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

SOEMMERRING, Samuel Thomas von

14 entries
  • 1383

Dissertatio inauguralis anatomica de basi encephali et originibus nervorum cranio egredientium libri quinque.

Gottingen: apud A. Vandenhoeck vid, 1778.

The first accurate enumeration of the 12 cranial nerves, superseding that of Willis (No. 1378). Soemmerring is notable for his accuracy in anatomical illustration. This was his thesis. The same publisher issued an edition for commercial circulation the same year, deleting “Dissertatio inauguralis anatomica” from the title.



Subjects: ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration, NEUROSCIENCE › NERVOUS SYSTEM › Brain, including Medulla: Cerebrospinal Fluid
  • 400

Vom Baue des menschlichen Körpers. 5 pts.

Frankfurt: M. Varrentrapp u. Wenner, 17911796.

Soemmerring’s text-book contained only facts actually observed by him. He departed from the usual practice of including physiology with anatomy. The book was very popular in German medical schools, and Meckel considered it Soemmerring’s best work. It includes a very full list of what Soemmerring considered his anatomical discoveries.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century
  • 534.55

Abbildungen und Beschreibungen einiger Missgeburten.

Mainz: Universitazbehandlung, 1791.

Most of the plates demonstrate a progressive series of specimens with duplication anomalies of the face and head, from midfacial cleft to complete dicephalus. This arrangement of malformations into a continuous series with definable steps anticipated the taxonomic approach of the Geoffroy Saint-Hilaires.



Subjects: TERATOLOGY
  • 4306

Abbildungen und Beschreibungen einiger Misgeburten.

Mainz: Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1791.

Achondroplasia is first described on page 30 and pictured on plate 11. English translation in No. 2241.



Subjects: GENETICS / HEREDITY › HEREDITARY / CONGENITAL DISEASES OR DISORDERS › Hereditary Disorders of the Skeleton › Achondroplasia, ORTHOPEDICS › Diseases of or Injuries to Bones, Joints & Skeleton › Congenital Diseases
  • 6022

Ueber die Wirkungen der Schnürbrüste.

Berlin: Voss, 1793.

Soemmerring enumerated the bad effects of tight corsets on the internal organs of women. His book created much interest and resulted in a great decline in the fad of tight lacing and hoop skirts. This is the second edition, with one copperplate illustration at the end. The first, unillustrated, edition was published at Leipzig, 1788. Digital facsimile of the 1793 edition from the Internet Archive at this link.



Subjects: OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY › GYNECOLOGY
  • 2609.1

De morbis vasorum absorbentium corporis humani.

Frankfurt: Varrentrapp & Wenner, 1795.

Soemmerring noted an association between pipe smoking and cancer of the lip (p. 109).



Subjects: ONCOLOGY & CANCER, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Botanic Sources of Single Component Drugs › Tobacco, TOXICOLOGY › Drug Addiction
  • 401

Tabula sceleti feminini juncta descriptione.

Frankfurt: Varrentrapp & Wenner, 1797.

Soemmerring was noted for his accuracy in anatomical illustration, and the above work is a fine example of his artistic sense. For it he selected the skeleton of a well-built girl of 20 years. Great care was taken in selecting the most appropriate posture and the contour of an ideally perfect female body in which the skeleton might be drawn in order properly to observe its proportions.



Subjects: ANATOMY › 18th Century, ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration, ART & Medicine & Biology
  • 473

Icones embryonum humanorum.

Frankfurt: Varrentrapp & Wenner, 1799.

Soemmerring met William Hunter during a visit to London in 1778. The latter’s classic work on the pregnant uterus (No. 6157) dealt only with the latter half of pregnancy. Soemmerring therefore decided, in a supplementary volume, to deal with the appearance of the embryo during the first half of pregnancy. This book is one of the best illustrated of Soemmerring’s works.



Subjects: EMBRYOLOGY
  • 1489

Abbildungen des menschlichen Auges.

Frankfurt: a.M., Varrentrapp u. Wenner, 1801.

Soemmerring is best remembered for his fine anatomical illustrations, of which those devoted to the human eye are a good example. In 1791 he made important observations on the macula lutea: "De foramine centrali limbo luteo cincto retinae humanae," Comment. Soc. reg. Sci. Gotting., 1795-98 (1799), 13, 3-13; on p. 4 he states that he made these observations on January 27, 1791. French translation in Demours, No. 5842.1.



Subjects: ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration, OPHTHALMOLOGY › Anatomy of the Eye & Orbit
  • 1554

Abbildungen des menschlichen Hoerorganes

Frankfurt: a.M., Varrentrapp u. Wenner, 1806.


Subjects: ANATOMY › Anatomical Illustration, OTOLOGY › Physiology of Hearing
  • 1455

Abbildungen der menschlichen Organe des Geschmackes und der Stimme.

Frankfurt: Varrentrapp & Wenner, 1806.


Subjects: Speech, Anatomy and Physiology of, Taste / Gustation, Anatomy & Physiology of
  • 927

Über den Bau der Lungen.

Berlin: in den Vossischen Buchhandlung, 1808.

In 1804 the Berlin Akademie der Naturwissenschaften offered a prize for the best essay on the structure and function of the lungs. The prize was won by Reisseisen, while Soemmerring received honorable mention. The texts of both works were published in one volume; Soemmerring’s essay was entitled “Ueber die Structur, die Verrichtung und den Gebrauch der Lungen”. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: RESPIRATION
  • 1454

Abbildungen der menschlichen Organe des Geruches.

Frankfurt: a.M., Varrentrapp u. Wenner, 1809.


Subjects: Olfaction / Smell, Anatomy & Physiology of
  • 12937

De foetu humano: Adnotationes anatomicae quibus praemissis viro perillustri Samueli Thomae de Soemmerring ... doctoratus in medicina impetrati semisaecularia gratulatur Universitas Literarum Regiomontana. Interprete Carlo Friderico Burdach.

Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1828.

Reproduction of a drawing by Soemmerring of the first stages of embryonic development visible with the naked eye, with a note by Burdach.
Digital facsimile from Bayerische StaatsBibliothek at this link.



Subjects: EMBRYOLOGY