way Out: François Magendie, Charles Bell and the Roots of the Spinal Nerves, Mt. Kisco, N.Y., Futura Publishing, 1974. See No. 1588.9. Cranefield proves that Magendie (No. 1256) discovered the “Bell-Magendie law”.

“Bell’s palsy”. The facial paralysis ensuing upon lesion of the motor nerve of the face is described here for the first time. See also his later paper, with more detailed description, in the same journal, 1829, 119, 317-30. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1936, 1, 152-69. This paper also includes the description of “Bell’s nerve”, the long thoracic.

Magendie definitely discovered that the anterior root is motor and that the dorsal root is sensory, although Romberg, Flourens, Sherrington, and others credited the discovery to Charles Bell. In this paper Magendie announced that “section of the dorsal root abolishes sensation, section of ventral roots abolishes motor activity, and section of both roots abolishes both sensation and motor activity” (Cranefield, No. 1588.9). This discovery has been called “the most momentous single discovery in physiology after Harvey”. This work was confirmed by Müller in 1831 (No. 1259). For a translation of the paper, see J. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd ed., 1966, pp. 280-85.

Further experiments, including, most probably, “the first use of strychnine as part of a study of the localization of function in the nervous system as well as being a very early example of the rational use of a known property of a drug as a tool in physiological investigation”(Cranefield, No.1588.9).

Includes Müller’s law of specific nerve energies. For an English translation, see his Elements of physiology, transl. W. Baly, London, 1838, vol. 1, pp. 766-67. Includes (p. 73) his explanation of the color sensations produced by pressure upon the retina.

Records Bell’s demonstration that the fifth cranial nerve has a sensory-motor function, his discovery of “Bell’s nerve” and the motor nerve of the face, lesion of which causes facial paralysis (Bell’s palsy). Bell was preceded in some of these discoveries by Mayo (No. 1390). Also includes the first description of myotonia. First edition, 1824.

Experimental proof of the Bell-Magendie law (see Nos. 1254 & 1256) of the spinal nerve roots.

Remak identified for the first time the myelinated fiber with its central “band of Remak” (the axon), and the unmyelinated axon or “fiber of Remak.” Fuller account in his Observationes anatomicae (No. 1262).

See No. 1260.

“Pacini’s corpuscles”, end organs of sensory nerves, earlier described by Vater in 1717.

Helmholtz succeeded in measuring the velocity of the nervous impulse, by applying the knowledge and techniques of ballistics to the problem. In 1852, using a pendulum-myograph of his own invention, he measured the duration of an electric current through a galvanometer from the moment the nerve was stimulated to its interruption when the muscle contracted. A more detailed report “Messungen über den zeitlichen Verlauf der Zukkung animalischer Muskeln und die Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit der Reizung in den Nerven”, appeared in the same journal volume, [276]-364, with its second part in the volume for 1852, 199-216.

The “law of Wallerian degeneration”. The experiments recorded in the above paper were the starting-point of the neuron theory. Waller showed that if glosso-pharyngeal and hypoglossal nerves are severed, the outer segment, containing the axi cylinders cut off from the cells, undergoes degeneration, the central stump remaining intact for a long period. From this he inferred that nerve cells nourish nerve fibers.

Türck showed that degeneration in a nerve track corresponds to the direction in which it conducts nerve impulses – ascending tracks degenerate above the lesion and descending tracks below it.

Discovery of the neuroglia.

Kühne described the neuromuscular end organ (“Kühne’s spindle”) and introduced the term “telolemma” for the outer covering of its sheath.

The best early description of proprioceptive receptors in muscles.

Deiters showed that each nerve-cell possesses an axis-cylinder or nerve-fiber process. His name is perpetuated in “Deiters’ cells” and “nucleus”. Dieters died of typhus in 1863 at the age of 29; his book was edited from Deiters' notes by the histologist, Max Schultze. See Clarke & O'Malley, The Human Brain and Spinal Cord, p. 66.

Bischoff demonstrated conclusively that there are many interconnections between the trigeminal, facial, nervus intermedius, acoustico-vestibular complex, glosso-pharyngeal, vagus, spinal-accessory, hypoglossal and the upper three cervical nerves. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.
Translated into English by Ernest Sachs, Jr. and Eva W. Valtin as Microscopic analyses of the anastomoses between the cranial nerves. Hannover, NH: University Press of New England, 1977.

Demonstration that the proximal end of a severed nerve eventually atrophies.

After successfully tetanizing a nerve-muscle preparation, Bernstein inferred, from this and additional data, that nerve is exhausted in the process. This conflicted with the findings of Bowditch (No. 1281-82) and Vvedenskii (No. 1280).

Includes his description of the “nodes of Ranvier”, interruptions of the medullary nerve sheaths.

“Golgi cells” first described.

Contains important work on the effects of mechanical stimulation of nerve.

Although Bernstein considered that nerve could be exhausted, Vvedenskii was able, in this paper, to show that such is not the case. Further proof was supplied by Bowditch (No. 1281). Digital facsimile of Vvedenskii's paper from Google Books at this link.

Bowditch demonstrated the indefatigability of nerve (“Bowditch’s law”).

Marchi’s stain, osmic acid, for degenerating myelin sheaths.

Measurement by means of photography, of the speed of the nervous impulse.

Ramón y Cajal, son of a struggling Aragonese doctor, lived to become one of the greatest of all histologists. He devised many staining methods for nervous tissue and did work of fundamental importance to neuroanatomy. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology with Golgi in 1906. By this and later work Cajal provided evidence to support the neuron doctrine. French translation including 2 additional papers, Paris, 1894. Translated into English by Neely Swanson and Larry W. Swanson as New ideas on the structure of the nervous system in man and vertebrates (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990).

An analysis of the distribution of the ventral nerve roots. Sherrington showed the association of the lateral horn cells with the sympathetic outflow.

The first of Sherrington’s papers investigating reciprocal innervation of muscles.

Nissl’s stain.

“Dogiel’s end-bulbs” – sensory nerve-endings.

Classification of the neurones of spinal and other ganglia.

From publication in fascicules, 1897-1904 (vol. 1 in 3 pts., vol. 2 in 4 pts.) This monumental work set out the cytological and histological foundations of modern neurology. Ramón y Cajal’s research confirmed the neuron doctrine; his classification of neurons provided a histological basis for cerebral localization. His descriptions of the cerebral cortex are still the most authoritative. Illustrated from Cajal’s own drawings. Revised and enlarged French translation, 2 vols., Paris, 1909-10. The French translation was translated into English by Neely Swanson and Larry W. Swanson as Histology of the nervous system in man and vertebrates. 2 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

First edition in book form, expanded from the journal publications, London: Bale, 1901. Digital facsimile of the book-form edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Bielschowsky’s method of silver staining of nerve fibers. Further paper in the same journal, 1903, 22, 997-1006.

Section of the white rami caused retrograde degeneration of the lateral column cells.

This paper opened up a new field in the study of the sensory functions of the skin, and the theories put forward in it dominated neurological thought until 1940.