Germany

1686 CE

#1355

Circulus anatomico-physiologicus.

Bohn's approach was mechanistic in that he grave predominately physical interpretations of vital processes. He experimented on the decapitated frog, declaring the reflex phenomena to be entirely material and mechanica…

1689 CE

#1726

De renunciatione vulnerum, seu vulnerum lethalium examen.

“The best work on fatal injuries, with frequent references of medicolegal importance” (Nemec).

1690 CE

#2146

Der rechte und warhafftige Feldscher.

Purmann was a skilful army surgeon – one of the most famous of the period. Despite this he believed in the efficacy of the weapon-salve and the sympathetic powder.

1690 CE

#1727

Erörterung und Erläuterung der Frage: Ob es ein gewiss Zeichen wenn, eines todten Kindes Lunge im Wasser untersincket, dass solches in MutterLeiber gestorben sey? Zu Rettung seiner Ehre in Druck befördert.

Swammerdam’s discovery that the fetal lungs will float on water if respiration has taken place was first put to practical use by Schreyer, who thereby secured the acquittal of a girl accused of infanticide.

1690 CE

#13406

Introductio generalis in rem herbariam.

Rivinus (Bachmann) introduced the concept of classification of plants based upon the structure of the flower. He also introduced the ORDER as a distinct rank of biological classification having its own distinctive nam…

1693 CE

#8574

Museum Spenerianum, sive Catalogus Rerum tam artificiosarum, quam naturalium, tam antiquarum, quam recentium, tam exoticarum, quam domesticarum, quas Johannes Jacobus Spener in Academia Hallensi dum viveret, singulari industria & indefesso labore paravit atque collegit. Das Spenerische Cabinet, Oder Kurtze Beschreibung Aller So wol künstlich- als natürlicher, alter, als neuer, fremder, als einheimischer curiösen Sachen. Compiled by Johann Martin Michaelis.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1694 CE

#98

De sexu plantarum epistola.

First experimental demonstration of the sexuality of plants. Camerer showed that in flowering plants the anthers are male organs, and that the ovary with style and stigma are female, and that pollen is required for th…

1701 CE

#1828

Censura medicamentorum officinalium.

A list of officially recognized drugs, with a classification of useless and undesirable ones. Rivinus also noted incompatibles. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1704 CE

#7577

Museum museorum, oder, Vollständige Schau-Bühne aller Materialien und Specereyen : nebst deren natürlichen Beschreibung, Election, Nutzen und Gebrauch, aus andern Material-, Kunst- und Naturalien-Kammern, Oost-und-West-Indischen Reisz-Beschreibungen, Curiosen Zeit- und Tag-Registern, Natur- und Artzney-Kündigern, wie auch selbst-eigenen Erfahrung, zum Vorschub der Studirenden Jugend, Materialisten, Apothecker, und deren visitatoren, wie auch anderer Künstler, als Jubelirer, Mahler, Färber, u.s.w. also verfasset, und mit etlich hundert sauberen Kupfferstücken unter Augen geleget

Of particular value for reprinting many early museum catalogues. The second edition issued in 1714 reissued the first volume together with a second and third volume. Digital facsimile of the 1704 first edition from th…

1707 CE

#1216

De sterilitate mulierum.

The Nabothian cysts and glands of the cervix uteri first described (sect. xv).

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…

1716 CE

#8860

Rariora Musei Besleriani quae olim Basilius et Michael Rupertus Besleri collegerunt, aenesique tabulis ad vivum incisa evulgarunt: nunc commentariolo illustrata a Johanne Henrico Lochnero…

The most complete description of the natural history museum of Basilius Besler and his nephew Michael Rupert. It contains the first descriptive commentary of the collection, with 40 engraved plates. The Besler collect…

1718 CE

#8575

Catalogus zahlreicher, nützlicher, und sonderbahrer von Natur- und Kunst gebildeter Seltenheiten, in Regno Animali, Vegetabili, und Minerali, welche ehemals mit grosser Mühe, langer Zeit und schweren Kosten gesammelt, und zusammen gebracht hat.

1719 CE

#13538

Caput Bonae Spei hodiernum, das ist: vollständige Beschreibung des africanischen Vorgebürges der Guten Hofnung. Worinnen in dreyen Theilen abgehandelt wird, wie es heut zu Tage, nach seiner Situation und Eigenschaft aussiehet; ingleichen was ein Natgur-Forscher in den dreyen Reichen der Natur....

Includes the first study of the natural history of the Cape region of South Africa. Translated into English by "Mr. Medley" as The present state of the Cape of Good-Hope. 2 vols., London, 1738-31. Digital facsimile of…

1719 CE

#5576

Chirurgie in welcher Alles was zur Wund-Artzney gehöret, nach der neuesten und besten Art gründlich abgehandelt....

Heister was the founder of scientific surgery in Germany. His book contains many interesting illustrations and includes an account of tourniquets used in his time; Heister introduced a spinal brace. This was the most …

1720 CE

#303

Amphitheatrum zootomicum.

“First extensive work on the comparative anatomy of vertebrates” (Casey Wood).

1722 CE

#1728

Corpus juris medico-legale.

This reprints Valentini’s Pandectae medico legales (1701) and Novellae medico-legales (1711) with the addition of Authentica iatro-forensia.

1724 CE

#6016

Ausführliche Abhandlung von den Zufällen und Kranckheiten des Frauenzimmers.

1725 CE

#11387

Theatrum medico-juridicum, continens varias easque maxime notabiles tam ad tribunalia ecclesiastico-civilia, quam ad medicinam forensem, pertinentes materias. Ex diversis optimorum authorum ... voluminibus excerptum .... Opus jctis, physicis, practicis, studiosis, chirurgis, aliisque utile et necessarium.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1727 CE

#13407

Bibliotheca Riviniana sive catalogus librorum philogico-philosophico-historicorum, itinerariorum, imprimis autem medicorum, botanicorum et historiae naturalis scriptorum & c., rariorum....vendenda in vaporario collegii rubri a die xxvii. Octobr. mdccxxvii more auctionis consueto. Praemissa est vita Rivini descripta per Geo. Sam Hermannum...catalogi autorem.

Auction catalogue of Rivinus's library by Georg Samuel Hermann. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1727 CE

#918

De respirationis mechanismo atque usu genuino. [Praeses:] Georgius Erh. Hamberger. [Defendet:] Justinus Gerhardus Duising.

"Recent data on intercostal muscle function, largely electromyographic, tend to confirm the ideas of Hamberger, who, in 1748 (recte 1727), proposed a theory of intercostals muscle action upon the rib cage. Hamberger's…

1731 CE

#6746.1

Anleitung zur Historie der medicinischen Gelahrheit.

A pioneer history of medical writing, for which the historian, Stolle, collaborated with the medical historian/biographer/bibliographer Kestner. Digital facsimile from the Google Books at this link.

1737 CE

#1987

Unterricht von der wunderbare Heilkraft des frischen Wassers bei dessen innerlichem und äusserlichem Gebrauche durch die Erfahrung bestätigt.

The treatment of fevers by means of the cold pack was revived by S. Hahn and by his son J. S. Hahn; in his treatise, the latter advised the use of water in all diseases. A seventh edition of the book appeared as recen…

1740 CE–1761 CE

#9561

Die monatlich-herausgegeben Insecten-Belustigung. 4 vols.

Spectacular hand-colored plates."Insecten-Belustigung, appeared in 1740 and was devoted to the insects and other invertebrates like the sea anemones. His classification of the insects followed a natural system and he …

1742 CE

#1691

Die göttliche Ordnung in denen Veränderungen des menschlichen Geschlechts.

Süssmilch, a German army chaplain, produced an important book on vital statistics, the title of which translates as The divine order in the circumstances of the human sex, birth, death and reproduction. Among oth…

1743 CE

#765.1

Dissertationem inauguralem de vera nervi intercostalis origine.

Taube described the carotid body and named it “ganglion minutum”, See J. Pick, J. Hist. Med., 1959, 14, 61-73.

1743 CE

#13922

Museum Richterianum continens fossilia animalia, vegetabilia marina.

Catalogue of the cabinet of curiosities formed by the merchant and collector Johann Richter. Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.

1743 CE–1756 CE

#397

Icones anatomicae. 8 pts.

Accurate and beautiful engravings of the diaphragm, uterus, ovaries, vagina, arteries, with explanatory observations. About fifty years after they were originally published the most visually spectacular versions of Ha…

1744 CE

#4302

De iis, qui ex tuberculis gibberosi fiunt.

Platner affirmed the tuberculous nature of humpback, which had earlier been surmised by Hippocrates and confirmed by Galen.

1745 CE

#10474

Berg-Raths Medicinischer Aufstand und Schmelz-Bogen Von der Bergsucht und Hütten-Katze auch einigen andern, Denen Bergleuten und Hütten-Arbeitern zustoßenden Krankheiten, Vor dieselben und diejenigen So in Stein, Erz, Metall und Feuer arbeiten, ausgestellet.

A key early work on the Bergsucht or miner's phthisis.

1746 CE

#3424

De ruptura intestini duodeni.

First description of duodenal ulcer.

1746 CE–1747 CE

#917

De respiratione experimenta anatomica, quibus aëris inter pulmonem etpleuram absentia demonstratur et musculorum intercostalium internorum officium adseritur. 2 pts.

First investigation of the action of the intercostal muscles in respiration.

1747 CE

#585

Primae lineae physiologiae in usum praelectionum academicarum.

Haller was one of the most imposing figures in the whole of medicine, besides being a superb bibliographer and the founder of medical bibliography. As a physiologist he was the greatest of his time. Many apparently &l…

1748 CE

#1249

Tractatus anatomico-physiologicus de quinto pare nervorum cerebri.

Meckel’s graduation thesis contains the first really detailed account of the trigeminal nerve’s distribution (along with a meticulous treatment of the earlier literature), and in it he describes for the fi…

1749 CE

#13437

Bibliothecae Platnerianae medicae sectio prior (posterior) auctionis lege distribuenda.

Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

1749 CE

#2732

De aortae venaeque cavae gravioribus quibusdam morbis.

1752 CE

#3424.1

De tumore scirrhoso trium cum quadrante librarum glandulae parotidis extirpato.

First description of parotid tumor.

1753 CE

#1483

De ligamentis ciliaribus.

1754 CE–1759 CE

#1809.1

Opera botanica per duo saecula desiderata vitam auctoris et operis historiam cordi librum quintum cum adnotationibus Gesneri in totum opus ut et Wolphii fragmentum historiae plantarum Gesnerianae adiunctis indicibus iconum tam olim editarum... ex bibliotheca C.J. Trew. Nunc primum in lucem edidit et praefatus est Casimirus Christophorus Schmiedel. 2 vols.

Stricken with the plague at the age of 49, Gesner was unable to complete his Historia plantarum (See No. 1807.) His collection of botanical watercolors changed hands several times until they were acquired by the physi…

1755 CE

#1484

Descriptio anatomica oculi humani.

The first complete study of the anatomy of the eye, including the first description of the “zonule of Zinn” and the “annulus of Zinn”.

1756 CE

#3673

Abhandlung von den Zähnen des menschlichen Körpers und deren Krankheiten.

The first important German manual of dentistry. Pfaff, dentist to Frederick the Great, was the first to describe the taking of dental impressions and the casting of models for false teeth. This book ranks in importanc…

1758 CE

#9562

Historia naturalis ranarum nostratium in qua omnes earum proprietates, praesertim quae ad generationem ipsarum pertinent, fusius enarrantur.

Text in Latin and German. Includes the life cycle of all species of frogs found in Germany. Spectacular hand-colored plates. Digital facsimile from Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg at this link.

1762 CE

#5021

De morbo mucoso.

An exhaustive study of typhoid, which the writers confused with dysentery and relapsing fever.

1764 CE

#74

Opera physico-medica.

Huxham, a Devonshire man, was a pupil of Boerhaave. His most important contributions to medicine were in connection with fevers and infectious diseases.

1771 CE

#1357

Erste Gründe einer Physiologie der eigentlichen thierischen Natur thierischer Körper.

Unzer was probably the first to employ the work “reflex” in connection with sensory–motor reactions. T. Laycock translated his book into English for the Sydenham Society in 1851.

1771 CE

#6604.9

Verzeichnis einer Samlung von Bildnissen, gröstentheils berühmter Aerzte; so wohl in Kupferstichen, schwarzer Kunst und Holzschnitten, als auch in einigen Handzeichungen: diesem sin verschiedene Nachrichten und Unmerkungen Vorgesekt, die so wohl zur Geschichte der Arzenengelahrtheit; als vornehinsich zur Geschichte der Künste gehören.

“Very valuable reports on artistic anatomy and the history of anatomic illustration” (Choulant). Probably represents the first history of medical portraiture. Digital facsimile from Googe Books at this link.

1772 CE

#154

Von der Physiognomik.

Lavater was the last of the descriptive physiognomists. He expanded the above work into Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe, 1775-78. This was translated into English …

1774 CE

#203.7

Ausfürliche Nachricht von neuentdeckten Zoolithen, unbekannter vierfüsiger Thiere…

Esper was the first to record the finding, in Gailenreuth Cave, of human bones alongside the remains of unknown and probably extinct animals. The implications of this dramatic observation published in a color plate bo…

1775 CE

#156

De generis humani varietate nativa.

Blumenbach was the founder of anthropology. In this, his doctoral dissertation, he classified mankind into four races, based on selected combinations of head shape, skin color and hair form. In the second edition (178…

1777 CE

#13452

Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Brüder auf den Caraibischen Inseln. Herausgegeben durch Johan Jakob Bossart. 2 vols.

Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.