Reproduces plates of important specimens from otherwise inaccessible sources. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

“Ringer’s solution”

Gowers demonstrated the dorsal spinocerebellar tract, “Gowers’s tract”, and introduced the terms myotatic and knee-jerk, which he elicited with the rubber edge of his stethoscope or a percussion hammer.

“Bourneville’s disease”, tuberous sclerosis, epiloia (p. 81). Digital facsimile from biuSante.parisdescartes.fr at this link.

For the history of the understanding of this disease see the remarkable Wikipedia Timeline of tuberous schlerosis.

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

Remak, Owen, and Virchow had previously noted the presence of what may have been parathyroids; the first systematic account of them was given by Sandström. An English translation of this paper appeared in Bull. Inst. Hist. Med., Baltimore, 1938,6, 192-222; a translation was also published in book form at Baltimore, 1938.

This  work sums up all the previous knowledge on the subject, and includes Balfour’s own significant contributions. Balfour, a pupil of Michael Foster, became professor of animal morphology in 1882; in the same year he met his death in a mountaineering accident. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

A systematic account of early human embryology that stimulated further investigation in a field in which His stood highest among his contemporaries. He was the first to study the human embryo as a whole.

“Skene’s glands”  described.

Galton spent some years in the army; he had a variety of interests, chief among them being railways, education and sanitary science. He designed the Herbert Hospital at Woolwich and he invented a ventilating fire grate.

A pioneer work on the formation and division of cells. In this third edition Strasburger established one of the principles of modern cytology, i.e., that independent cell formation does not occur but that fresh nuclei invariably arise through the division of older ones. The first edition of this book appeared in 1875.

“Golgi cells” first described.

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

Anrep studied the action of cocaine and, like Moréno y Maïz, suggested that it might be used as a local anesthetic.

Cohnheim, a pioneer pathologist, was Virchow’s most distinguished pupil. Among his many valuable experiments, the greatest was perhaps his successful inoculation of tuberculosis in the anterior chamber of the rabbit’s eye, 1877, an account of which is included in the above work. This proved that tuberculous material derived from different sources owed its infectiveness to the same contagious factor. The book first appeared in quarto, 29 pp., 1879, with a Latin imprint: Lipsiae, typis A. Edelmanni. This scarce version was followed by the more common octavo (44 pp.) recorded above. An English translation is included in D. U. Cullimore’s Consumption as a contagious disease, London, [1880].

In this study of furunculosis (“boils”) and osteomyelitis Pasteur left the first recognizable descriptions of staphylococcus and streptococcus. The term streptococcus had been coined by Billroth in 1874; however, Pasteur did not use it here. Ogston (see No.2494) named staphylococcus in 1881.

Faulds’s fingerprint method of identification.

First description (p. 106) of myocardial infarction. Leibowitz called this "the most significant contribution by a pathologist to the history of coronary heart disease." He also wrote, "This work not only provides a general description of myocardial changes following a coronary thrombosis, but also includes a very important detail, namely that of the destruction of cell nuclei. Likewise it stresses also the clinical history, since pathological findings largely depend upon the time factor" (Leibowitz, History of coronary heart disease).

This paper marked the beginning of Pasteur’s work on the attenuation of the infective organism. Noting that fowls inoculated with an attenuated form of the chicken cholera bacterium acquired immunity, he developed the idea of a protective inoculation by attenuated living cultures, and subsequently adopted this principle with anthrax, rabies, and swine erysipelas. His work laid the foundations of the science of immunology. Since 1979, the availability to scholars of Pasteur’s original laboratory notebooks has provided evidence that Émile Roux played a crucial and previously unacknowledged role in the development of the vaccine. See also his later paper in the same journal, 1880, 91, 673-80. Abridged English translation of both papers and discussion of Roux’s role in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988). Roux did receive credit from Pasteur for his work on anthrax. See No. 5169.

Sands published an account of 26 cases, in which he had operated successfully in all but two. His later publications show that he recognized the early signs of perforation of the appendix, and he advocated and practised early operation.

Mackenzie’s great reputation earned him the title of Father of British Laryngology. In 1863 he founded the Golden Square Throat Hospital, London, the first hospital in the world devoted solely to diseases of the throat; he was also the founder of the Journal of Laryngology. He was called to attend Crown Prince Frederick, afterwards Emperor Ferderick III of Germany, who suffered from, and succumbed to, a cancer of the larynx. Mackenzie was much maligned by a section of the German medical profession for refusing to agree to operation until biopsy had been performed. Three specimens proved negative and operation was delayed until too late. Mackenzie’s health was affected by his arduous duties on behalf of the Emperor and he died in 1892. The Manual was the standard work on the subject and had an important influence on the development of laryngology.

The injection method of treating hernia remained a frequently utilized procedure until the 1930s.

In his important account of beriberi, Baelz dealt with the Tokyo outbreak of 1881.

 English translation by J. C. Johnston in 1895.

Fox, who was Professor of Dermatology in New York, produced a valuable atlas of skin diseases.

Nephrolithotomy; removal of a renal calculus by a lumbar incision.

First description of dermatitis herpetiformis (“Duhring’s disease”; see No. 4083).

Kocher’s operation of radical extirpation of the tongue for carcinoma.

First extirpation of carcinomatous pylorus. Death after 12 hours. German translation in Dtsch. Z. Chir., 1881, 14, 252-60.

First "scientific" treatment of irregularities of the teeth. Kingsley made the first attempt at systematizing the treatment of occlusal abnormalities

First use of attenuated bacteria for therapeutic purposes. See also the same journal, 1881, 92, 1378-83.

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).

Salmonella typhi, causal organism of typhoid, was discovered by Eberth. Some European writers refer to the disease as “Eberth’s disease”.

Description of the ova of Paragonimus (which Baelz named Gregarina pulmonalis) and its relationship to endemic hemoptysis. Translation in Kean (No. 2268.1), p. 602.

A monograph on cancer and other diseases of the breast, including a discussion of cancer in the male breast in the final chapter. This work is also significant in the history of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Manson made a fundamental contribution to knowledge on paragonimiasis with his description of its etiology and of the parasite. He named it Distoma ringeri after Dr. Ringer, who recovered it from the lung at necropsy; it was later named Paragonimus ringeri. Reproduced in Kean (No. 2268.1), p. 603.

Tay was the first to describe amaurotic familial idiocy, his paper dealing mainly with the ocular manifestations. The condition later became known as “Tay-Sachs’s disease” (see also No. 4705).

First administration of an anesthetic (chloroform) through a metal tracheal tube introduced by the mouth (endotracheal anesthesia).

Leistikow was first to report the cultivation of the gonococcus.

In 1836 Surgeon General Joseph Lovell established a small collection of medical books for the use of his staff. This was the origin of the “Surgeon General’s Library.” John Shaw Billings did much to develop the library; he planned and started the Index Catalogue, the first large-scale subject index of any library, and the first truly comprehensive subject index of the published literature any science. Four years prior to the beginning of publication of the Index Catalogue Billings issued a Specimen Fasciculus of a Catalogue of the National Medical Library Under the Direction of the Surgeon-General, United States Army (Washington, 1876). In addition to showing the ambitious nature of his cataloguing plans, the fasciculus shows that Billings viewed the Library of the Surgeon General's Office as a national medical library. Series 1-4 indexes about 3,000,000 books, journal articles, and pamphlets. In the 5th series only monographs and theses are included. For continuation see Nos. 6784, 6786.9. In 1952 the name of the library was changed to Armed Forces Medical Library; it became the National Library of Medicine in 1956. See S. J. Greenberg & P. E. Gallagher, "The great contribution: Index Medicus, Index-Catalogue, and IndexCat," J. Med. Libr. Assoc. 97 (2009) 108–113.

The Index-catalogue is available online from the National Library of Medicine at this link.

Fowler drew attention to the association of throat infections with acute rheumatism.

Narcolepsy first fully described.

The first medical text in Spanish to use photographs as illustrations. Includes 17 lithographed plates (12 chromolithographs) and 3 original photographs (2 hand-colored). Giné y Partagás was a surgeon, dermatologist, and psychiatrist. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Privately printed pamphlet asserting the prehistoric origin of cave paintings discovered in the cave of Altamira, Cantabria, Spain by Maria Sanz de Sautuola, daughter of the author. These were first prehistoric cave paintings discovered; initially the scientific establishment refused to accept the prehistoric origin of these paintings, and other cave paintings as they were discovered.

"In 1880, Wallace published the book Island Life as a sequel to The Geographical Distribution of Animals. It surveyed the distribution of both animal and plant species on islands. Wallace classified islands into three different types. Oceanic islands, such as the Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands (then known as the Sandwich Islands) formed in mid-ocean and never part of any large continent. Such islands were characterised by a complete lack of terrestrial mammals and amphibians, and their inhabitants (with the exceptions of migratory birds and species introduced by human activity) were typically the result of accidental colonisation and subsequent evolution. He divided continental islands into two separate classes depending on whether they had recently been part of a continent (like Britain) or much less recently (like Madagascar) and discussed how that difference affected the flora and fauna. He talked about how isolation affected evolution and how that could result in the preservation of classes of animals, such as the lemurs of Madagascar that were remnants of once widespread continental faunas. He extensively discussed how changes of climate, particularly periods of increased glaciation, may have affected the distribution of flora and fauna on some islands, and the first portion of the book discusses possible causes of these great ice ages. Island Life was considered a very important work at the time of its publication. It was discussed extensively in scientific circles both in published reviews and in private correspondence^{[126]" (Wikipedia article on Alfred Russel Wallace, accessed 02-2017).}

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

"Kellogg was not only a physician, surgeon, author, and administrator, but also an inventor. Although less discussed in comparison to his food creations, he designed and improved upon a number of medical devices that aided in his surgical operations and in treatment modalities falling under the term "physiotherapy" that were regularly used at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Dr. Kellogg attempted to popularize these treatment methods, including electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, and motor therapy, in his work The Home Handbook of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine first published in 1881.^[25]

"As he specialized in certain gynecological surgeries (particularly hemorrhoidectomies and ovariotomies) and gastrointestinal surgeries, he developed various instruments for these operations including specialized hooks and retractors, a heated operating table, and an aseptic drainage tube used in abdominal surgery.^[26] Additionally, Kellogg took keen interest in devising instruments for light therapy, mechanical exercising, proper breathing, and pure water. His medical inventions spanned a wide range of applications and included a hot air bath, vibrating chair, oscillomanipulator, window tent for fresh air, pneumograph to graphically represent respiratory habits,^[26]loofah mitt, and apparatus for home sterilization of milk.^[26] Some of his inventions were even considered fashionable enough to be found in the first class gymnasium of the Titanic^{[27]" (Wikipedia article on John Harvey Kellogg, accessed 03-2017).}

Digital facsimile of the 1885 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

This work edited by John Murray and Charles Wyville Thomson, and completed by Murray after Thomson's death, was published over a 15 year period, and included about 29,500 pages and more than 3,280 plates. It treated in unprecedented detail the currents, temperatures, depths and constituents of the oceans, the topography, geology and biology of the sea bottom, and animal life in the ocean depths. It included many observations on other natural history topics including fauna of the countries visited. Some of the notable papers include Birds, by P.L.Sclater,with 30 hand-col.plates; Bones of Cetacea, by W.Turner, with 3 plates; Collections of Eggs described by P.L.Sclater; Essay on the Green Turtle by W.K.Parker with 13 plates; Essay on Shore Fishes, with 32 plates and Deep Sea Fishes, with 73 plates, both by A.Gunther; Deep-Sea Fauna of New Zealand, by A.Hamilton.

Digital facsimiles of the entire set are available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Published as Vol. 1 of Oeuvres de Docteur Jules Guerin, of which this work was all published. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Described 224 specimens in 26 categories.  The museum was colected by James Rushmore Wood.

Probably the first book published on the messurement blood pressure in mankind. Mostly concerned with normal physiologic conditions, with a small section on fluctuations in illness. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Mantegazza performed pioneering research into the physiology of pain at his experimental laboratory. His work marks the beginning of algometry, the scientific measurement of responses to pain stimuli.

Stevenson was the first woman member of the American Medical Association (AMA), the first woman appointed on the Illinois State Board of Health, and the first woman to be on staff at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Digital facsimile of the 1882 3rd edition from the U.S. National Library of Medicine at this link.

"Electrohomoeopathy (or Mattei cancer cure) is a derivative of homeopathy invented in the 19th century by Count Cesare Mattei. The name is derived from a combination of electro (referring to an electric bio-energy content supposedly extracted from plants and of therapeutic value, rather than electricity in its conventional sense) and homeopathy (referring to an alternative medicinal philosophy developed by Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century). Electrohomeopathy has been defined as the combination of electrical devices and homeopathy" (Wikipedia).

Expanded as What to do first in accidents and emergencies. A manual explaining the treatment of surgical and other injuries in the absence of the physician (1883). Digital facsimile of the 1880 edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.

The most extensive history and bibliography of teratology ever published, even though the section on malformations of single organs and parts was never completed. Contains excerpts and detailed abstracts of innumerable rare specimens from sources that are obscure and otherwise extremely difficult to obtain. Digital facsimile of vol. 1 from the Internet Archive at this link. Digital facsimiles of most, if not all, volumes are available from Google Books.

Martin devised a form of perfusion of the isolated mammalian heart – one of the greatest single contributions ever to come from an American physiological laboratory. This made possible his later work on the heart. See W. Bruce Fye,  "H. Newell Martin and the isolated heart preparation: The link between the frog and open heart surgery," Circulation , 73 (1986) 857-864.
Also in 1881 Martin published a different account: "A new method of studying the mammalian heart," Studies from the Biological Laboratory, 2 (1881) 119-130, with an engraved plate drawn by Martin.

First description of paramyoclonus multiplex, “Friedreich’s disease”.

Forms vol. 6, pt. 1 of Hermann’s Handbuch der Physiologie.

Hoppe-Seyler, one of the greatest of the physiological chemists, founded the Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie and wrote a classical textbook on the subject.

Working in Bunge’s laboratory, Lunin prepared synthetic milk diets and showed that they lacked an unknown factor necessary for animal growth, and that animals cannot live on a chemically pure (i.e. vitamin-free) diet. This was the starting point of modern research on vitamins.

Reyher, a Russian surgeon, reintroduced débridement and made a controlled study of its value in contaminated gunshot wounds during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. See No. 2177.

The most magnificent of all comparative anatomical studies of the ear, and the most beautiful studies of the ear after those of Casseri (No.1540). Retzius described the “Retzius bodies” in the labyrinth.

The Hertwig brothers formulated the “coelom” theory to account for the classification and phylogeny of metazoan animals. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Gowers left a classic account of epilepsy, a book which today is still one of the most important on the subject. He was first to note the tetanic nature of the epileptic convulsion.

Exner identified the superficial tangential fibers of the molecular layer of the cerebral cortex, known eponymically as “Exner’s plexus”.

Exner’s book of 1881 on cortical localization contained maps based on the clinical manifestations of cerebral lesions…. Exner was among those postulating the existence of precise functional ‘centers’ with a minute parcellation of the cortex, based on the belief that the site of a lesion producing a specific functional disturbance indicated the location of that function. He is best known for siting his ‘writing center’ in the posterior part of the second frontal convolution.” (Clarke and Dewhurst).

Munk made important investigations on the functions of the temporal lobes.

Isolation of hysocine (scopolamine), an anti-nausea drug.

This was the first book of its kind. It deals with the borderline between the pharmacological and the toxicological action of drugs with the untoward or side-effects of all kinds of medicaments. For details regarding this book and its author, see D. I. Macht, Ann. med. Hist., 1931, 3, 179-94, which includes a bibliography of Lewin’s writings. English translation by W. T. Alexander, with the author’s revisions, as The incidental effects of drugs. A pharmacological and clinical hand-book (New York, 1882). Digital facsimile of the 1882 edition from the Internet Archive at this link. The revised and enlarged second edition was translated by J. J. Mulheron and more appropriately titled The untoward effects of drugs. A pharmcological and clinical manual (Detroit, 1883). Digital facsimile of the 1883 translation from the Internet Archive at this link.

An outstanding textbook which today remains of value to pathologists. Ziegler was Professor of Pathology at Freiburg, and founded the Beiträge zur pathologischen Anatomie (“Ziegler’s Beiträge”).

Concato’s excellent description of tuberculous inflammation of the serous membranes resulted in the eponym “Concato’s disease”.

Introduction of methylene blue in bacteriological staining.

Ogston showed that micrococci are constantly present in acute and chronic abscesses. He discovered Staphylococcus aureus. Ogston named staphylococcus in his paper, "Micrococcus poisoning," J. Anat. Physiol., 1882, 16, 526-6; & 1883, 17, 24-58.

Tyndall interested himself in atmospheric germs and dust. His experiments on sterilization by heat led him to the discovery in 1877 of fractional sterilization (Tyndallization). His work on the subject is included in the above book, in which he also described the bactericidal effects of moulds. The researches of Tyndall, even more than those of Pasteur, dealt the final blow to the doctrine of spontaneous generation; they were fundamental for the progress of bacteriology. See No. 1932.

Koch’s description of his methods of growing bacterial cultures in gelatine solutions, making films of bacteria on cover slips and fixing them by gentle heat, and staining slides differentially by aniline. These methods are the bases on which bacteriology largely rests.

Basch’s important modifications of the methods of blood-pressure recording mark the beginning of clinical sphygmomanometry. English translation in Ruskin (No. 3160.1).

“Concato’s disease” – inflammation of the serous membranes. Involvement of the pericardium was later described by Pick (No. 2803).

In the above contributions to the knowledge of anemia, Ehrlich dealt in the first paper with the blood cells in anemia, and in the second gave the first description of the reticulocyte.

Probably the earliest record of pneumococcus. Parrot reported the discovery made by Louis Pasteur.

In the same year as Pasteur, and independently, Sternberg discovered the pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae) demonstrating its carriage in the healthy human mouth.

Jarvis nasal snare described.

“Semon’s law”. Of German birth, Semon became one of the greatest laryngologists in Britain. He developed the modern operation of laryngofissure for early cancer of the larynx.

Gellédescribed a test for determination of ossicular fixation.

“Ebstein’s disease”, hyaline degeneration and necrosis of the epithelial cells of the renal tubules, sometimes seen in diabetes mellitus.

“Maffucci’s syndrome” – cavernous hemangioma with enchondromas of skeleton, producing deformities.

First successful resection of the pylorus for cancer, the Billroth I operation.

Mikulicz was the first to use the electric oesophagoscope invented by Leiter in 1880. He was among the most distinguished of Billroth’s pupils and contributed much to cancer surgery.

Wölfler perfected the operation of gastro-enterostomy.

First successful operation in Britain for treatment of volvulus, performed 20 February, 1883.

First allograft transplantation of bone in humans.

Klebs probably saw the typhoid bacillus before Eberth, reporting it later.

First description of “march hemoglobinuria” – the condition in which physical exertion gives rise to the passage of red urine containing hemoglobin in solution.

Guyon was the outstanding French urologist of his day, an operator of great skill and a brilliant lithotomist.

Roberts reported a relationship between the finding of bacteria in the urine and the development of cystitis after catheterization.

Hahn devised the operation of nephropexy (nephrorrhaphy) for the relief of movable kidney.

Galtier immunized sheep by inoculating rabid saliva in the veins; this did not produce the disease and protected the animals from a further inoculation. His work aroused the interest of Pasteur.

This paper marks the beginning of Pasteur’s studies on rabies. English translation in R. Suzor, Hydrophobia: An account of M. Pasteur’s system…London, 1887.

A translation into German by Preyer of a previously unpublished work on the history of hypnosis by James Braid. 

Otoplasty first described. Ely died very young from tuberculosis.

Javal and Schiötz here describe an ophthalmometer invented by them.

“Volkmann’s ischemic contracture” first described. English translation in Bick, Classics of orthopaedics.

Koch showed that mercuric chloride was superior to carbolic acid, and that live steam surpassed hot air in sterilizing power.

The operation of enucleation of subperitoneal uterine fibroids by the vaginal route was introduced by Czerny. In the second paper the words “Fibromyome” and “Myomotomie” replace “Fibrome” and “Myoniotomie” in the title.

Oöphorectomy, February 1881.

Finlay was the first to suggest that the Aedes aegypti mosquito was the vector of yellow fever. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. English translation by Rudolph Matas as "The mosquito hypothetically considered as an agent in the transmission of yellow fever poison," New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal, 9 (1882) 601-616. Digital facsimile of the English translation also from Google Books at this link.

Credé introduced the practice of instillation of silver nitrate into the eyes of all newborn children as a preventive measure against ophthalmia neonatorum. Separate expanded edition with the same title, Berlin: A. Hirschwald, 1884.

Laveran first saw the malaria parasite on 20 October 1880; he at once recognized its significance. He named it Oscillaria malariae. English translation in Kean (No. 2268.1). Laveran also published a monograph on the discovery: Nature parasitaire des accidents de l’impaludisme. Description d’un nouveau parasite trouvé dans le sang…Paris: Baillière, 1881. See also his "Note sur un nouveau parasite trouvé dans le sang de plusieurs maladies atteints de fièvre palustre," Bulletin de l’Académie de Médicine, 2^nd Series. 9 (1880) 1235-1236. 

English translations in Paludism. Translated by J.W. Martin. London: New Sydenham Society, 1893. Laveran was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907.

Henoch, whose name is remembered for his description of purpura, initiated the modern concept of pediatrics. English translation, New York, 1882.

While serving in India as a veterinary surgeon, Evans discovered parasites in the blood of horses suffering from surra; this was the first pathogenic trypanosome to be described.

“Lasègue’s sign” in sciatica. Although discovered by E. C. Lasègue, it was first reported by his pupil Forst.

The first atlas of cross-sectional anatomy published in the United States. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link

Le Baron attempted diagnosis and predicted etiology on thousands of bones collected at the Musée Broca, the Musée Dupuytren, and the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle.. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Darwin's last book, published only 6 months before his death, but reporting on a subject that he had studied for more than 50 years. "He showed the services performed by earthworms in eating leaves and grinding earth in their gizzards and turning it into fertile soil, which they constantly sift and turn over down to a depth of twenty inches form the surface, thereby aerating it. He calculating from the weight of worm-casting that on one acre in one year's time eighteen tons of soil are brought up to the surface by worms. This was a pioneer study of quantaitative ecology" (Gavin de Beer in D.S.B.)

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The printed wrapper of this pamphlet has a different text:

Address delivered at the dedication of the Hall of the Boston Medical Library Association, December III., MDCCLXXVIII., by Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., President. Report of C. P. Putnam, M.D. Remarks of J.S. Billings, M.D., Prof. Justin Winsor, C.H. Lyman, M.D., Pres. C. W. Lito, D.P. Smith, M.D., C. Ellis, M.D., H.I. Bowditch, M.D. Exhibition of medical portraits. Report of the librarian, James R. Chadwick, M.D. read at the sixth annual meeting, held on october IV, MDCCCLXXXI. Repot of F.C. Shattuck, M.D., on the directory for nurses.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

Holmes's address was first published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 99 (1878) 745-774.

"Emily F. Pope, C. Augusta Pope, and Emma Call, doctors on the staff of the New England Hospital, published a study on women physicians. Their sample included a group of 430 women doctors who had graduated from various medical schools since 1870. Only 13 of the respondents reported poor health and only 4 of these ascribed their illness to the pressures of their practice. Furthermore, only 34 of the 307 who reponded to a special question regarding menstruation stated that they were periodically incapacitated. 'We do not think it would be easy,' the authors delcared, 'to find a better record of health among an equal number of women, taken at random from all over the country.' (Walsh, Doctors wanted, No women Need Apply, pp 131-32)

"Bodley sought to survey all the graduates of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania from its founding 1850 through 1880. Of the total 276 graduates, 244 were alive. Her survey is based on the 186 graduates who responded to her questionnaire" (Drachman, Hospital with a heart, p. 226). Digital facsimile from Drexel University Libraries at this link.

Digital facsimile from BnFgallica at this link.

This atlas of 100 plates containing roughly 800 individual images, with accompanying text, was both a comprehensive atlas of then-known prehistoric artifact types and an attempt at their classification. Until 1902 the scientific establishment rejected the authenticity of prehistoric cave paintings. In the 1903 second edition, the work was revised and expanded to 105 plates by Adrien de Mortillet to include recent discoveries on cave paintings, the legitimacy of which had been accepted in 1902 by Emil Cartailhac and other authorities.

Digital facsimile of the 1881 edition from the Internet Archive at this link; facsimile of the 1903 edition from Google Books at this link.

Founded in 1881, this Dutch organization is the oldest skeptical organization in the world investigating alternative medicine and quackery. It has published its periodical since 1881. The archive of the periodical may be viewed on the society's website: https://www.kwakzalverij.nl/tijdschrift/

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The author was medical superintendent of the General Leper Asylum, British Guiana, West Indies. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Croonian Lectures, 1881. Gaskell’s classical memoir on the muscles and nerves of the heart included a description of “Gaskell’s nerves”, the accelerator nerves of the heart. He showed that the motor impulses from the nerve ganglia in the sinus venosus influence the heart rhythm but do not originate cardiac movements, which are due to the rhythmic contraction of the heart muscle. This led to the artificial production of heart block, the name for which Gaskell based on an expression of Romanes. See No. 632.

Bizzozero gave the blood platelets their name and found that they play a part in blood coagulation. A German translation with additions is in Virchows Arch. path. Anat., 1882, 90, 261-332. The expanded German version was translated into English by Eugen A. Beck as On a new blood particle and its role in thrombosis and blood coagulation (Bern, 1982).

A method of determining blood volume with carbon monoxide.

Kernig drew attention to a flexor contracture of the leg on attempting to extend it on the thigh (“Kernig’s sign”), almost always present in cerebrospinal meningitis and an important diagnostic sign. A fuller description is in Z. klin. Med., 1907, 64, 19-69.

Dalton, Professor of Physiology at the universities of Buffalo and Vermont, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, was the first American to devote his time exclusively to that subject. He was present at the first demonstration of ether as an anaesthetic, Oct 16,1846, and was quick to see its possibilities as a means of illustrating his lectures with experiments on living animals. As a result of the opposition to vivisection he published the above book. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Fournier advanced the doctrine of the syphilitic origin of tabes, a hypothesis which was opposed for a time.

Among the many important contributions of Kossel was his study of the chemistry of the cell and cell-nucleus. He was professor of physiology at Marburg and Heidelberg and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1910. From physiological studies Kossel correctly concluded that the function of nuclein is neither to act as a storage substance nor to furnish energy for muscular contraction; rather, it must be associated with the formation of fresh tissue [i.e. the production of proteins.]

Forms vol. 3 of his Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Medizin und der epidemischen Krankheiten, 3te. Aufl.

Discovery of the tubercle bacillus announced March 24, 1882. This paper also contains a statement of “Koch’s postulates”. See also Nos. 2536 and 5167. Koch published a fuller account as "Die Aetiologie der Tuberkulose," Mitt. k. Gesundh. Amte,  2 (1884) 1-88, in which he reported how he had succeeded in producing experimental tuberculosis in animals after cultivating the bacillus. Historian of bacteriology Thomas Brock stated that the 1884 paper "announced what became known as Koch's postulates." Reprinted with translation in Med. Classics, 1938, 2, 821-80. Koch received the Nobel Prize in 1905.

In 2019 Juan Weiss pointed out that on p. 225 Koch published the first reference to the discovery of Agar, without crediting its discoverer, Walther Hesse, an assistant who worked in Koch's laboratory at the time.

Ziehl-Neelsen stain.

Discovery of Strep pyogenes, infectious agent of scarlet fever and other streptococcal illnesses. Fehleisen cultured it from perierysipelas lesions on humans. English translation, 1886.

Isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Ps. pyocyanea).

Fatty infiltration of the heart first described.

Digital facsimile from the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.

“Banti’s disease”. Banti described the pathological changes in the spleen in splenic anemia. A later paper in Sperimentale, 1894, 48, sez. biol., 407-32, gives an account of hepatic cirrhosis as the sequel of the earlier stage of splenic anemia; this sequel has been named “Banti’s syndrome”. A translation of this latter paper is in Medical Classics, 1937, 1, 901-27.

“Gaucher’s disease” – familial splenic anemia. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.

Isolation of Klebsiella pneumoniae (“Friedländer bacillus”), which Friedländer regarded as the causal organism in all cases of lobar pneumonia.

Ingals devised the operation of partial excision of the septum for the correction of septum deflection.

French was the first to obtain good photographs of the larynx.

First description of pancreatic necrosis, “Balser’s fat necrosis”.

First successful removal of the gallbladder.

Reverdin produced myxedema by removal of the thyroid as a whole or in part. This confirmed the earlier work of Schiff, of which Reverdin had probably not heard. See also No. 3836.

Forlanini first discussed the induction of artificial pneumothorax in the above papers; he applied it in 1888. For his report on its application, see Gazz. med. Torino, 1894, 45, 381, 401. English translation in Tubercle, 1934-35, 16, 61-87.

Experimental valvulotomy. Translation in Amer. J. Cardiol.,1973, 32,993.

Excellent pathological study of this condition (“Kaposi’s disease”), which he first described in Virchow’s Handbuch der speziellen Pathologie und Therapie, 1876, 2, 182.

Hereditary angioedema is also known as Quincke’s edema, from the latter’s excellent description of it, but he was preceded by several other writers, including Donati (No. 4011.2) and Milton (No. 4070). It is also called “Bannister’s disease”. English translation in No. 2241.

First pyloroplasty, 1882. Abstract in English in Brit. med.J., 1885, 1, 372-74.

First description of gastrosuccorrhoea (“Reichmann’s disease”). German translation in Berl. klin. Wschr., 1882, 19, 606.

Albert introduced the concept of joint arthrodesis into orthopedic surgery. This is the first description of arthrodesis of an ankle for paralytic foot. English translation in Bick, Classics of orthopaedics, 52-54.

A study of medals and tokens relating to epidemics of plague and other infectious diseases.

“Bennett’s fracture” of the first metacarpal. He was Professor of Surgery at Trinity College, Dublin.

Important modification of Hahn’s operation of nephropexy.

Asiatic relapsing fever; original work on this disease by Carter is remembered by the eponym “Carter’s fever” and the name Borrelia carteri. He reproduced the disease in the monkey.

Deutschmann was the chief protagonist of the infective theory of sympathetic ophthalmia.

Introduction of the keratoscope.

Introduction of iodoform dressing in surgery.

Cyclopropane (trimethylene) first prepared.

Original description of varicella gangrenosa.

Adams devised an operation for retroversion of the uterus, similar to that performed by Alexander (No. 6077).

Alexander’s suspension operation for retroversion of the uterus, first performed by him in 1881.

MacLeod was first to draw attention to granuloma inguinale.

Kehrer improved the technique of the Caesarean operation.

“Sänger’s operation” – the so-called “classic Caesarean section”. A preliminary note is in Arch. Gynak., 1882, 19, 370.

Third edition, revised, 1884.

One of Virchow’s distinguished pupils, von Recklinghausen gave a classic description of neurofibromatosis, adding much to the knowledge of the condition, which later became known as “Recklinghausen’s disease”. The article first appeared as a contribution to the Virchow Festschrift, also published in 1882. See No. 4566.

The author claims (p. 1) that "the first white man who smoked opium in America is said to have been a sporting character named Clendenyn. The second—induced to try it by the first—smoked in 1871." Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from BnFgallica at this link.

Delafield's work includes striking microscopic illustrations as well as explanatory text. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Extensively illustrated study of methods of conducting experiments involving vivisection.

A pioneering study of the embryology of the cardiovascular system and its relationship to congenital heart disease.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Part 1 was first published in the Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, XVI (1881). Part 2 was published in the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1890-91, XXV (1893). Part 3 was also published in the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1894-95, XXIX, 1895.
Digital facsimiles of all three parts from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

A 21-page pamphlet of the diseases and hygiene of typographers; chiefly diseases related to their exposure to lead through their hands and breathing in of of lead particles in the air as a result of poor ventilation.

Digital facsimile from BnFgallica at this link.

A little-known historical work on the history of physiology and the history of medicine by Owen, who, even though he was trained in medicine, most often wrote on topics in comparative anatomy, zoology, paleontology and evolution. Digital facsimile from the wellcomecollection.org at this link.

“Berger’s operation”, interscapulothoracic amputation. See also his monograph, Paris, Masson, 1887.

English translation, London, 1886. Digital facsimile of the 1883 edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

Gaskell showed that the efferent vasoconstrictor fibers of the heart originated from the lateral horn of the spinal cord.

See No. 824. This paper contains several tracings of the heart's electrical activity recorded with a capillary electrometer, the earliest graphic recorder of bioelectric signals. These were the "first undistorted tracings of the electrical activity of the heart" (Burch & Depasquale, A history of electrocardiography, 1990, 102).

Martin was among the first to study the effect of temperature changes upon the isolated heart.

An experimental study, by means of a balloon, of swallowing and of oesophageal contractions.

Kühne and Chittenden isolated and named several new substances during their investigation of the products of digestion. See also the same journal, 1884, 20, 11-51; 1886, 22, 409-58; 1889, 25, 358-67.

Kjeldahl, a Danish chemist, devised a method of determining the amount of nitrogen in an organic compound (“Kjeldahl’s method”). A German translation is in Z. anal. Chem., 1883, 22, 366-82.

“Westphal’s pseudosclerosis”. Later Strümpell’s description of this condition (No. 4709) led to the eponym “Westphal–Strumpell disease”.

First description of “Morvan’s disease” – a form of syringomyelia.

This work extended Hertwig’s work on fertilization (No. 495) down to the level of chromosomes, which were clearly visible in Ascaris after the sperm and egg united.

Pflüger was one of the earliest workers in the field of experimental embryology. Above, his first work on the subject, deals with the cross fertilization of different species of frog.

Cohn did much to promote school hygiene. He advocated regular examination of the eyes of school children, an idea which was put into practice in 1885. An English translation of the book appeared in 1886.

29th edition, 1989.

Schmiedeberg, leading German pharmacologist, was professor at Dorpat and Strasburg. Among his many valuable investigations may be mentioned his study of the effect of drugs on the circulation.

A collection of several papers written by Manson.

Includes (p. 500) details of his stain for the tubercle bacillus (see No. 2331.1).

Isolation of Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis.

English translation, 1884.

Strümpell gave an excellent description of ankylosing spondylitis (“Strümpell’s disease”, the “spondylose rhizomélique” of Pierre Marie, No. 4368) on p. 152 of his Lehrbuch. See No. 2229. He published an important paper on the subject in Dtsch. Z. Nervenheilk., 1897, 11, 338-42, which was translated into English in Bick, Classics of orthopaedics, 345-47. More than 30 editions of this book appeared, many translated into other languages. English translation in 1887.

Classic description of infantile scurvy (“Barlow’s disease”), which includes the pathology of the condition. See also his earlier paper in Trans. int. med. Congr., 1881, 4, 116-28. Reprinted, but without the colored lithographs and detailed list of cases included in the original, in Arch. Dis. Childh., 1935, 10, 223-52.

Kocher coined the term “cachexia strumipriva” to describe the myxedema following total extirpation of the thyroid. His work on the subject led to a better understanding of the cause of myxedema.

The fourth cardinal sign in exophthalmic goitre – tremor – was first mentioned by Pierre Marie.

Semon argued that cachexia strumipriva, myxedema, and cretinism were all due to loss of function of the thyroid. His contention, at first criticized, was later fully endorsed by the report of a committee set up by the Clinical Society of London to investigate the subject of myxoedema.

Important classification of thyroid tumors; fetal adenoma is described on p. 40.

Stadelmann studied ammonia excretion in diabetes and noted an acid substance in the urine, which Minkowski (No. 3947) showed to be ß-oxybutyric acid. Stadelmann recognized that diabetic coma was the result of the increased formation and accumulation of acids.

Thomas was the veritable founder of modern orthopedics in the British Isles. The conservative methods introduced by him were developed by Sir Robert Jones. Thomas is remembered eponymically by the “Thomas splint”.

First account of Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Klebs–Loeffler bacillus), causal organism in diphtheria, discovered by Klebs.

Later editions of this book were called Lehrbuch. The sixth edition is notable in that in it manic-depressive psychoses were first mentioned as such. Ninth edition in 1927. Kraepelin, Professor of Psychiatry successively at Dorpat, Heidelberg, and Munich, was one of the greatest of all psychiatrists and a pioneer of experimental psychiatry.

An early account of “Weil’s disease”, Leptospirosis icterohaemorrhagica.

“Reclus’s disease”. Reclus was professor of surgery in Paris; he left a classic description of chronic cystic mastitis.

Koch–Weeks bacillus, Hemophilus conjunctivitidis, or Hemophilus aegyptius. Koch discovered the bacilli of two varieties of Egyptian conjunctivitis. See also No. 5930.

The first attempts at asepsis were made by Neuber. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

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

The first reasoned argument in support of the belief of transmission of malaria by mosquitoes. King was an English-born American physician who witnessed the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in April, 1865, and as a bystander physician he was pressed into service during the assassination. He was also one of a few physicians who served in both the Confederate States Army and the United States Army during the American Civil War. Reproduced in part in Major, Classic descriptions of disease, 3rd ed., 1945, p. 104. Full text  of King's 1883 paper from Wikisource at this link.

Roux investigated why the nucleus undergoes the precise division of mitosis while the rest of the cell undergoes a rather crude division when one cell splits into two. He argued that mitosis ensures a precise halving of the nucleus, suggesting that the nucleus contains the material basis of heredity.

Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, founded the science of Eugenics. In his important Inquiries he showed mathematically “the results of his experiments on the relations between the powers of visual imagery and of abstract thought, of the associations between the elements of different sense departments, of the correlation of mental traits, the associations of words, and the times taken in making the associations” (T. K. Penniman). The word “eugenics” first appears in the above book.

“The most important American book dealing with the history of medicine up to its day” (Garrison). Among the essays Holmes chose to include were his works on homeopathy, puerperal fever, and his address at the dedication of the Boston Medical Library. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Early description of the Arnold–Chiari malformation (see Nos. 4577.1, 4581.1).

This was the most complete edition; prior editions were issued in 1875 and 1882. In 1990 Norman Publishing of San Francisco reprinted the 1883 edition with a new index to surgeons and an introduction by Ira M. Rutkow. Digital facsimile of the 1883 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Includes the first editon of Darwin's most significant contribution to psychology. This was part of Chapter 10 of Darwin's unpublished "big book" on the origin of species. Romanes attempted, with Darwin, to develop a theory of mental evolution in which development of successively higher stages of intelligence, including that of man, could be explained in terms of natural, historical causes. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

This is the best edition of Hirsch's Handbuch. Digital facsimiles of all 3 vols. from the Internet Archive at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

The author "was a celebrated Englishwoman, noted for her beauty as a Pre-Raphaelite model and philanthropist. She was the wife of the biographer Leslie Stephen and mother of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, members of the Bloomsbury Group."

Regarding this work the extraordinarily comprehensive Wikipedia article on Julia Stephen commented when I accessed it in 3-2020, "In addition to her tireless contributions to running the Stephen household, and attending to the needs of her relatives, she worked to support friends and supplicants. She had a strong sense of social justice, travelling around London by bus, nursing the sick in hospitals and workhouses. She would later write about her nursing experience in her Notes from Sick Rooms (1883).^[169] This is a discussion of good nursing practices, demonstrating fine attention to detail. A notable passage is her description of the misery caused by bread crumbs in the bed.^[170] "

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

One of the earliest serious medical studies of the subject from the anatomical, physiological, emotional, and psychological points of view. In the second edition (1887) retitled Sexual impotence in the male and female, the author added almost 50 pages on women's issues covering anatomical, physiological, and psychological reasons for absence of sexual desire in women.
Digital facsimile of the first edition from wellcomecollection.org at this link; of the 1887 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

Auvert described a new and improved closed incubator inspired by a bird/poultry incubator that Tarnier saw at a Paris zoo, and had adapted for human babies by the bird incubator's inventor, Dr. Martin.  Tarnier used that successfully at the Paris Maternité hospital in 1881, and then, with his intern, Dr. Auvard, built a new model superior at regulating and maintaining the babies's temperature. Use of the incubator caused a 50% reduction in mortality. The portion of this extensive French paper in which Auvard described the incubator was translated into English by Egbert Grandin and published as "The incubator for infants," American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, 17 (1884) 421-424.  The translation, which includes detailed drawings of the incubator, is available from the Hathi Trust at this link. The French text of the 1883 paper is available from neonatology.org at this link.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Crumpler was the first Black woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive.

In his seminal 1880 paper, Sur les maladies virulentes, et en particulier sur la maladie appelée vulgairement choléra des poules, GM-2537, Pasteur developed the idea of a protective inoculation by attenuated living cultures, and subsequently adopted this principle with anthrax, rabies, and swine erysipelas. His work laid the foundations of the science of immunology. However, in that paper Pasteur did not reveal his method of attenuation until this paper presented in September 1882, and first published in 1883. The method developed by Pasteur and his team was  "heating the anthrax bacillus at exactly between 42 and 43 degrees centigrade for at least 5-6 hours.” Toward the end of his paper they stated, “It cannot be doubted that we possess a general method of attenuation…."

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

“Möbius’s disease” – ophthalmoplegic migraine.

Classic account of agraphia.

Landouzy first suggested the infective nature of herpes.

Isolation of (ß-oxybutyric acid. (Title of second paper: Beiträge zur Kenntniss der activen ß-Oxybuttersäure).

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

“Waldeyer’s tonsillar ring”, the lymphoid ring of the nasopharynx.

From his experimental work Horsley produced evidence to support the view that myxoedema, cretinism and operative cachexia strumpriva are all due to thyroid deficiency.

Progressive muscular dystrophy (“Erb’s muscular atrophy”). Erb did much to establish the modern conception of the muscular dystrophies.

Like Braune’s other anatomical works, this is notable for its excellent illustrations.

Hobrecht was responsible for the construction of the Berlin sewers.

Ott studied the nervous regulation of body temperature. His papers on the heat-center in the brain and on the thermoinhibitory apparatus were published in the same journal, 1887, 14, 150-62, 428-38; 1888, 15, 85-104.

Thudichum, a German emigré, discovered cephalins and myelins in brain tissue. An enlarged German edition of his book was published at Tübingen, 1901. See biography by D. L. Drabkin, 1958, which includes an annotated bibliography of Thudichum’s writings. Reprint of the original work, with historical introduction by Drabkin, 1962.

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.

Besides his investigation of the specific energies of cutaneous nerves, Blix is remembered for his work on the thermodynamics of muscular contraction; he designed a muscle indicator diagram; he was also the first to suggest centrifugal force in the separation of red and white blood cells.

Introduction of paraldehyde into therapeutics as a narcotic.

Introduction of antipyrine.

Unna introduced specially coated pills for local absorption in the intestine.

Includes his test for quinine in urine. English translation of second edition, 1895-97. Binz was Professor of Pharmacology at Bonn. His most important work was perhaps the demonstration that quinine in low concentrations kills numerous micro-organisms.

Freud described his observations (with himself as subject) on the effects of cocaine, including its abolition of hunger and fatigue, the “exhilaration and lasting euphoria”. He also described its supposed non-addictiveness, calling it “absolutely harmless in long use”. He later bitterly regretted this misconception, as he himself nearly became addicted, and misuse of the drug contributed to the death of one of his dearest friends. Freud’s suggestion that cocaine might act by abolishing the effect of agencies that depress bodily feeling has since been confirmed, and his recognition of the drug’s anesthetizing qualities may have given Koller the idea to revolutionize eye surgery by using cocaine as the first local anesthetic. See No. 5678. English translation in St. Louis med. & surg. J., 1884, 47, 502-05. Revised second edition by Freud, Vienna, 1885. Also translated in Freud, The Cocaine Papers, Vienna/Zurich, 1963 and Freud, Cocaine Papers, R. Byck (ed.), New York, 1974.

Chamberland filter, an unglazed porcelain bar with pores smaller than bacteria, enabled the earliest distinction between viruses and bacteria and led in 1898 to the re-introduction of the Latin word "virus" with the infectious agent now named tobacco mosaic virus.

Gram’s method of staining bacteria (Gram stain). While not all bacteria may be definitively classified in this way, it is almost always the first step in the preliminary identification of a bacterial organism.

Metchnikoff originated the theory of phagocytosis. He described phagocytes in leucocytes and showed their function as scavengers. Abridged English translation in Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988).

Smith found that dead virus can induce immunity against the living virulent virus. Although Smith made the discovery on his own, his supervisor, D.E. Salmon, usurped credit. See Bibel, Milestones in immunology (1988) 31-32.

Gulstonian Lectures.