An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

PURKYNĔ, Jan Evangelista [PURKINJE]

9 entries
  • 1492

Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Sehens in subjectiver Hinsicht.

Prague: Fr. Vetterl von Wildenkron, 1819.

Purkynĕ’s graduation dissertation on the subjective visual phenomena earned for him the appreciation of Goethe and the chair of physiology at Breslau. Reprinted in his Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 1-56,1918. There were two issues of the first edition published the same year. The second edition was published in 1823.



Subjects: OPHTHALMOLOGY › Physiology of Vision
  • 1492.1
  • 160

Commentatio de examine physiologico organi visus et systematis cutanei.

Wroclaw (Vratislava, Breslau): typis Universitatis, 1823.

Purkynĕ was first to examine the interior of the human eye and the dog eye, using only a candle and a concave spherical lens. He thus invented the ophthalmoscope three decades before Helmholtz (1851; No. 5866). Reprinted in his Opera (No. 82), 1918,1, 163-94. English trans. in John, Jan Evangelista Purkyne, Philadelphia, 1959. See Albert & Miller, Jan Purkinje and the ophthalmoscope, Amer. J. Ophth., 1973, 76, 494-99.

Purkynĕ was also the first to classify fingerprints. Reprinted in his Opera omnia (No. 82), vol. 1, pp. 163-94, 1918. English translation in John, Jan Evangelista Purkynĕ, Philadelphia, 1959.



Subjects: DERMATOLOGY, INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Medical Instruments › Ophthalmoscope, OPHTHALMOLOGY › Ophthalmoscopy, OPHTHALMOLOGY › Physiology of Vision
  • 476

Symbolae ad ovi ovium historiam ante incubationem.

Wroclaw (Vratislava, Breslau): typ. Universitatis, 1825.

First description of the germinal vesicle in the embryo, “Purkynĕ’s vesicle” This is located on the spot of the yolk where the embryo develops. Later identified with the cell nucleus, this formed a bridge between the large avian egg and the small ova of other animals, stimulating the researches of von Baer (No. 477). Reprinted in his Opera selecta, Prague, 1948, pp. 1-25; 2nd ed. Leipzig, L. Voss, 1830, reprinted in his Opera omnia, vol. 1, pp. 195-218. English translation of 2nd ed., in Essays in biology in honor of Herbert M. Evans (1943).



Subjects: EMBRYOLOGY
  • 1494.1

Beobachtungen und Versuche zur Physiologie der Sinne. Neue Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Sehens in subjectiver Hinsicht. 2 vols.

Berlin: Reimer, 1825.

“Purkynĕ phenomenon” or “Purkynĕ shift”, a change in the apparent relative luminosity of colors in a dim light (scotopic vision) compared with that in full daylight (photopic vision). Also published in Rust’s Mag. ges. Heilk., 1825, 20, 3-83, 199-276, 391-423. See V. Kruta J.E. Purkynĕ, physiologist. A short account of his contributions… with a bibliography of his works. Prague: Academia Publishing House, 1969.



Subjects: OPHTHALMOLOGY › Physiology of Vision
  • 602

De phaenomeno generali et fundamentali motus vibratorii contini in membranis.

Wroclaw (Vratislava, Breslau): sumpt. A. Schulz et soc., , 1835.

Classical paper on ciliary epithelial motion. Reprinted in Purkynĕ’s Opera omnia (No. 82), pp. 277-371, 1918. English translation in Dublin J. med. chem. Sci., 1835, 7, 279-84.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › Cell Biology
  • 1396

Neueste Untersuchungen aus der Nerven-und Hirnanatomie.

Ber. Versamml. dtsch. Natuif. u. Aerzte, Prag, (1838), 15, 177-80, 1837.

Description of the “flask-shaped ganglionic bodies” known as “Purkinje cells”. Reprinted in his Opera Omnia, 1939, 3, 47-9. Also published in Oken’s Isis, 1838, pp. 582-84.



Subjects: ANATOMY › Neuroanatomy, NEUROSCIENCE › NERVOUS SYSTEM › Brain, including Medulla: Cerebrospinal Fluid
  • 541

De formatione granulosa in nervis aliisque partibus organismi animalis.

Wroclaw (Vratislava, Breslau): Typis M. Friedlaender, 1839.

In 1839 Purkynĕ was the first to use the term protoplasma, by which he described the embryonic ground substance. This fact is recorded in the inaugural dissertation of one of his students, J. Rosenthal.



Subjects: BIOLOGY › Cell Biology, EMBRYOLOGY
  • 805

Nowe spostrzezenia i badainia w przedmiocie fizyologii i drobnowidzowéj anatomii.

Rocz. Wydzialu lekar. Univ. Jagiel, 2, 44-67, 1839.

The “Purkinjĕ fibres”; identification of the conductor system of the heart. Reprinted in his Opera omnia, 1939, 3, 52-63. German version in Arch. Anat. Physiol, wiss. Med., 1845, 281-95; English translation by W. W. Gull in Lond. med. Gaz., 1845, 36, 1066-69, 1156-58. Historical note by V. Kruta in Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med., 1971, 47, 351-7.



Subjects: CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY › Anatomy of the Heart & Circulatory System, CARDIOLOGY › CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY › Cardiac Electrophysiology
  • 82

Sebrané spisy. Opera omnia. Tom. 1-12.

Prague: Purkyñova Spolestnost, 19181973.

Purkynĕ was Professor of Physiology at Breslau and Prague. Eminent as physiologist and microscopist, he was first to use the microtome. See Kruta, V. J.E. Purkynĕ, Physiologist. A short account of his contributions…with a bibliography of his works. (Prague, Academia Publishing House, 1969).



Subjects: Collected Works: Opera Omnia, Microscopy, OPHTHALMOLOGY › Physiology of Vision, PHYSIOLOGY