An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2024 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

16061 entries, 14144 authors and 1947 subjects. Updated: December 4, 2024

Browse by Publication Year 1740–1749

87 entries
  • 803

Opera.

Venice: apud F. Pitteri, 1740.

Valsalva described the aortic “sinus of Valsalva”.



Subjects: CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY › Anatomy of the Heart & Circulatory System, Collected Works: Opera Omnia, OTOLOGY
  • 4731

A case of extraordinary exostoses on the back of a boy.

Phil. Trans., 41, 369-70, 1740.

Probably the earliest description of myositis ossificans progressiva. Freke was a friend of Fielding, who mentioned him in Tom Jones.



Subjects: NEUROLOGY › Myopathies
  • 72

Opera omnia physico-medica. (Supplementum, etc) 9 vols.

Geneva: fratres de Tournes, 17401753.

Hoffmann of Halle was the most important of the Iatromechanists. He believed an ether-like “vital fluid” to be present in the nervous system and to act upon the muscles, giving them “tonus”.



Subjects: Collected Works: Opera Omnia, Medicine: General Works, PHYSIOLOGY
  • 2028.5

Avis pour donner du secours à ceux qui l’on croit noyez.

Montpellier: Imprimerie d’Augustin F. Rochard, 1740.

In this unsigned 4-page pamphlet the author argued that those who had been drowned for several hours could be resuscitated. His ideas inspired the formation of the Amsterdam Society (No. 2028.51). This anonymous work was attributed to Réaumur by various contemporary writers on drowning.

Digital facsimile of a 4-page Nancy printing of the pamphlet from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: Resuscitation
  • 2671

Essays medical and philosophical.

London: A. Millar, 1740.

First important work on clinical thermometry, and the only scientific treatment of the subject before Wunderlich.



Subjects: INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Medical Instruments › Thermometer
  • 8856

Bibliotheca botanica sive catalogus auctorum et librorum omnium qui de re botanica, de medicamentis ex vegetabilibus paratis, de re rustica, & de horticultura tractant. Accessit bibliotheca botanica Jo. Ant. Bumaldi seu potius O. Montalbani.

The Hague: J. Neaulme, 1740.

Organized in three parts: floras, medical botany, and horticultural and agricultural works. Séguier includes books, pamphlets, and references in the periodical literature. "The entries for the publications contain usually the title fully transcribed and in the original language, the place of publication, the publisher, the size .... and sometimes a critical commentary and an indication of the location where he saw the book or found a reference to it. These statements of location are obviously of great importance because they will very often allow us at once to identify the library where the publications are presently located....A useful feature is the provision of marginal notes giving relevant references to reviews, publication, comments or other secondary publications relevant to the main entry...." (Stafleu & Cowan 11624). Includes a reprint of Montalbani's bibliography of 1657. Digital facsimile of the 1740 edition from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: Agriculture / Horticulture, BIBLIOGRAPHY › Bibliographies of Botany / Materia Medica, BOTANY › History of Botany, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 9561

Die monatlich-herausgegeben Insecten-Belustigung. 4 vols.

Nuremberg: Raspe, 17401761.

Spectacular hand-colored plates."Insecten-Belustigung, appeared in 1740 and was devoted to the insects and other invertebrates like the sea anemones. His classification of the insects followed a natural system and he is regarded as one of the fathers of German entomology.[1] The fourth part is practically a monograph of the spider Araneus diadematus. The description of the animal is illustrated by six plates which show the differences in variation of the colouring of the species. They show also internal dissections. Rosenhof was interested in the production of silk but he confused the anus with the opening of silk-producing glands" (Wikipedia article on Rösel von Rosenhof accessed 9-2017). Digital facsimile from Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg at this link.



Subjects: ZOOLOGY › Arthropoda › Entomology
  • 13098

Catalogus ofte naamlyst der voornaamste zaken, dewelke op de anatomie-kamer der stadt Rotterdam te zien zyn.

Rotterdam: Stefanus Mostert, 1740.

Catalogue of the cabinet of curiosities of the anatomical theatre of Rotterdam, founded in 1642. Although anatomy theatres were originally established to teach anatomy and medical and surgical techniques to students and barber surgeons, some became a public attraction. This catalogue lists the no fewer than 573 curiosities including 245 minerals from all over the world, listed in a separate section.The catalogue lists 328 anatomical specimens, displayed in several rooms and cabinets. Some are the more “common” specimens one would expect to find in an anatomical theatre, such as human skeletons and human organs (including kidneys, a liver, a heart and a windpipe), mostly from executed criminals, but also a lot of animal skeletons and organs (including horses, a peacock, seals, sharks and eagles). The first cabinet in the first room contained mostly stillborn babies and their organs. People must have been amazed by the enormous number of more remarkable curiosities, such as the rib of an elephant, the penis of a whale and even the snout of a large swordfish, as well as the kidney stone that Jan Jansz. de Doot famously removed from his own body.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

 



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, MUSEUMS › Natural History Museums / Wunderkammern
  • 395.2

Tabulae anatomicae.

Rome: Fausti Amidei, 1741.

27 anatomical copperplates after drawings by the most influential painter of the Italian Baroque movement, who also excelled as an architect. The editor, Cajetano Petrioli, supplied the text and small numbered anatomical “figures” in the margins of the plates. The original drawings for the plates are preserved in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow Library. See J.M. Norman (ed.), The anatomical plates of Pietro da Cortona, New York, Dover, 1986.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration, ART & Medicine & Biology
  • 4301

L’orthopédie ou l’art de prévenir et de corriger dans les enfans, les difformités du corps. 2 vols.

Paris: La veuve Alix, 1741.

The first book specifically on orthopedics, which term Andry himself introduced. He advised attention to proper posture in the prevention and correction of spinal curvature; he had a practical knowledge of body mechanics. This is also the first book on diseases of children to include mention of chlorosis. English translation, 2 vols., 1743, reproduced in facsimile, Philadelphia, 1961. German translation, Berlin, 1744.



Subjects: ORTHOPEDICS , PEDIATRICS
  • 6837

Het Amboinsche Kruidboek . . . Herbarium Amboinense . . . nunc primum in lucem edidit & in Latinum semonem vertit Joannes Burmannus. 6 vols.

Amsterdam & The Hague: François Changuion, 17411750.

Het Amboinsche kruidboek or Herbarium Amboinensea catalogue of the plants of Ambon in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, by Georg Eberhard Rumphius, a German-born soldier and botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company, was edited by Dutch botanist and physician Johannes Burman, and posthumously published in Amsterdam in a 6-volume bilingual Dutch and Latin from 1741 to 1750. The work, which provided the basis for all future study of the flora of the Moluccas, described 2000 species. It presented descriptions of the plants and their habitats, and their economic and medicinal uses, and also recorded native plant names in Malay, Latin, Dutch, and Ambonese—and often in Macassarese and Chinese as well.

That this large work was ever published was truly remarkable, considering the hardships that its author faced during its composition, and the complications that occurred after its completion. Even after going blind in 1670 due to glaucoma, Rumphius persisted in the composition of his manuscript with the help of his wife, Suzanna. However, on February 17, 1674 his wife and a daughter were killed by a wall collapse during a major earthquake and tsunami. His son Paul August made many of the plant illustrations and also the only known portrait of Rumphius. Other assistants included Philips van Eyck, a draughtsman, Daniel Crul, Pieter de Ruyter, a soldier trained by Van Eyck, Johan Philip Sipman, Christiaen Gieraerts, and J. Hoogeboom. See The Ambonese Herbal. Georgius Everhardus Rumphius; Translated, Annotated, and with an Introduction by E. M. Beekman. 6 vols., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011. Includes reproduction of all 811 original illustrations. Digital facsimile of the complete set of six volumes published from 1741 to 1750 from Botanicus.org at this link.

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



Subjects: BOTANY › Botanical Illustration, BOTANY › Catalogues of Plants, BOTANY › Ethnobotany, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Indonesia, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 8024

El Orinoco ilustrado y defendido. Historia natural, civil y geográfica de este gran río y de sus caudalosas vertientes, govierno, usos, y costumbres de los indios sus habitadores, con nuevas, y utiles noticias de animales, arboles, frutos, aceytes, resinas, yervas, y raices medicinales ...

Madrid, 1741.

Inspired by the success of Acosta’s Natural History, Gumilla wrote lush descriptions of native life along the Orinoco River in Venezuela and Colombia. His characterization of local healing practices was informative, but critical of technique. Digital facsimile of the much corrected 1791 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Colombia, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Venezuela, Latin American Medicine, NATURAL HISTORY
  • 10344

Nuevo aspecto de theologia medico-moral y ambos derechos, ó paradoxas phisico-theologico-legales. 3 vols.

Zaragoza: Francisco Moreno, 17411751.

Rodríguez, a self-taught Cistercian monk, dealt with issues in medical ethics in this manual for confessors.



Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Spain, Ethics, Biomedical, RELIGION & Medicine & the Life Sciences
  • 13383

A mechanical and critical enquiry into the nature of hermaphrodites.

London: J. Walthoe, 1741.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: SEXUALITY / Sexology › Intersex
  • 396

Essais anatomiques.

Paris: P. M. Huart, 1742.

Lieutaud rectified many anatomical errors, described carefully the structure and relations of the heart and its cavities, and added to the contemporary knowledge concerning the bladder. The trigonum vesicae is named “Lieutaud’s trigone”.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century
  • 396.1

Syndesmologia sive historia ligamentorum corporis humani.

St. Petersburg, Russia: Academy of Sciences, 1742.

Weitbrecht is known for “Weitbrecht’s ligament” (of the elbow), “Weitbrecht’s foramen ovale” (gap in the capsule of the shoulder joint between the glenohumeral ligaments), and “Weitbrecht’s fibers” (retinacular fibers of the neck of the femur). Translation into English of the text only, Dublin, 1839. Full English translation by E. B. Kaplan, Philadelphia, Saunders, 1969.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century
  • 73

Opera omnia medica.

Venice: L. Basilium, 1742.

Boerhaave created of the modern method of clinical teaching. His writings had an enormous influence during his lifetime. Haller, Cullen, Pringle, van Swieten and de Haen were among his pupils. See Lindeboom, Herman Boerhaave, the man and his work, London: Methuen, 1968.



Subjects: Collected Works: Opera Omnia, Education, Biomedical, & Biomedical Profession
  • 2200

Commentaria in Hermanni Boerhaave aphorismos, de cognoscendis et curandis morbis. 6 vols.

Leiden: J. & H. Verbeek, 17421776.

A pupil of Boerhaave, van Swieten transplanted the latter’s method of teaching to Vienna and founded the Vienna School of Medicine. He spent many years on the preparation of his great Commentaria. English translation, 18vols., 1771-76.



Subjects: Medicine: General Works
  • 1691

Die göttliche Ordnung in denen Veränderungen des menschlichen Geschlechts.

Berlin: D. A. Gohl, 1742.

Süssmilch, a German army chaplain, produced an important book on vital statistics, the title of which translates as The divine order in the circumstances of the human sex, birth, death and reproduction.  Among other things, he showed the necessity of a healthy and industrious population for the survival of a nation. Süssmilch discovered that, in the long term, there is a constant sex ratio of 1,000 female births to 1,050 male births. His work was the most important until the time of Malthus. Digital facsimile of a printed facsimile of the first edition from the Hathi Trust at this link.



Subjects: DEMOGRAPHY / Population: Medical Statistics
  • 1548

Dissertatio medica de auditu in genere et de illo que fit per os in specie.

Gryphiswald, 1742.

Pyl was the first (page 20) to record the labyrinthine fluid and to discuss its rôle in the transmission of sound.



Subjects: OTOLOGY › Physiology of Hearing
  • 3423

De mutuo intestinorum ingressu.

Leiden: J. Luzac, 1742.

First recorded successful operation for intussusception in an adult. The paper is also included in Haller’s Disputationes, vol. 1.



Subjects: GASTROENTEROLOGY › Esophagus: Stomach: Duodenum: Intestines, SURGERY: General › Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery
  • 3672

A practical treatise upon dentition; or, the breeding of teeth in children.

London: C. Rimington & S. Austen, J. Hodges, 1742.

The first English book on children’s teeth. Reprinted, Dawson, 1966. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: DENTISTRY
  • 6151

A treatise of midwifry.

Dublin: O. Nelson & C. Conner, 1742.

The teaching of Ould did much towards the advancement of midwifery in the British Isles. His Treatise is the first text-book of obstetrics of any importance in English.



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS
  • 11407

An mortis incertae signa minus incerta a chirurgicis quam ab aliis experimenti?

Paris: chez Morel Le jeune, 1742.

Between the mid-1700s and the early 1900s many physicians lost confidence in their ability to declare legal death. This phenomenon was in part sparked by Winslow, whose dissertation claimed the existence of a death-like state often referred to as “suspended animation.” In addition, it argued that victims to these conditions should not be pronounced dead, nor buried, until their bodies demonstrated overt putrefaction. 

Translated into French with commentary by Jean Bruhier as as Dissertation sur l'incertitude des signes de la mort, et l'abus des enterremens, & embaumemens précipités (Paris: Chez Morel...., 1742). And translated into English as The Uncertainty of the Signs of Death and the Danger of Precipitate Interments and Dissections, Demonstrated. ... with proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death (London: M. Cooper, 1746.) Digital facsimile of the French translation from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: DEATH & DYING › Legal Death, Forensic Medicine (Legal Medicine), Resuscitation
  • 11741

Index testarum conchyliorum quae adservantur in Museo Nicolai Gualtieri ... et methodice distributae exhibentur tabulae CX.

Florence: Caietani Albizzini, 1742.

The beautiful catalogue of the shell collection formed by Gualtieri, physician to Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in his "museum."  Many of the shells are depicted standing on their apices, and are depicted from two sides, showing the complete surface. Gualtieri's collection is preserved in the Museo Storia Naturale in Pisa.



Subjects: MUSEUMS › Natural History Museums / Wunderkammern, ZOOLOGY › Malacology
  • 13321

Religiosa hospitalidad por los hijos del piadoso coripheo patriarcha y padre de pobres S. Iuan Ð Dios en su provincia de S. Raphael de las Islas Philipinas: Compendio substancial de su fundacion progressos y estado presente que en sucinto informatibo estilo...

Granada: Joseph de la Puerta, 1742.

Maldonado de Puga, a member of the Order of San Juan Hospitalier founded in 1572, reported on the introduction and practice of Western medicine in the Philippines, the foundation of hospitals and the relationship between medicine and the Church in the Spanish colony.



Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Philippines, HOSPITALS, PUBLIC HEALTH, RELIGION & Medicine & the Life Sciences
  • 13442

Bibliotheca Meibomiana hoc est Henrici Meibomii...supellex libraria....a Io. Nicolao Froesio. 2 vols.

Helmstadt: Litteris Drimbornianis, 17421743.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: BIBLIOGRAPHY › Catalogues of Physicians' / Scientists' Libraries
  • 306

An attempt towards a natural history of the polype.

London: R. Dodsley, 1743.


Subjects: BIOLOGY › Marine Biology, BIOLOGY › Regeneration, ZOOLOGY
  • 397

Icones anatomicae. 8 pts.

Göttingen: A. Vandenhoeck, 17431756.

Accurate and beautiful engravings of the diaphragm, uterus, ovaries, vagina, arteries, with explanatory observations. About fifty years after they were originally published the most visually spectacular versions of Haller's plates of the arteries were issued in reduced format brilliantly hand-colored in Anatomical plates of the arteries of the human body, accurately coloured, and reduced from the Icones of Haller: With a concise explanation (London: E. Cox, 1808). Digital facsimile of the original Latin edition from the Max Planck Institute of the History of Science at this link.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration
  • 1596

A description of ventilators.

London: W. Innys, 1743.

Hales devised a ventilator, by means of which fresh air could be introduced into jails, mines, hospitals, the holds of ships, etc. The invention met with immediate approval and contributed much towards health of those for whom it was employed. Hales was the inventor of artificial ventilation.



Subjects: PUBLIC HEALTH, Ventilation, Health Aspects of
  • 765.1

Dissertationem inauguralem de vera nervi intercostalis origine.

Gottingen: Abram Vandenhoeck, 1743.

Taube described the carotid body and named it “ganglion minutum”, See J. Pick, J. Hist. Med., 1959, 14, 61-73.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY › Cardiovascular System
  • 3248

Sur une bronchotomie faite avec succès.

Mém. Acad. roy. Chir., 1, pt. 3, 141-45, 1743.

Virgili is said to have performed successful tracheotomy at Cadiz, for quinsy (peritonsillar abscess)



Subjects: OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY (Ear, Nose, Throat)
  • 3672.1

Essai sur les maladies des dents, où l'on propose les moyens de leur procurer une bonne conformation dès la plus tendre enfance...

Paris: Briasson, 1743.

The first book incorporating specialized odontological research. Dissatisfied with the incomplete coverage of dental problems that he found in the works of Fauchard and Gerauldy, Bunon addressed such issues as dental erosion, tooth development and the prophylaxis of dental caries and other maladies of the teeth in his Essai.

Digital facsimile from biusante.parisdescartes.fr at this link.



Subjects: DENTISTRY
  • 4163

Mémoire sur quelques obstacles qui s’opposent à l’éjaculation naturelle de la semence.

Mém. Acad. roy. Chir. (Paris) 1, 425-34, 1743.

“Peyronie’s disease”, a noncancerous condition resulting from fibrous scar tissue that develops on the penis and causes curved, and sometimes painful erections.



Subjects: UROLOGY
  • 5416

An essay on inoculation, occasioned by the small-pox being brought into South Carolina in the year 1738.

London: J. Huggonson, 1743.

After its initial popularity, inoculation fell into disuse in England. Kirkpatrick, who became a prominent inoculator in England after experience in America, helped considerably in reviving its popularity. He attempted the attenuation of the virus by his arm-to-arm method of inoculation.



Subjects: INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Smallpox › Variolation or Inoculation, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › South Carolina
  • 6799

A medicinal dictionary: Including physic, surgery, anatomy, chymistry, and botany, in all their branches relative to medicine. Together with a history of drugs; An account of their various preparations, combinations, and uses; and an introductory preface tracing the progress of physic, and explaining theories which have principally prevail'd in all ages of the world. With copper plates. 3 vols.

London: T. Osborne, 17431745.

The largest, most exhaustive and most learned medical dictionary written in English prior to the early 19th century. Samuel Johnson wrote the dedication and some of the articles. This was Johnson’s first venture into lexicography, and when he was done, a syndicate of booksellers asked him to write his famous dictionary. Denis Diderot collaborated on the French translation, 6 vols., Paris, 1746-48. That experience gave Diderot the idea of producing the famous Diderot et d’Alembert Encyclopédie.



Subjects: Dictionaries, Biomedical › Lexicography, Biomedical
  • 12478

Flora Virginica exhibens plantas quas v. c. Johannes Clayton in Virginia observavit atque collegit. Easdem method sexuali-disposuit, ad genera propria retulit, nominbus specificis insignivit, & minus cognitas descriptsit.

Leiden: Cornelis Haak, 1743.

The first flora of Virginia. As stated on the title page, Gronovius, a Dutch botanist, based this work on specimens collected by the Virginia plant collector and botanist John Clayton. While Clayton supplied the specimens, the final identification of the plants, the science and system of the book were the work of Gronovius.  The second edition of 1762 included a map documenting Clayton's travels.

Digital facsimile of the first edition from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: BOTANY › Catalogues of Plants, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Virginia
  • 13922

Museum Richterianum continens fossilia animalia, vegetabilia marina.

Leipzig: Caspar Fritisch, 1743.

Catalogue of the cabinet of curiosities formed by the merchant and collector Johann Richter. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.



Subjects: MUSEUMS › Natural History Museums / Wunderkammern
  • 307

Mémoires, pour servir à l’histoire d’un genre de polypes d’eau douce, à bras en forme de cornes.

Leiden: J. & H. Verbeek, 1744.

Trembley discovered the hydra and was the first to observe in it asexual reproduction, regeneration, and photosensitivity in an animal without eyes. His experiments were of great importance in the study of regeneration of lost parts. He was the first to make permanent grafts and to witness cell-division. A biography of Trembley was published by J. R. Baker, London, 1952. English translation in S.G. and H.M. Lenhoff, Hydra and the birth of experimental biology, Pacific Grove, CA, 1986. Digital facsimile of the 1744 edition from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › Marine Biology, BIOLOGY › Regeneration, ZOOLOGY › Illustration
  • 1987.1

Abhandlung von dem Nutzen der Electricität in der Artzneywissenschaft.

Halle: Carl Hermann Hemmerde, 1744.

A student of Johann Gottlob Krüger (No. 1987.2), Kratzenstein was apparently the first to publish a treatise on electrotherapy, although he may have been publishing experiments devised by Krüger. Second edition, Halle, C.H. Hemmerde,1745. English translation in E. Snorrason, C.G. Kratzenstein and his studies on electricity during the eighteenth century, Odense, 1974.



Subjects: THERAPEUTICS › Medical Electricity / Electrotherapy
  • 1987.2

Zuschrifft an seine Zuhörer worinnen er ihnen seine Gedancken von der Electricität mittheilet und ihnen zugleich seine künftige Lectionen bekant macht.

Halle: Hermann Hemmerde, 1744.

Along with Kratzenstein, is the one of the first two works to discuss the possible therapeutic uses of electricity. Krüger predicted that the best results would be with paralyzed limbs. See No. 1987.1. Second edition, with additions, 1745.



Subjects: THERAPEUTICS › Medical Electricity / Electrotherapy
  • 215.1

Dissertation physique à l’occasion du nègre blanc.

Leiden: [Publisher not identified], 1744.

Stimulated by the much talked about appearance of an albino negro in Paris, Maupertuis expressed theories of biparental heredity and epigenesis which substantially anticipated those of Darwin, Mendel, and De Vries nearly a century and a half later.



Subjects: GENETICS / HEREDITY
  • 3355

Instruments proposed to remedy some kinds of deafness proceeding from obstructions in the external and internal auditory passages.

Phil. Trans., 41, 848-51, London, 1744.

Cleland, an army surgeon, devised the method of catheterization of the Eustachian tube by way of the nose; he designed the instruments necessary for the operation.



Subjects: INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Surgical Instruments, OTOLOGY › Otologic Instruments
  • 4302

De iis, qui ex tuberculis gibberosi fiunt.

Leipzig: ex. off. Langenhemiana, 1744.

Platner affirmed the tuberculous nature of humpback, which had earlier been surmised by Hippocrates and confirmed by Galen.



Subjects: INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Tuberculosis, ORTHOPEDICS › Diseases of or Injuries to Bones, Joints & Skeleton
  • 9341

M. T. Cicero's Cato major, or his course of old-age: with explanatory notes.

Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1744.

This work was Banjamin Franklin's personal favorite of the works printed by him, and is one of the finest books to emanate from a Colonial American press. It was the first classical text printed in North America, and the translation was by Franklin's friend James Logan. The work's genesis was in in the winter of 1741-2, when a trial sheet was sent to Logan, but more pressing printing work (in particular, the many religious pamphlets of 1743-4) obtruded. With the arrival from London of David Hall, Franklin had leisure to complete the book, which went on sale in mid-March, 1744. It contains an introduction by Franklin entitled, "The printer to the reader." Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: GERIATRICS / Gerontology / Aging
  • 10814

The art of preserving health: A poem.

London: A. Millar, 1744.

John Armstrong was the brother of George Armstrong. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.  The edition consisted of 1250 of which 50 were on "fine paper."



Subjects: LITERATURE / Philosophy & Medicine & Biology › Poetry
  • 11991

The method of treating gunshot wounds.

London, 1744.

Describes surgical cases that Ranby treated under Lord Stair in the German campaign up to the Battle of Dettingen. While the Earl of Stair exercised operational control, the Allied army was nominally commanded by George II, accompanied by his son the Duke of Cumberland. As a result, the battle is now best remembered as the last time a reigning British monarch led troops in combat.

Ranby extoled the use of Peruvian bark in the suppuration following upon gunshot wounds, and observed that its virtue is increased if the elixir of vitriol is given with it; he thus anticipated the use of quinine. He also provided a detailed account of a leg wound sustained by the Duke of Cumberland; and recorded cases of death from tetanus following gunshot wounds. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: MILITARY MEDICINE, SURGERY & HYGIENE
  • 308

Traité d’insectologie.

Paris: Durand, 1745.

This pioneering work on experimental entomology incorporates Bonnet’s most important discovery–parthenogenetic reproduction–based on his study of aphids. Bonnet used the result of this and other discoveries as a basis for speculation about life on earth. This work presents in tabular form his version of the “great chain of being”. Bonnet’s concept of the essential continuity of life, a consequence of his discovery and preformationist interpretation of parthenogenesis, was a major force in the shaping of later evolutionary opinion. See No. 472.



Subjects: BIOLOGY, EMBRYOLOGY › Parthenogenesis, EVOLUTION, ZOOLOGY › Arthropoda › Entomology
  • 978

De fabrica et actione villorum intestinorum tenuium hominis.

Leiden: C. & G. J. Wishof, 1745.

“Lieberkühn’s glands” or “crypts” described. They were discovered by Malpighi in 1688.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, GASTROENTEROLOGY › Anatomy & Physiology of Digestion
  • 4616

Glömska af alla substantiva och i synnerhet namn.

K. Swenska Wetensk. Acad. Handl., 6, 116-17, 1745.

Aphasia first described. Facsimile reproduction and English translation by H. R. Viets, Bull. Hist. Med., 1943, 13, 328-33.



Subjects: NEUROLOGY › Aphasia, Agraphia, Agnosia, Speech, Anatomy and Physiology of › Speech Disorders
  • 398

Essai d’anatomie en tableaux imprimés, qui represent au naturel tous les muscles de la face, du col, de la tête, de la langue & du larinx. d'après les parties disséquées & préparées par Monsieur Duverney....comprenant hit grandes planches.

Paris: Le Sieur Gautier, 1745.

Remarkable for its striking mezzotints printed in color. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration, ART & Medicine & Biology
  • 1831

Aνтιθηεριακά. An essay on mithridatium and theriaka.

London, 1745.

Heberden’s first printed work. His criticism of current superstitions conceming these two concoctions resulted ultimately in their removal from the pharmacopoeia. No publisher's name appears on the title page. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.



Subjects: PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS, Quackery
  • 2094

An essay on the West-India dry-gripes… to which is added, an extraordinary case in physick.

Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1745.

Cadwalader, an American pupil of Cheselden, left a classical account of lead colic and lead palsy. This was later shown by Benjamin Franklin, printer of the above work, to be due to the consumption of Jamaica rum which had been distilled through lead pipes. The “extraordinary case” mentioned in the title refers to a case of osteomalacia. Cadwalader’s autopsy of the victim’s body is one of the earliest recorded in the United States. The above work is probably the first medical book containing significant original research to be published by an American physician in America. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Medicine, Internet Archive, at this link.



Subjects: COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › Caribbean › Jamaica, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & MEDICINE , ORTHOPEDICS › Diseases of or Injuries to Bones, Joints & Skeleton, TOXICOLOGY › Lead Poisoning, U.S.: CONTENT OF PUBLICATIONS BY STATE & TERRITORY › Pennsylvania
  • 215.2

Vénus physique, contenant deux dissertations, l’une, sur l’origine des hommes et des animaux, et l’autre, sur l’origine des noirs.

The Hague, 1745.

English translation, The earthly Venus, was published in New York, 1966. Includes a reprint of No. 215.1.



Subjects: GENETICS / HEREDITY
  • 10474

Berg-Raths Medicinischer Aufstand und Schmelz-Bogen Von der Bergsucht und Hütten-Katze auch einigen andern, Denen Bergleuten und Hütten-Arbeitern zustoßenden Krankheiten, Vor dieselben und diejenigen So in Stein, Erz, Metall und Feuer arbeiten, ausgestellet.

Dresden & Leipzig: Friedrich Hekel, 1745.

A key early work on the Bergsucht or miner's phthisis.



Subjects: INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Tuberculosis, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & MEDICINE › Miners' Diseases
  • 862

De ferrearum particularum sede in sanguine.

Bonon. Sci. Art. Inst. Acad. Comment., 2, pt.2, 244-66, 1746.

Discovery of iron in the blood.



Subjects: HEMATOLOGY
  • 917

De respiratione experimenta anatomica, quibus aëris inter pulmonem etpleuram absentia demonstratur et musculorum intercostalium internorum officium adseritur. 2 pts.

Gottingen: A. Vandenhoeck, 17461747.

First investigation of the action of the intercostal muscles in respiration.



Subjects: RESPIRATION
  • 1691.1

Essai sur les probabilitiés de la durée de la vie humaine: d’où l’on déduit la manière de déterminer les rentes viagères, tant simples qu’en tontines.

Paris: Guérin Frères, 1746.

Deparcieux was the first to construct correct life tables. Appendix in 1760. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: DEMOGRAPHY / Population: Medical Statistics
  • 3166.1

An account of what appeared on opening the body of an asthmatic person.

Phil. Trans., 54, 239-45, 1746.

Probably the earliest comprehensive clinical and pathological account of emphysema.



Subjects: ALLERGY › Asthma, PATHOLOGY, PULMONOLOGY, RESPIRATION › Respiratory Diseases
  • 3424

De ruptura intestini duodeni.

Jena: Lit Ritterianis, 1746.

First description of duodenal ulcer.



Subjects: GASTROENTEROLOGY › Diseases of the Digestive System › Gastric / Duodenal Ulcer
  • 3672.2

Essai d’odontotechnie, ou dissertation sur les dents artificielles.

Paris: Boudel, 1746.

The first specialized book on dental prosthetics.



Subjects: DENTISTRY › Prosthodontics
  • 7573

Description abregée du fameux cabinet de Mr. Le Chevalier de Baillou pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des pierres précieuses, métaux, minéraux, et autre fossiles.

Luques [Lucques or Lucca]: Sauveur & Jean-Dominique Marescandoli, 1746.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: MUSEUMS › Natural History Museums / Wunderkammern, NATURAL HISTORY
  • 8869

Medicina Britannica; or, a treatise on such physical plants as are generally to be found in the fields or gardens of Great-Britain: Containing a particular account of their nature, virtues, and uses. Together with the observations of the most learned physicians, as well ancient as modern, communicated to the late ingenious Mr. Ray, and the learned Dr. Sim. Pauli. Adapted more especially to the occasions of those, whose condition or situation of life deprives them, in a great measure, of the helps of the learned. To which are added, three indexes: The first containing the England and Latin names of the plants treated of: The second of the diseases, and their remedies: The third to the notes.

London: R. Manby, 1746.

Short focused his book on the medical uses of plants readily available in England. Many of the plants recommended in the traditional herbal literature were difficult to find in England. Digital facsimile from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.



Subjects: BOTANY › Ethnobotany, Household or Self-Help Medicine, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 9570

Of birds of passage.

Phil. Trans., 44, 435-444., 1746.

Catesby was one of the first ornithologists to study bird migration. Digital facsimile from the Royal Society at this link.



Subjects: ZOOLOGY › Ornithology
  • 12628

Dictionnaire universel de médecine, de chirurgie, de chymie, de botanique, d'anatomie, de pharmacie, d'histoire naturelle, &c. Précédé d'un discours historique sur l'origine et les progrès de la médecine. Traduit de l'anglois de M. James. Revue, corrigé & augmenté par M. Julien Busson. 6 vols.

Paris: Briasson, David, Durand, 17461748.

James, it may be assumed, had little or nothing to do with this translation, because copyright between England and France was essentially non-existent at the time. In the process of supervising this large publication, Diderot collaborated with three "philosophes", of which only Busson was a physician. Experience with this publication gave Diderot the idea of undertaking the much larger scale project, the Encyclopédie des sciences.

Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.



Subjects: Dictionaries, Biomedical
  • 12928

Experiences et demonstrations faites à l'Hôpital de la Salpêtriere, & à S. Côme en présence de l'Académie Royale de Chirurgie. Pour servir de suite & de preuves a l'Essai sur les maladies des dents, & c. Et une pharmacie odontalogique, ou Traité des médicamens, simples & composés propres aux maladies des dents, & des différentes parties de la bouche, à l'usage des dentistes.

Paris: Chez Briasson, Chaubert, 1746.

In this follow-up to his book published in 1743 Bunon proved the assertions of his earlier Essai through a series of dental researches conducted on patients at the Salpêtrière and at the hospital of St. Côme--the first dental experiments ever conducted. In this work he discussed for the first time the genesis of enamel hypoplasia, which he found was caused by various childhood diseases. He also focused on the prevention of tooth decay, and provided the first dental pharmacopeia. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: DENTISTRY, DENTISTRY › Dental Pathology › Tooth Decay , PHARMACOLOGY › Pharmacopeias
  • 585

Primae lineae physiologiae in usum praelectionum academicarum.

Göttingen: A. Vandenhoeck, 1747.

Haller was one of the most imposing figures in the whole of medicine, besides being a superb bibliographer and the founder of medical bibliography. As a physiologist he was the greatest of his time. Many apparently “new” discoveries of later times had already been accounted for by Haller. The above work includes (p. 259) Haller’s resonance theory, similar to that already propounded by Du Verney and (more than 100 years later) by Helmholtz (No. 1562).

Translated into English by Samuel Mihles as Dr. Albert Haller's physiology; being a course of lectures upon the visceral anatomy and vital oeconomy of human bodies. 2 vols. London, 1754



Subjects: PHYSIOLOGY
  • 5417

De variolis et morbillis liber.

London: J. Brindley, 1747.

Includes a Latin translation of Rhazes’s commentary on smallpox. Mead favored inoculation, and his great authority and influence contributed to a more general acceptance of this measure. English translation entitled A discourse on the small pox and measles, London, 1748.



Subjects: INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Measles, INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Smallpox
  • 6152

Observations sur les causes et les accidens de plusieurs accouchemens laborieux.

Paris: C. Osmont, 1747.

Levret, who improved the obstetric forceps, was a famous teacher in Paris.



Subjects: INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Medical Instruments › Forceps, OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › OBSTETRICS
  • 9149

Primitive physick; or, an easy and natural method of curing most diseases.

London, 1747.

Wesley, an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist, was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. Digital facsimile of the 14th American edition, Philadelphia, 1770, from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: Household or Self-Help Medicine, Popularization of Medicine, RELIGION & Medicine & the Life Sciences
  • 12700

Essai sur la caractére du grand medecin ou eloge critique de Mr. Herman Boerhaave [By Michael Maty].

Cologne: Pierre Marteaux & Compagnie, 1747.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: BIOGRAPHY (Reference Works) › Biographies of Individuals
  • 13007

Nouvelle méthode facile et curieuse, pour apprendre par les notes de musique à connoître le pous de l'homme, & les différens changemens qui lui arrivent, depuis sa naissance jusqu'a sa mort, tirée des observations faite par M. F. N. Marquet, Docteur en medecine, ancient medecin ord. du feû Duc Leopold, & Doyen des medecins de Nancy.

Nancy: De l'Imprimerie de la Veuve de N. Balthazard, 1747.

Osler, whose copy is recorded in Bibliotheca Osleriana 3335, quoted a previous owner's comment on this edition: "A curious and uncommon book. The author, in claiming to judge of the state of the pulse by its resemblance to musical rhythms, has given freer play to his imagination than to any exact observation.... "The book includes graphic representation of pulses in terms of musical notation.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: Music and Medicine
  • 13830

Europae medicina a sapientibus illustrata.

Brescia: Ex typographia Marci Vendrameni, 1747.

"This work is an attempt to give, first, the story of medicine in each country by means of excerpts from the important writers; and secondly, the state of medicine in each country at the time of writing, gathered by correspondence with contemporary physicians. I know of no work on exactly the same lines..." (Note by William Osler in Bibliotheca Osleriana [1929] 3830). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: History of Medicine: General Works
  • 586

L’homme machine.

Leiden: E. Luzac, fils, 1748.

La Mettrie attempted among other things to prove the materialism of the soul. Because of his blatant and aggressive atheism, all of La Mettrie’s writings were placed on the Index and systematically burned. Owing to its heretical nature, this anonymous work was also ordered to be burnt by the magistrates of Leiden. An English translation appeared in 1749. See Vartanian, L’homme machine, a study in the origins of an idea, Princeton, 1960.



Subjects: PHYSIOLOGY
  • 1249

Tractatus anatomico-physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri.

Gottingen: A. Vandenhoeck, 1748.

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.



Subjects: NEUROSCIENCE › NERVOUS SYSTEM › Peripheral Nerves / Nerve Impulses
  • 1987.3

Experiences sur l’électricité …

Geneva: Barrillot & Fils, 1748.

Discovery of stimulation of muscles by electricity, and the first proof that paralysis could be successfully treated by electricity.



Subjects: THERAPEUTICS › Medical Electricity / Electrotherapy
  • 4284

A remarkable case of a person cut for the stone in the new way, commonly called the lateral, by William Cheselden, Surgeon to Her late Majesty; communicated to Martin Folkes, Pr. R. S. by Mr. Reid, Surgeon at Chelsea, who attended the cure.

Phil. Trans., (1746), 44, 33-35, 1748.

Cheselden’s lateral lithotomy first described in this brief paper by Alexander Reid. Digital facsimile from royalsocietypublishing.org at this link.



Subjects: UROLOGY › Urinary Calculi
  • 5049
  • 5077

An account of the sore throat attended with ulcers.

London: C. Davis, 1748.

First authoritative account of both diphtheria and scarlatinal angina, although failing to differentiate between the two conditions. Reprinted in Med. Classics, 1940, 5, 58-99.



Subjects: INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Diphtheria, INFECTIOUS DISEASE › Scarlet Fever
  • 6322

An essay upon nursing, and the management of children, from their birth to three years of age.

London: J. Roberts, 1748.

Cadogan’s famous essay laid down rules on the nursing, feeding, and clothing of infants, and filled a great need at a time when infant welfare was much neglected through the ignorance of those concerned. As a result of this work, Cadogan was elected a physician of the Foundling Hospital in 1754. He became a friend of Garrick, and was present at that great actor’s deathbed. 10th ed., 1772.



Subjects: NURSING, PEDIATRICS
  • 7491

Anatomie de la tête, en tableaux imprimés qui représentent au naturel le cerveau sous différentes coupes, la distribution des vaisseaux dans toutes les parties de la tête, les organes des sens et une partie de la névrologie, d'après les pièces disséquées et préparées par M. Duverney, en huit grandes planches dessinées, peintes, gravées et imprimées en couleur et grandeur naturelle....

Paris: Le Sieur Gautier, 1748.

Includes eight spectacular plates printed in color by Gautier d'Agoty with text by Duvereny. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration
  • 13777

Lettre de M. Daviel, conseiller, chirurgien ordinaire du roi en survivance & par quartier, à M. de Joyeuse, docteur en médecine de l’Université de Montpellier ....

Paris: J. Bullot, 1748.

The first account of cataract extraction. Daviel also published this in the Mercure de France in September 1748, pp. 198-218. The separate edition, a 24-page pamphlet, was printed from a different setting of type.



Subjects: OPHTHALMOLOGY › Ocular Surgery & Procedures › Cataract
  • 324

Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…. 44 vols., plus atlas.

Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 17491789, 17981804.

This vast work is divided into seven parts. I: Histoire naturelle générale et particulière…15 vols., by Buffon and L.J.M. Daubenton (1749-67). II: Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. 9 vols., by Buffon, P. Guéneau de Montbeillard and G.L.C.A. Bexon (1770-1783). III: Histoire naturelle des mineraux. 5 vols., by Buffon (1783-88). IV: Supplement. 7 vols., by Buffon, the last volume finished by La Cépède after Buffon’s death (1774-1789). V: Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ovipare et des serpents. 2 vols., by Le Compte de la Cépède (1788-89). VI: Histoire naturelle des poissons. 5 vols., by La Cépède (1798- “An XI” [1802/03]). Histoire naturelle des cétacées. 1 vol., by La Cépède. (An XII [1803/04]).

“Natural history, prior to Buffon, had all the earmarks of an avocation, a hobby. Buffon is the one who raised it to the status of a science” (Mayr). Buffon is also regarded as an important early contributor to the history of evolutionary thought as he introduced a large number of evolutionary problems, such as common descent, extinction, and reproductive isolation of species, into the realm of scientific investigation.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › Marine Biology, EVOLUTION, NATURAL HISTORY, ZOOLOGY, ZOOLOGY › Ichthyology, ZOOLOGY › Illustration, ZOOLOGY › Mammalogy, ZOOLOGY › Ornithology
  • 2732

De aortae venaeque cavae gravioribus quibusdam morbis.

Gottingen: A. Vandenhoeck, 1749.


Subjects: CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE › Aortic Diseases, CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE › Venous Disease
  • 2733

Traité de la structure du coeur, de son action, et de ses maladies. 2 vols.

Paris: Bourdon, 1749.

Senac’s valuable treatise on the heart added much to the knowledge of the anatomy and diseases of that organ; he mentioned the leucocytes, which he considered to belong to the chyle, and he described pericarditis. Senac was the first to use quinine for palpitation.



Subjects: CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY › Anatomy of the Heart & Circulatory System
  • 7597

Materia medica, liber I: De plantis.

Stockholm: Typis ac sumptis Laurentii Salvii, 1749.

Linnaeus’s physician’s reference on pharmacology. Linnaeus classified medicinal plants according to his botanical system and described the therapeutic value of the drugs derived from each plant. He was instrumental in introducing quassia (bitterwood), solanum (nightshade), dulcamara (bittersweet) and many other plant remedies into medicine. His work laid the foundation for the scientific study and development of materia medica, and remained a model for later authors on the subject.

The second and third volumes of this work, on animals and minerals respectively, were published together under the title Materies medica in 1763. Of this later title Soulsby notes: “This very rare work is founded on the Dissertations of 1750, Jonas Sidren, Respondens, & 1752, Johannes Lindhult, Resp. . . . Linnaeus was probably not concerned in its production.” 



Subjects: PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines
  • 13437

Bibliothecae Platnerianae medicae sectio prior (posterior) auctionis lege distribuenda.

Leipzig, 1749.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: BIBLIOGRAPHY › Catalogues of Physicians' / Scientists' Libraries
  • 13625

A general chronological history of the air, weather, seasons, meteors, &c. In sundry places and different times; more particularly for the space of 250 years. Together with some of their most remarkable effects on animal (especially human) bodies and vegetables. 2 vols.

London: T. Longman & A. Millar, 1749.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: Bioclimatology