“Botallo’s duct”, the ductus arteriosus; “Botallo’s foramen”, the foramen ovale interauriculare; and “Botallo’s ligament”, the ligamentum arteriosum, are described in this work. However two of these traditional attributions of discovery should more accurately be called independent rediscovery since Botallo’s duct had been mentioned in the 2nd century by Galen. More recently Falloppio had mentioned the ductus arteriosus in 1561 and Vesalius had mentioned both the ductus arteriosus and the foramen ovale in 1561.

Boyle showed the effects of the elasticity, compressibility, and weight of air. He investigated the function of air in respiration, combustion, and conveyance of sound. Most significantly Boyle demonstrated that air is essential for life.

Welsch stressed the need for autopsy in medico-legal cases. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Schneider put an end to the idea that nasal mucus originated in the pituitary. He demonstrated anatomically and clinically that the mucous membrane lining the nose (“Schneider’s membrane”) is the source of nasal discharge, and discussed the tonsils, and ocular and lachrymal mucosa in the same way. As a result of his work the ancient doctrine of catarrhal diseases was overthrown, and the olfactory processes were definitely classified as cranial nerves. In Liber tertius (1661) Schneider was also the first to document the adenoid. (Robert J. Ruben, "The adenoid: Its history and a cautionary tale," The Laryngoscope, 127, June 2017, S13-28). 

This study of the plants around Cambridge includes some of the classification work of Joachim Jungius, whose classification system did not begin to be published until 1662. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this prelude to Boyle’s Sceptical chymist Boyle describes his corpuscular view of digestion, “giving recognition to the existence of the agents now designated the ‘enzymes’ ” (Fulton, Bibliography of Robert Boyle [1961] 25). The above work also contains Boyle’s first published accounts of chemical experiments.

Discovery of the capillary circulation. Malpighi demonstrated that the pulmonary tissues are vesicular in nature and showed that the trachea ends in bronchial filaments. His De pulmonibus includes his demonstration of the capillary anastomosis between arteries and veins. This book, which is very rare, consists of two letters to Borelli describing observations made through the microscope on the lung of a living frog. In the second letter Malpighi described small channels connecting arteries with veins, the capillaries. This was the first proof that blood circulation occurred within a closed hydraulic system. The second edition was published as an appendix to Thomas Bartholin’s De pulmonum substantia et motu diatribe, 1663. It is republished in his Opera omnia, Lugduni Batavorum, 1687, ii, 331. A facsimile was published in Milan in 1958; English translation by J. Young in Proc. roy. Soc. Med., 1929-30, Sect. Hist. Med., 23, 1-11. See No. 915

The first work after Avicenna to discuss the use of snow as an anesthetic.

A pioneering attack on air pollution caused by “the hellish and dismall cloud of sea-coal” which perpetually enveloped London. Of course, the problems Evelyn wrote about did not go away, and the work continued to be reprinted, with at least four editions published in the 20th century, including one in 1961 by the National Society for Clean Air.

Descartes considered the human body a material machine, directed by a rational soul located in the pineal body. This book was the first attempt to cover the whole field of “animal physiology”. The work is really a physiological appendix to his Discourse on method, 1637. The first edition was translated from the French. The French text first appeared in 1664. It was translated, with commentary by T. S. Hall, and published in Cambridge, Mass., in 1972 as Treatise of man. See G.A. Lindeboom, Descartes and medicine, Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1979.

Boyle’s law. The above pamphlet was appended to the second edition of Boyle’s The spring and weight of the air, 1662. The relevant passage is reproduced inj. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd ed., 1966, pp. 8-10. Fulton published an annotated bibliography of Boyle’s works in 1956 (2nd ed., 1961).

Includes the first account of the excretory duct of the parotid gland (“Stensen’s duct”), discovered by Stensen. He first reported his discovery in a letter to his teacher, Thomas Bartholin, dated April, 22, 1661. Stensen was also the first mention the ceruminous glands in this work. Facsimile reproduction, with English translation, Copenhagen, 1951.

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

The first book on vital statistics. Graunt, a draper, studied the Bills of Mortality, which began as weekly lists of deaths and their causes, compiled by parish clerks. They gained much in importance after Graunt’s work, and in 1838 merged into the Registrar-General’s returns. Graunt was a friend of Sir William Petty. Some authorities attribute authorship of the above work to Petty. In his A bibliography of Sir William Petty F.R.S. and of Observations on the bills of Mortality by John Graunt, F.R.S, (1971) Geoffrey Keynes traces the interrelationship of these authors.

Engraved frontispieces in Latin; text in Dutch. None of the volumes is dated. An edition in Latin, also undated, was issued by the same publisher in 3 vols. during the same years with the following title: Metamorphosis et historia naturalis insectorum. Cum commentariiis D. Joannis de Mey.

Goedaert, a Dutch landscape and flower painter who lived in Middelburg, was one of the earliest authors on entomology, and first to write on the insects of the Netherlands based on firsthand observations and experiments between 1635 and 1658. "[His work] shows meticulous observation of all the growth phases of the insects depicted, including metamorphosis. There is no internal anatomy, only external. Goedhart makes an interesting error, indicating moth caterpillars can produce flies. Presumably he meant Ichneumonidae" (Wikipedia article on Jan Goedart, accessed 02-2017). The plates in some copies were hand-colored; digital facsimile of an uncolored copy of the edition in Dutch from the Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link. Digital facsimile of a colored copy of the edition in Latin from the Internet Archive at this link. English translation, London, 1682; French translation, 1700.

Histories of famous physicians in Copenhagen along with the description of the building designed for the teaching of anatomy there, designated the "Anatomy House". Bartholin's Domus anatomica brevissime descripta was translated into English by Peter Fisher as Thomas Bartholin, The anatomy house in Copenhagen briefly described. Edited by Niels W. Brunn, Introduction by Morten Fink-Jensen. (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculaneum Press, 2015). Digital facsimile of the 1662 edition from Google Books at this link.

Jungius was the first to appreciate and expand upon the botanical ideas of Cesalpino. In this posthumously published work, edited by his student Martin Fogel, and in his  Isagoge phytoscopica published in 1669, Jungius gave a remarkable account of plant morphology, analyzing plants into a limited number of fundamental parts, and describing these and their relations ton one another with precise and comprehensive terminology. Jungius's methods of morphological analysis were adopted by John Ray and Linnaeus.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Roonhuyze’s book is regarded as the first work on operative gynecology in the modern sense. He successfully performed caesarean section several times, and he used retractors for the repair of vesicovaginal fistulae. English translation, London, 1676.

A defence of the virtues of Jesuit's bark or Peruvian bark (cinchona, chinchona), the most celebrated specific remedy for malaria. It was obtained from the bark of several species of the genus Cinchona, of the Rubiaceae family, indigenous to the Western Andes mountains. Other terms referring to this preparation and its source were "Jesuit's Tree", "Jesuit's Powder" and "Pulvis Patrum". Bado includes evidence to show that “fever bark” was introduced into Spain in 1632. Digital facsimile from BnF Gallica at this link.

Digital facsimile from the Università degli Studi di Milano at this link.

First to describe gonococcal arthritis.

Croone accumulated a large fortune from his practice; with it his widow endowed the Croonian Lectures at the Royal College of Physicians, London. He believed muscular contraction to be brought about by the action of a “spirituous liquor” passing from the nerves and interacting with substances in the muscle. Translation of an extract in J. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd ed., 1966, pp. 207-9. Complete translation by P. Maquet as On the reason of the movement of the muscles. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2000.

Stensen described the structure of muscles, the fibra motrix, confirming that contraction actually occurs in the muscle fibres, not in the tendon as Galen had thought. He attempted a geometrical description of muscle contraction. He described the anatomy of the heart and its function as a muscle, and described the anatomy and function of the respiratory muscles including the diaphragm. English translation of the section on the muscles and the tongue in J.E. Poulson & E. Snorrason, Nicolaus Steno 1638-1686, A re-consideration by Danish scientists. Gentofte, Denmark, 1986.

De Graaf was an early investigator of the pancreatic secretion. He collected the pancreatic juice of dogs by means of artificial pancreatic fistulae, commenting on the small quantity of juice secreted and on its alkaline character. The French edition, Paris, 1666, contained a revised and enlarged text. Partial translation in J. F. Fulton, Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nd ed., 1966, pp. 167-68. Full English translation from 2nd ed. (1671), London, 1676.

The most complete and accurate account of the nervous system which had hitherto appeared, and the work that coined the term, “neurology". In its preparation Willis was helped by his students Richard Lower and Thomas Millington, and its illustrations are by the architect, Sir Christopher Wren, making this one of the earliest scientific collaborations in England. Willis’s classification of the cerebral nerves held the field until the time of Soemmerring. The book includes (Cap. I and plates 1, 2) the description of the “circle of Willis”, and of the eleventh cranial nerve (“nerve of Willis”). Willis recognized the sympathetic system and accepted the brain as the organ of thought. English translation by S. Pordage, 1681. The anatomy of the brain and nerves. Tercententary edition, ed. by W. Feindel, 2 vols, Montreal, 1965, reprints this translation with a complete annotated bibliography of the work. Wepfer (No. 2703) and others preceded Willis in giving a detailed and complete description of the “circle of Willis”.

A protest against the careless destruction of England’s forests to fuel the furnaces of the glass and iron industries. The work was influential in establishing a much-needed program of reforestation that had a lasting effect on the British economy. This was the first official publication of the newly established Royal Society.

The first methodical work on snake-poison. Redi demonstrated for the first time that, for the poison to produce its effect, it must be injected under the skin.

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

"... description of the museum formed by Lodovico Settala, a physician of Milan, and his son, Manfredo, a Canon of the Cathedral. It describes their collections of both artifical and natural curiosities, including plants, seeds, fruits, stuffed animals, minerals, fossils, shells, medals, intaglios, cameos, chemical preparations, various scientific insturments, and articles made of glass and metal. Based upon the beautiful engraved frontispiece depicting the the interior of the museum, the gallery consisted of 3 rooms stuffed with all manner of curiosities. Display cases set upon tables lined the walls with space taken up underneath by a variety of vases and urns. The walls above the cases held various pictures while the tops of the displays were packed with various insturments and clocks. Hanging from the ceiling are the required taxidermy, including a crocidile, various fish, and birds. A large elephant tusk greets visitors near the entrance to the middle gallery. It was Manfredo Settala's wish that upon his death, the museum would be deposited in the Ambrosian Library of Milan, but the arrangement fell through and the collection was dispersed (Murray)" (mineralogicalrecord.com).

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

First description of the valves of the lymphatics, discovered by Ruysch. Facsimile reprint, Niewkoop, De Graaf, 1964.

In February 1665 Lower successfully transfused dogs with blood.

Needham, a physician better known for his work in journalism, was one of the earliest – if not the first – Englishman to write on the germ theory. In his book he included an account of Kircher’s experiments with the microscope.

Elsholtz’s book on the venous infusion of medicaments was one of the first works to deal with blood transfusion. Latin edition in 1667; English translation in 1677. Reprint of Latin 1667 edition, Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1966.

A treatise on sunstroke.

Hooke, at one time research assistant to Robert Boyle, was one of the greatest inventive geniuses of all time. This was the first book devoted entirely to microscopical observations, and also the first book to pair its microscopic descriptions with profuse and detailed illustrations. The 38 copperplate engravings in the book were mostly after drawings by Hooke; some were probably after drawings by the architect and occasional scientist, Sir Christopher Wren. This graphic portrayal of the hitherto unknown microcosm had an impact rivalling that of Galileo's Sidereus nuncius (1610), which was the first book to include images of the macrocosm shown through the telescope. It was also the second book published under the auspices of the Royal Society of London.

Hooke constructed one of the most famous of the early compound microscopes, and began his observations with studies of non-living materials, such as woven cloth and frozen urine crystals, then proceeded to investigations of plant and animal life. He published the first studies of insect anatomy, giving a lucid account of the compound eye of the fly, and illustrating the microscopic details of such structures as apian wings, flies' legs and feet, and the sting of the bee. His famous and dramatic portraits of the flea and louse, a frightening eighteen inches long, are hardly less startling today than they must have been to Hooke's contemporaries. His botanical observations include the first description of the plant-like form of molds, and of the honeycomb-like structure of cork, which last he described as being composed of "cellulae"— thereby coining the modern biological usage of the work "cell" to describe the basic microscopic units of tissue. Digital facsimile from the National Library of Medicine at this link.

This is a valuable statistical record of the great plague of 1665. (No. 6052 in the Bibliotheca Osleriana.)

Thomson was one of the few physicians who remained in London to treat  patients during the plague of 1665. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

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

The first separate work on the spinal cord. Blasius “illustrated the separate origin of the anterior and posterior roots, the dorsal root ganglia and the differentiation between the gray and white matter of the spinal cord” (McHenry). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Meibom described the conjunctival Meibomian glands, holocrine type exocrine glands along the rims of the eyelid inside the tarsal plate. They were, however, already known to Galen and were figured by Casserius in 1609.

The earliest scientific account, by a practitioner, and corroborated by witnesses, of healing by the “laying-on of hands”. Greatrakes became known as “the Irish stroker” because of his method of healing by stroking the affected part. He recognized the limited types of conditions which stroking could treat, and was a sincere and well-meaning practitioner. He wrote the above work to defend himself against charges that he was a charlatan. See Peter Elmer, The miraculous conformist: Valentine Greatrakes, the body politic, and the politics of healing in Restoration Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). Full text of Greatrakes's book is available from quod.lib.umich.edu at this link.

A book on practical chemistry, pharmacology and medicine written for the common reader by French autodidact Marie Meurdrac, La chymie charitable et facile, en faveur des dames, was the first treatise on chemistry written by a woman. Clearly a work that found a wide market, it underwent five editions in French, the last of which was published in 1711, six editions in German, and one in Italian.

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

An early study of medicine in Denmark, including local botanic drugs and folk medicine. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

An early work on Catholic medical morality. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

One of the earliest books that illustrated human dissection for a contagious disease. Digital text available from Early English Books Online at this link.

On embalming corpses, and on human cadavers. This work includes (pp. 98-127) instructions for the embalming process in Spain, with woodcut illustrations of the tools used and recipes for the ointments. The author also describes (pp. 128-138) a non-invasive technique for preserving cadavers for transportation between cities, again with recipes for ointments. In the first chapter the author discusses natural deaths, violent deaths, and the process of decomposition. His section on the history of embalming includes chapters on techniques employed by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

In this work Stensen, in collaboration with the mathematician Vincenzio Viviani (1622-1703), a pupil of Galileo, developed a geometrical description of muscular contraction, and attempted to show theoretically that muscles did not increase in volume during contraction. The appendix contains his anatomical descriptions of the head of two sharks. In discussing the relationship of the shark teeth to similar-shaped fossil stones found in the Mediterranean, Stensen developed theories of how geological structures and fossils might be formed. This was translated by A. Garboe as The earliest geological treatise (1667), London, 1958.

By blowing air from a bellows over the exposed lungs of a dog, Hooke proved that respiratory motion is not necessary to maintain life, but that the essential feature of respiration lies in certain blood changes in the lungs. Reprinted in J. F. Fulton’s Selected readings in the history of physiology, 2nded., 1966, pp. 121-23.

Founding work of developmental chemical embryology, the first book to report chemical experiments on the developing mammalian embryo, and the first to give practical instructions on dissection of embryos. Needham was also the first to describe the solid bodies in the amniotic fluid, and to give a comparative account of the secondary apparatus of generation.

The first transfusion of blood into a human was performed by Denis on June 15, 1667; he transfused lamb’s blood into a youth. For a partial translation, see Geoffrey Keynes’s Blood transfusion (Bristol, 1949) 14-15. Denis also wrote: “a letter concerning a new way of curing sundry diseases by transfusion of blood”, which was published in some copies of Phil. Trans., 1667, 2, 489-504; for a reprint and a paper on the subject, see A. D. Farr, Med. Hist., 1980, 24, 143-62.

First transfusion of blood performed on a human in England, Nov. 23, 1667.

Medico-legal aspects of multiple births. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

Swammerdam’s earliest published work. In it he recorded his discovery that the lungs of newborn infants will float on water if respiration has taken place, an important medico-legal point.

Major, the first Professor of Medicine at Kiel, was the first to make successful intravenous injections of drugs into the human body, in 1662. Sir Christopher Wren in 1656 had injected wine and ale into the veins of a dog. These procedures probably represented the origins of the hypodermic needle concept.

In 1555 Vesalius was the first to diagnose an aneurysm of the thoracic and abdominal aorta in a living person. Vesalius wrote this consilium to Achilles Pirmin Gasser on July 18, 1557; it was not published until more than 100 years later. The consilium was in response to a notice from Gasser regarding the death of the Augsburg patrician, Leonard Welser, whom Vesalius had seen as a patient in 1555. Ever since a ride on horseback, Welser had suffered severe and constant pain. Upon examination Vesalius discovered a pulsating tumor in the region of the vertebrae, and immediatedly diagosed a fatal aneurysm of the aorta. After suffering with this disease for two years, Welser resorted to a quack, who, it was thought, contributed to his demise. Gasser's autopsy report confirmed Vesalius's original diagnosis. Regarding the consilium, in Andreas Vesalius of Brussels (1964) C.D. O'Malley translated Rumler's comments as follows: "When in 1557 that noble gentleman Leonard Welser finally died from an internal aneurism from which he had long suffered its various symptoms, on 25 June Adolph Occo, father and son, Ambrose Jung, and Lucas Stengel, physicians of Augsburg, dissected the body in order to find the cause of death, and Achilles Gasser, my maternal grandfather, sent their findings to Vesalius." Vesalius's consilium and much other material collected and preserved by Rumler seems to have been first published by Welsch, as part of a larger collection. O'Malley also translated Gasser's report to Vesalius on pp. 406-07, and translated Vesalius's consilium on pp. 395-96. Digital facsimile of the 1667 edition from Google Books at this link.

Du Tertre, a priest, described (pp. 81, 99, 423) the outbreaks of yellow fever at Guadeloupe in 1635, 1640, and 1648.

The only publications of one of the earliest scientific societies, active from 1664 to 1672. Founded by Gerard Blaes, and numbering Jan Swammerdam among its members, the college devoted itself to comparative anatomical and physiological investigations of the lower vertebrates, concentrating primarily on fishes and mammals. The above works contain the first publication of Swammerdam’s early experiments with neuro-muscular physiology. Other portions of the works were probably written by Blaes. Facsimile edition edited by F.J. Cole, Berkshire: University of Reading,1938. Digital facsimile of the 1938 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.

This edition of a plague tract by English puritan minister Thomas Vincent was the first medical or biological publication in North America. It was issued by printer Samuel Green, using a press in Cambridge, Massachusetts owned by the president of Harvard, Henry Dunster. Vincent's tract had been published in London earlier in the same year. The Cambridge, Massachusetts printing is known from a single copy preserved at Harvard University. It is also probably the first publication in North America on any subject concerning science. The pamphlet was reissued in 1668 by another Cambridge, Masschusetts printer, Marmaduke Johnson. That 31 page pamphlet is known from a single copy preserved in the American Antiquarian Society.

Building on the theory of mechanics as formulated by Aristotle and Galileo, and countering objections expressed by Stephani degli Angeli among others, Borelli presented a completely mechanical account of the action of muscles and analyzed the way the center of gravity of an animal shifts in locomotion. Translated into English by Paul Maquet as Borelli's on the movement of animals - On the force of percussion. Berlin: Springer, 2015. Digital facsimile of the 1667 edition from Google Books at this link.

Barbato discovered the blood serum. Another version of these texts was published in Paris by Robert de Ninville in 1667. Priority of these editions is unknown. Digital facsimile of the Frankfurt version from Google Books at this link.

A work on the teaching of lip-reading and speaking to deaf-mutes based on the notion that letter-forms of the Hebrew alphabet resembled in profile the positions of the tongue required to produce their corresponding sounds.

In the first scientific study of spontanteous generation Redi’s experiments dealt the first real blow to the ancient doctrine. In these experiments Redi made use of what we now term “controls”. English translation, 1909.

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

Discovery of the blind spot in the retina, the existence of which Mariotte deduced from his experiments investigating the fate of light rays striking the base of the optic nerve. Facsimile reprint in J. Brons, The blind spot of Mariotte…, Copenhagen & London, 1939.

Van Meekeren was first to record a bone graft. He states (Chap. 1) that he read a report of it in a letter received by the Rev. Engebert Sloot of Slooterdijk from John Kraanwinkel, a missionary in Russia, where the operation had been performed. It consisted of the transplantation of a piece of bone from a dog’s skull into a cranial defect in a soldier. Although healing was perfect, the Church ordered the removal of the graft. German translation of the book, 1675; Latin translation, 1682. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

The outstanding textbook of the time. Mauriceau, leading obstetrician of his day, introduced the practice of delivering his patients in bed instead of in the obstetrical chair. It was to Mauriceau that Hugh Chamberlen attempted to sell the secret of his forceps; Chamberlen translated the Traité into English in 1672. This book established obstetrics as a science.

Gives a list of the English, Latin, and Greek names of all the then known animals. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Lower was the first to demonstrate the scroll-like structure of the cardiac muscle. He was one of the first to transfuse blood. Chapter III of the above work records how Lower injected dark venous blood into the insufflated lungs; he concluded that its subsequent bright red color was due to its absorption of some of the air passing though the lungs. The British Museum copy of this book bears the signature of Walter Charleton, followed by the date “1668”; it is possible, therefore, that the book actually appeared in that year and not in 1669. Facsimile, with translation, London, 1932.

In this remarkably prescient argument for, and critique of, anatomical research into brain function Stensen opposed Descartes (No. 574) arguing that it was idle to speculate about cerebral function when so little was known about the anatomical structure of the brain. Stensen proved anatomically that the pineal gland was not the seat of the soul. Latin translation, Leiden, 1671. Reprinted in Winslow (No. 394), and translated in that work. Modern English translation, Copenhagen, 1950. Digital facsimile of the 1669 edition from BnF Gallica at this link.

Includes a section on the education of deaf-mutes. Paracusis is described in the Appendix, p. 166.

Malpighi’s work on the silkworm represents the first monograph on an invertebrate and records one of the most striking pieces of research work on his part. He dissected the silkworm under the microscope with great skill and observed its intricate structure; before the appearance of this work the silkworm was believed to have no internal organs.

Swammerdam, one of the greatest of the early microscopists, spent much time on the study of insects, and mapped out a natural classification of them.

Discusses the origin, history, cultivation, preparation, nature and virtues of tobacco, whether used for smoking, snuffing, chewing, etc. or for medicinal purposes (Waring). "The custom of smoking, its role in divination among the Indians, and its rapid spread throughout the world are dealt with, and several chapters are devoted to pipes... A long account of the subject of snuff is provided, and notice is taken of the papal interdictions of 1642 and 1650 against the use of tobacco in churches" (Arents). Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.