Commentarii de morborum historia et curatione.

Samuel Johnson called Heberden “the last of our learned physicians”. The above work included all his important papers, which had earned him his great reputation, and which are dealt with elsewhere in this database (see Nos. 2887, 2291, 5438, 5831). Heberden's book was published posthumously by Heberden’s son, and at once acquired a European reputation; “it had the distinction of being the last important medical treatise written in Latin” (Rolleston). An English translation also appeared in 1802. Chap. 78 reports two cases of anaphylactoid (abdominal) purpura. Henoch (No. 3065) and Schönlein (No. 3058) established this condition as a distinct entity. In his chapter De nodis digitorum Heberden described a form of rheumatic gout in which nodules (“Heberden’s nodes”) appeared at the interphalangeal joints of the fingers. Heberden's introduction to the book, written in 1767, was not published until the 4th edition (1816).