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The Cambridge Library Collection reissues milestone publications in the history of Western medicine as well as studies of other medical traditions. Its coverage ranges from Galen's work on anatomy to Florence Nightingale's advice to nurses, with a special focus on nineteenth-century developments. It is sobering to realise that as recently as the Victorian period, learned opinion was that diseases such as typhus and cholera were spread by a 'miasma' and suggestions that doctors should wash their hands before examining patients were greeted with mockery by the profession. The series includes colonial reports on tropical diseases, treatises on the effects of climate and diet, documents on public health and military medicine, early research into mental health and genetics and publications on spa culture and medicinal plants.

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69 results in Cambridge Library Collection - History of Medicine

Page 1 of 4

The Works of John Hunter, F.R.S.
  • With Notes
  • Volume 2
  • John Hunter
  • Edited by James F. Palmer
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    26 March 2015
  • The surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728–93) left a famous legacy in the Hunterian Museum of medical specimens now in the Royal College of Surgeons, and in this collection of his writings, edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, published between 1835 and 1837. The first four volumes are of text, and the larger Volume 5 contains plates. Hunter had begun his career as a demonstrator in the anatomy classes of his brother William, before qualifying as a surgeon. He regarded surgery as evidence of failure - the mutilation of a patient who could not be cured by other means - and his studies of anatomy and natural history were driven by his belief that it was necessary to understand the normal physiological processes before attempting to cure the abnormal ones. Volume 2 discusses diseases of the jaw, teeth and gums, at a time when dental surgery was rudimentary.

The Works of John Hunter, F.R.S.
  • With Notes
  • Volume 4
  • John Hunter
  • Edited by James F. Palmer
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    26 March 2015
  • The surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728–93) left a famous legacy in the Hunterian Museum of medical specimens now in the Royal College of Surgeons, and in this collection of his writings, edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, published between 1835 and 1837. The first four volumes are of text, and the larger Volume 5 contains plates. Hunter had begun his career as a demonstrator in the anatomy classes of his brother William, before qualifying as a surgeon. He regarded surgery as evidence of failure - the mutilation of a patient who could not be cured by other means - and his studies of anatomy and natural history were driven by his belief that it was necessary to understand the normal physiological processes before attempting to cure the abnormal ones. Volume 4 contains Hunter's works on animal physiology, with notes by the distinguished palaeontologist Richard Owen.

The Works of John Hunter, F.R.S.
  • With Notes
  • Volume 3
  • John Hunter
  • Edited by James F. Palmer
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    26 March 2015
  • The surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728–93) left a famous legacy in the Hunterian Museum of medical specimens now in the Royal College of Surgeons, and in this collection of his writings, edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, published between 1835 and 1837. The first four volumes are of text, and the larger Volume 5 contains plates. Hunter had begun his career as a demonstrator in the anatomy classes of his brother William, before qualifying as a surgeon. He regarded surgery as evidence of failure - the mutilation of a patient who could not be cured by other means - and his studies of anatomy and natural history were driven by his belief that it was necessary to understand the normal physiological processes before attempting to cure the abnormal ones. Volume 3 discusses blood and the vascular system, wounds (especially those suffered in war), and infection.

The Works of John Hunter, F.R.S.
  • With Notes
  • Volume 1
  • John Hunter, Drewry Ottley
  • Edited by James F. Palmer
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    26 March 2015
  • The surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728–93) left a famous legacy in the Hunterian Museum of medical specimens now in the Royal College of Surgeons, and in this collection of his writings, edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, published between 1835 and 1837. The first four volumes are of text, and the larger Volume 5 contains plates. Hunter had begun his career as a demonstrator in the anatomy classes of his brother William, before qualifying as a surgeon. He regarded surgery as evidence of failure - the mutilation of a patient who could not be cured by other means - and his studies of anatomy and natural history were driven by his belief that it was necessary to understand the normal physiological processes before attempting to cure the abnormal ones. Volume 1 contains Ottley's biography, a list of Hunter's published works, and his lectures on surgery.

A Concise History of the Entire Abolition of Mechanical Restraint in the Treatment of the Insane
  • And of the Introduction, Success, and Final Triumph of the Non-Restraint System
  • Robert Gardiner Hill
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    05 March 2015
  • The most famous nineteenth-century British reformer of care for the mentally ill and disabled was undoubtedly John Conolly, whose 1856 Treatment of the Insane without Mechanical Restraints is also reissued in this series. However, Conolly's work at the Hanwell Asylum near London was based in part on the pioneering efforts of Edward Parker Charlesworth (1781–1853) and his younger colleague Robert Gardiner Hill (1811–78), who had already (and controversially) abolished physical restraint in the Lincoln Asylum by 1838. Conolly is known to have visited and been impressed by the Lincoln hospital, but his supporters, and his own book, suggested his primacy in the field, and Hill published this work in 1857 in order to refute Conolly's claims. The first part consists of Hill's account of his and Charlesworth's reforms at Lincoln, and the second reprints many of the letters and pamphlets which focused on the topic during this period.

Pharmacologia
  • Or, The History of Medicinal Substances
  • John Ayrton Paris
  • Published online:
    05 February 2015
    Print publication:
    18 December 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, published the first edition of this book in 1812. It was immediately successful, and went into eight further editions until 1843: this reissue is of the 1820 third edition. Many volumes on materia medica existed at the time, and Paris claims in his preface that he is not disparaging these competitor works, but that they presume too much prior knowledge on the part of the reader. His own work is designed to inform the student of the properties and effects of each medicinal substance, and how they function, both alone and in combinations. This will lead to greater understanding of the efficacy of medicines, and also help to prevent their adulteration. The qualities of each ingredient are discussed, and formulae and doses provided.

Biographical Memoirs of Medicine in Great Britain
  • From the Revival of Literature to the Time of Harvey
  • John Aikin
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    04 December 2014
  • In this absorbing work of medical history, the physician and writer John Aikin (1747–1822) brings together biographical information on a selection of Britain's early medics, shedding light on the lives, works and quirks of more than fifty medical writers, surgeons and physicians between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. Outlining the roles played by major figures in the great medical advances that marked this period, the book was first published in 1780, prior to Aikin's move to Great Yarmouth in 1784 to practise medicine. However, his political beliefs and dissenting views regarding the Church of England contributed to his unpopularity in the area, prompting his move to London and greater literary freedom. Over the years, he produced a broad range of published works, including his historically valuable Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester (1795), which is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

An Historiall Expostulation against the Beastlye Abusers, Both of Chyrurgerie and Physyke, in oure Tyme
  • With a Goodlye Doctrine and Instruction, Necessarye to Be Marked and Followed, of All True Chirurgiens
  • John Hall
  • Edited by T. J. Pettigrew
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • The surgeon Thomas Pettigrew (1791–1865) was interested in all aspects of antiquity. He gained fame in society through his mummy-unwrapping parties, and his History of Egyptian Mummies is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. His interest in the early history of medicine is evidenced by this edition of a work by John Hall, which was published by the Percy Society in 1844. Hall was a surgeon, born 1529/30, who published this work in 1565 as an appendix to his translation of the work of the thirteenth-century surgeon Lanfranc of Milan. Little is known about Hall except that he practised medicine in Maidstone, Kent, and had published acrostic verses. He was vociferous in his indignation against fraudulent medicine, and this work describes nine incidents where quacks, both male and female, had visited Maidstone and offered miraculous cures to the gullible: Hall himself was involved in prosecuting some of them.

Medical Ethics
  • Or, a Code of Institutes and Precepts, Adapted to the Professional Conduct of Physicians and Surgeons
  • Thomas Percival
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • A physician and medical reformer enthused by the scientific and cultural progress of the Enlightenment as it took hold in Britain, Thomas Percival (1740–1804) wrote on many topics, but he was particularly concerned about public health issues arising from the factory conditions of the Industrial Revolution. Calling for improved standards of care, he believed that the working poor should be treated the same as wealthy private clients. Following a disastrous dispute in 1792 which closed the Manchester Infirmary's Fever Hospital during an epidemic, Percival was asked to draft regulations on professional medical conduct. In 1794 he privately circulated a tract, Medical Jurisprudence, which he later revised for this 1803 publication. Based on Hippocratic and Christian principles, Percival's work is considered the first modern formulation of doctor-patient etiquette. His Essays Medical and Experimental (revised edition, 1772–3) and the four volumes of his collected works (1807) are also reissued in this series.

On Superstitions Connected with the History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery
  • Thomas Joseph Pettigrew
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • The surgeon Thomas Pettigrew (1791–1865) was interested in all aspects of antiquity, and gained fame in London society through his mummy-unwrapping parties. (His History of Egyptian Mummies is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.) His interest in the early history of medicine is evidenced by this work, published in 1844, which describes the various forms of superstition which the science of medicine had always attracted since ancient times. Pettigrew considers alchemy and astrology, and the use of talismans, amulets and charms, as well as the history of Egyptian, Greek and Roman medicine, and some modern developments, including 'sympathetical cures' and the rejoining of severed fingers and ears. A chapter is devoted to the belief in the efficacy of the 'royal touch' against the King's Evil (scrofula), and another to the seventeenth-century faith healer Valentine Greatrakes, of whose alleged cures Pettigrew takes a robustly sceptical view.

Medical Jurisprudence
  • Volume 1
  • John Ayrton Paris, J. S. M. Fonblanque
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, and his co-author J. S. M. Fonblanque (1787–1865) published this three-volume work in 1823. It remained almost the only work on the topic of medical jurisprudence for many years. The authors define the term as 'a science by which medicine, and its collateral branches, are made subservient to the construction, elucidation, and administration of the laws; and to the preservation of public health'. Volume 1 considers the context: the professional colleges and their powers and privileges, and historical cases involving a medical practitioner. It also deals with areas of the law where medical evidence may be needed: matrimonial and childbirth issues; insanity; public nuisance (e.g. pollution); and the adulteration of food. The volume ends with the first part of a consideration of unnatural death.

Medical Jurisprudence
  • Volume 2
  • John Ayrton Paris, J. S. M. Fonblanque
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, and his co-author J. S. M. Fonblanque (1787–1865), barrister and administrator, published this three-volume work in 1823. It remained almost the only work on the topic of medical jurisprudence for many years. The authors define the term as 'a science by which medicine, and its collateral branches, are made subservient to the construction, elucidation, and administration of the laws; and to the preservation of public health'. Volume 2 continues the discussion of homicide in all its various aspects (including suspicious deaths which might in fact be accidental): suffocation, drowning, hanging, and battery. Proceedings at coroners' inquests are described, and there is a very extensive section on the various types of poison.

Medical Jurisprudence
  • Volume 3
  • John Ayrton Paris, J. S. M. Fonblanque
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, and his co-author J. S. M. Fonblanque (1787–1865), barrister and administrator, published this three-volume work in 1823. It remained almost the only work on the topic of medical jurisprudence for many years. The authors define the term as 'a science by which medicine, and its collateral branches, are made subservient to the construction, elucidation, and administration of the laws; and to the preservation of public health'. Volume 3 continues the discussion of homicide, dealing with abortion and infanticide, rules for dissection, and issues of criminal responsibility, such as pleas of insanity. This is followed by a 'synopsis of the objects of inquiry in cases of sudden death', and an appendix presenting many illustrative historical cases. The book ends with a comprehensive index to all three volumes.

Histoire naturelle des drogues simples
  • Ou, cours d'histoire naturelle professé à l'École de Pharmacie de Paris
  • Volume 4
  • Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    08 May 2014
  • The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790–1867) first published this work in two volumes in 1820. It provided methodical descriptions of mineral, plant and animal substances. In the following years, Guibourt became a member of the Académie nationale de médicine and a professor at the École de pharmacie in Paris. Pharmaceutical knowledge also progressed considerably as new methods and classifications emerged. For this revised and enlarged four-volume fourth edition, published between 1849 and 1851, Guibourt followed the principles of modern scientific classification. For each substance, he describes the general properties as well as their medicinal or poisonous effects. Volume 4 (1851) looks at pharmaceutical substances derived from animals. Guibourt draws on Cuvier's recent classificatory work, dividing animals into four groups: vertebrates (mammals, birds, reptiles, fish), articulates (insects, arachnids, crustaceans et al.), molluscs, and zoophytes.

Histoire naturelle des drogues simples
  • Ou, cours d'histoire naturelle professé à l'École de Pharmacie de Paris
  • Volume 1
  • Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    08 May 2014
  • The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790–1867) first published this work in two volumes in 1820. It provided methodical descriptions of mineral, plant and animal substances. In the following years, Guibourt became a member of the Académie nationale de médicine and a professor at the École de pharmacie in Paris. Pharmaceutical knowledge also progressed considerably as new methods and classifications emerged. For this revised and enlarged four-volume fourth edition, published between 1849 and 1851, Guibourt followed the principles of modern scientific classification. For each substance, he describes the general properties as well as their medicinal or poisonous effects. Illustrated throughout, Volume 1 (1849) begins with an introduction that clarifies Guibourt's approach to pharmaceutical science. The volume then goes on to describe the properties of minerals.

Histoire naturelle des drogues simples
  • Ou, cours d'histoire naturelle professé à l'École de Pharmacie de Paris
  • Volume 2
  • Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    08 May 2014
  • The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790–1867) first published this work in two volumes in 1820. It provided methodical descriptions of mineral, plant and animal substances. In the following years, Guibourt became a member of the Académie nationale de médicine and a professor at the École de pharmacie in Paris. Pharmaceutical knowledge also progressed considerably as new methods and classifications emerged. For this revised and enlarged four-volume fourth edition, published between 1849 and 1851, Guibourt followed the principles of modern scientific classification. For each substance, he describes the general properties as well as their medicinal or poisonous effects. Illustrated throughout, Volume 2 (1849) draws on systems pioneered by three renowned scientists for the classification of plants: Linnaeus, who laid the foundations of modern taxonomy; Jussieu, the first to publish a classification of flowering plants; and de Candolle, whose work influenced Darwin.

Histoire naturelle des drogues simples
  • Ou, cours d'histoire naturelle professé à l'École de Pharmacie de Paris
  • Volume 3
  • Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    08 May 2014
  • The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790–1867) first published this work in two volumes in 1820. It provided methodical descriptions of mineral, plant and animal substances. In the following years, Guibourt became a member of the Académie nationale de médicine and a professor at the École de pharmacie in Paris. Pharmaceutical knowledge also progressed considerably as new methods and classifications emerged. For this revised and enlarged four-volume fourth edition, published between 1849 and 1851, Guibourt followed the principles of modern scientific classification. For each substance, he describes the general properties as well as their medicinal or poisonous effects. Illustrated throughout, Volume 3 (1850) continues to describe plant substances, drawing on the systems of Linnaeus, Jussieu and de Candolle. The volume covers the last two classes of dicotyledons.

The Elements of Medical Chemistry
  • Embracing Only Those Branches of Chemical Science which Are Calculated to Illustrate or Explain the Different Objects of Medicine, and to Furnish a Chemical Grammar to the Author's Pharmacologia
  • John Ayrton Paris
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, published the first edition of his Pharmacologia in 1812. It was immediately successful, and went into eight further editions until 1843. The third edition, of 1820, has been reissued in this series. This book, published in 1825, was intended as a companion volume, providing a 'grammar' of chemistry for the medical student. After an imaginary dialogue on the importance of chemistry, between a provincial physician and 'the author', to whom the former is entrusting his son for his medical education, the book moves systematically from the general application of chemistry to medicine, through topics such as gravity, crystallization and electricity, to the detail of the actions of specific elements, and tables of relevant weights and measures, providing fascinating insights into the history of medical education.

A Treatise on Diet
  • With a View to Establish, on Practical Grounds, a System of Rules, for the Prevention and Cure of the Diseases Incident to a Disordered State of the Digestive Functions
  • John Ayrton Paris
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, published this book on the significance of diet to health in 1826. In the first part, Paris discusses the physiology of the digestive system, and the way that sensations of hunger, thirst and fullness are conveyed. In the second part, he considers types of food and drink, and methods of cookery. Paris suggests the times of day at which different meals should be taken, and the types and amounts of food and drink to be consumed. Part 3 deals with the problems of indigestion. A table of matters for investigation is given which covers the patient's lifestyle and habits as well as their immediate physical symptoms, and Paris firmly makes the point that changes of lifestyle are at least as important as medicine in effecting a cure.

A Treatise of the Scurvy, in Three Parts
  • Containing an Inquiry into the Nature, Causes, and Cure, of that Disease
  • James Lind
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Born in Edinburgh, with family connections to the local medical profession, James Lind (1716–94) went on to spend nine years at sea as a surgeon for the Royal Navy. His service made him familiar with one of the most common and debilitating ailments of the eighteenth century. Scurvy posed a particular problem for Britain, an island nation seeking to assert itself overseas through its navy. The symptoms of the disease had been recognised for centuries, but the causes remained elusive. First published in 1753, Lind's treatise explores the topic thoroughly, weighing the evidence and presenting a theory of the disease's aetiology, suggesting methods of prevention and treatment, and also discussing previous work on the subject, including ancient texts. Lind provided the groundwork for later investigations, his research lending support to the later practice of including the juice of citrus fruit in a sailor's diet, even though vitamin deficiency was not yet understood.

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