Facets

1509 CE

#8445

Medicinae Pliniae libri quinque finiunt foeliciter.

The Medicina Plinii was an anonymous compilation of remedies dating to the early 4th century CE ."The excerptor, saying that he speaks from experience, offers the work as a compact resource for travelers in dealing wi…

2015 CE

#10275

A Cree healer and his medicine bundle: Revelations of indigenous wisdom: Healing plants, practices, and stories.

"With the rise of urban living and the digital age, many North American healers are recognizing that traditional medicinal knowledge must be recorded before being lost with its elders. A Cree Healer and His Medicine B…

1703 CE

#8870

A description of the Western Islands of Scotland.: Containing a full account of their situation, extent, soils, product, harbours, bays, tides, anchoring places, and fisheries. The ancient and modern government, religion and customs of the inhabitants, particularly of their druids, heathen temples, monasteries, churches, chappels, antiquities, monuments, forts, caves, and other curiosities of art and nature. Of their admirable and expeditious way of curing most diseases by simples of their own product. A particular account of the second sight, or faculty of forseeing things to come, by way of vision, so common among them. A brief hint of methods to improve trade in that country, both by sea and land. With a new map of the whole, describing the harbours, anchoring places, and dangerous rocks, for the benefit of sailers. To which is added a brief description of the Isles of Orkney, and Schetland.

Martin, who graduated MD from Leiden, included throughout his book detailed and non-judgmental documentation of folk medicine practices and ethnobotanic remedies then in use in the region. Digital facsimile of the 170…

1931 CE

#7062

A modern herbal. The medicinal, culinary, cosmetic and economic properties, cultivation and folk-lore of herbs, grasses, fungi, shrubs & trees with their modern scientific uses. With an introduction by the editor, Mrs. C. F. Leyel. 2 vols.

Online version at Botanical.com at this link.

1822 CE

#10751

A narrative of the life and medical discoveries of Samuel Thomson: Containing an account of his system of practice, and the manner of curing disease with vegetable medicine, upon a plan entirely new; to which is added an introduction to his New Guide to Health, or Botanic Family Physician containing the principles upon which the system is founded, with remarks on fevers, steaming, poison &c.

Thomson issued this introductory work shortly before publication of his New Guide. Three issues appeared in 1822: one with 180 pages, another with 182 pages including testimonials, and a 204 page issue with the introd…

1871 CE

#1996.4

A practical treatise on the medical and surgical uses of electricity, including localized and general electrization.

Beard and Rockwell were the leading American electrotherapists of the 19th century. This is the most influential American treatise ever published on electrotherapy. It is of especial value today for its comprehensive …

1942 CE

#9284

A study of Delaware Indian medicine practice and folk beliefs.

In this publication Delaware refers to the name of the Native American people known as Lenape, or Leni Lenape, or Delaware people, rather than the U.S. state. In terms of geographical scope, the book covers traditiona…

1744 CE

#1987.1

Abhandlung von dem Nutzen der Electricität in der Artzneywissenschaft.

A student of Johann Gottlob Krüger (No. 1987.2), Kratzenstein was apparently the first to publish a treatise on electrotherapy, although he may have been publishing experiments devised by Krüger. Second edit…

2000 CE

#8030

African traditional medicine: A dictionary of plant use and applications with supplement: Search system for diseases.

1970 CE

#6467.1

American Indian medicine.

Volume 95 of The Civililization of the American Indian Series.

1887 CE

#8716

American medicinal plants; an illustrated and descriptive guide to the American plants used as homoeopathic remedies: Their history, preparation, chemistry and physiological effects. Illustrated by the author.

Plates printed by chromolithography. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1712 CE

#6374.11

Amoentitatum exoticarum politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi V.

Kaempfer’s illustrated accounts of Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion are among the best of the 17th century. They appeared for the first time in the above work and were translated into English in his The Hist…

1922 CE

#2047

An essay on the history of electrotherapy and diagnosis.

1803 CE

#1989

An introduction to electricity and galvanism.

One of the first works in the English language entirely devoted to medical electricity. Carpue also played a key role in the development of rhinoplasty. See No. 5737.

1774 CE

#6451.90

An oration…containing an enquiry into the natural history of medicine among the Indians in North-America; and a comparative view of their diseases and remedies, with those of civilized nations.

Rush was the first American physician to publish a detailed study of native American medicine. Digital facsimile from the Medical Heritage Library, Internet Archive, at this link.

1985 CE

#8203

Aphrodisiacs: The science and the myth.

1990 CE

#7513

Aztec medicine, health, and nutrition.

1745 CE

#1831

Aνтιθηεριακά. An essay on mithridatium and theriaka.

Heberden’s first printed work. His criticism of current superstitions conceming these two concoctions resulted ultimately in their removal from the pharmacopoeia. No publisher's name appears on the title page. D…

1963 CE

#7868

Botanic manuscript of Jane Colden, 1724-1766. Edited by H.W. Rickett and E.C. Hall.

Colden was the first distinguished American woman botanist. Her work is known only from an untitled manuscript by her on the flora of the lower Hudson River Valley of New York that is preserved in the Natural History …

1754 CE

#13065

Briefe welch einige Erfahrungen der electrischen Wirkungen in Krankheiten enthalten.

1992 CE

#7043

Contraception and abortion from the ancient world to the Renaissance.

Riddle argued that the ancient world possessed effective and safe contraceptives and abortifacients; however this knowledge about fertility control, widely held in the ancient world, was gradually lost over the course…

1790 CE

#13699

Culpeper's English physician; and complete herbal. To which are now first added upwards of one hundred additional herbs, with a display of their medicinal and occult properties, physically applied to the cure of all disorders incident to mankind. To which are annexed rules for compounding medicine according to the true system of nature, forming a complete family dispensatory and natural system of physic. Beautified and enriched with engravings of upwards of four hundred and fifty different plants, and a set of anatomical figures....

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

1528 CE

#1785

De compositionibus medicamentorum liber unus

Written in 47 CE, this is an important compilation of drugs and prescriptions. Among the 271 remedies are the first use of electrotherapy (for headaches) using the shock of the torpedo fish. and it records the drinkin…

1855 CE

#1995

De l’électrisation localisée et de son application à la physiologie, à la pathologie, et à la thérapeutique.

Duchenne classified the electrophysiology of the entire muscular system and summed up his findings in the above work. The application of his results to pathological conditions marks him as the founder of electrotherap…

1536 CE

#10961

De medicamentis empiricis physicis ac rationalibus liber.... Edited by Janus Cornarius. Item Claudii Galeni libri novem nunc primum Latini facti.... Jani Cornarii.

The Gallo-Roman physician Marcellus was born in Bordeaux. He may have served as magister officiorum under Theodosius I, or may have been royal physician. Sarton (Introduction to the history of science I, 391) consider…

c. 1839 CE

#10003

Deadly adulteration and slow poisoning unmasked; or, Disease and death in the pot and the bottle; in which the blood-empoisoning and life-destroying adulterations of wines, spirits, beer, bread, flour, tea, sugar, spices, cheese-mongery, pastry, confectionary medicines, &c. &c. &c. are laid open to the public, with tests or methods for the ascertaining and detecting the fraudulent and deleterious adulterations and the good and bad qualities of those articles: with an exposé of medical empiricism and imposture, quacks and quackery, regular and irregular, legitimate and illegitimate: and the frauds and mal-practices of the pawn-brokers and madhouse keepers. New edition

Digital facsimile from the Hathi Trust at this link.

1794 CE

#8004

Demostracion de las eficaces virtudes nuevamente descubiertas en las raices de dos plantas de Nueva-España, especies de ágave y de begónia, para la curacion del vicio venéreo y escrofuloso ...

Balmis conducted experimental trials on the effectiveness of two Mexican plants, agave and begonia, which were believed, according to folk medicine practices in Mexico, to cure syphilis and scrofula. The trials confir…

1867 CE

#3275

Die Anwendung der Galvanokaustik im Innern des Kehlkopfes und Schlundkopfes.

Voltolini was the first to use the galvanocautery in laryngeal surgery.

1857 CE

#1996

Die Electricität in der Medicin.

Ziemssen confirmed Remak’s discovery of the motor points, established their exact location, and published exact instructions for finding the motor points for stimulating the various muscles of the body.

1898 CE

#2039

Die Heilpflanzen der verschiedenen Volker und Zeiten.

1908 CE

#2044

Die volkmedizinische Organotherapie und ihr Verhältnis zum Kultopfer.

Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

2000 CE

#9743

Early English charms, plant lore, and healing.

1533 CE

#9863

En nyttelig laegebog for fattige og rige, unge og gamle.

Pedersen, a Danish canon, humanist scholar, writer, printer and publisher, wrote and published the earliest medical book issued in Scandanavia by a Scandanavian writer. Translated as "A useful doctor book for poor and…

1790 CE

#10002

Essays on fashionable diseases. The dangerous effects of hot and crouded rooms. The cloathing of invalids. Lady and gentlemen doctors. And on quacks and quackery. With the genuine patent prescriptions of Dr. James's fever power, Tickell's aetherial spirit, & Godbold's balsam, taken from the Rolls in Chancery, and under the seal of the proper officers; and also the ingredients and compostion of many of the most celebrated quack nostrums, as analized by several of the best chemists in Europe. By James M. Adair, Formerly M.D.... With a dedication to Philip Thicknesse ... To which is added a dramatic dialogue. Published for the benefit of the tin-miners in Cornwal

An attack on quack medicines, etc. with one of the most verbose title pages of the 18th century. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

1748 CE

#1987.3

Experiences sur l’électricité …

Discovery of stimulation of muscles by electricity, and the first proof that paralysis could be successfully treated by electricity.

1979 CE

#9158

Female complaints: Lydia Pinkham and the business of women's medicine.

"The original 1875 recipe called for unicorn root, life root, blach cohosh, pleurisy root, and fenugreek seed, but alcohol (18-20 percent) gave it a longer shelf life, and shrewd advertising assured its staying power.…

1858 CE

#1996.1

Galvanotherapie der Nerven- und Muskelkrankheiten.

Remak was a pioneer of galvanotherapy. Having treated some 700 patients with galvanic current, he believed that it was superior to faradic current for electrotherapy.

1779 CE

#13066

Geneeskundige proeven en waarneemingen omtrent de goede uitwerking der electriciteit in verscheiden ziektens.

Digital facsimile of the Dutch edition from Google Books at this link. Translated into German by Karl Gottlob Kühn as Von den guten Würkungen der Electricität in verschiedenen Krankheiten. Mit eingien A…

1932 CE–1939 CE

#2056.1

Geschichte der Homöopathie. 4 vols.

A comprehensive history, particularly for homeopathy in Germany. Includes extensive bibliographies.

1973 CE

#10735

Hallucinogens and Shamanism edited by Michael Harner.

Includes Harner's "The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants in European Witchcraft".

2014 CE

#9912

Handbook of African medicinal plants. Second edition.

"With over 50,000 distinct species in sub-Saharan Africa alone, the African continent is endowed with an enormous wealth of plant resources. While more than 25 percent of known species have been used for several centu…

1995 CE

#9269

Healing threads: Traditional medicines of the Highlands and Islands.

"Much of the rich store of material comes from the great legacy of medieval Gaelic manuscripts. In more recent times, papers of medical societies have shown how traditional methods and cures are still of value to mode…

1996 CE

#9290

Healing with plants in the American and Mexican West.

1919 CE

#8871

Irish ethno-botany and the evolution of medicine in Ireland.

A discussion of Irish materia medica and a summary of the development of medicine in Ireland from the earliest times. Indices in Gaelic and English. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

2004 CE

#9899

Jamaican folk medicine: A source of healing.

2008 CE

#12724

Lead encephalopathy due to traditional medicines.

Abstract: "Traditional medicine use is common in developing countries and increasingly popular in the western world. Despite the popularity of traditional medicines, scientific research on safety and efficacy is limit…

1864 CE–1866 CE

#6534

Leechdoms, wortcunning, and starcraft of early England. Being a collection of documents, for the most part never before printed, illustrating the history of science in this country before the Norman Conquest. Collected and edited by Oswald Cockayne. 3 vols.

This set contains many texts relating to medieval English medicine and the Anglo-Saxon language. It contains the Herbal of Apuleius in Anglo-Saxon and modern English, the Leechbook of Bald, the text of Sextus Placitus…

1975 CE

#2068.17

Manipulation past and present, with an extensive bibliography.

1889 CE

#8330

Marcelli De medicamentis liber. Edited Georgius Helmreich.

Marcellus's compendium of pharmacological preparations drawing on the work of multiple medical and scientific writers as well as folk remedies and magic. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

2003 CE

#8506

Materia magica et medica Hethitica: Ein Beitrag zur Heilkunde im Alten Orient. By Volkert Haas in cooperation with Daliah Bawanypeck.

The first comprehensive compendium of all known remedies and treatments used by the Hittites. The source texts are ritual descriptions and formularies from the 15th to 13th centuries BCE preserved from the archives of…