Browse Items (222 total)
- Collection: Boston Medical Library
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"A manual of military surgery; or, hints on the emergencies of field, camp and hospital practice."
S. D. Gross, professor of surgery at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, was one of the country's foremost operative surgeons. He designed this brief textbook on field surgery for emergencies: portable, easy of reference, always at hand.…
"Artificial limbs removed"
John Wales January enlisted in Company B of the 14th Illinois Cavalry and was captured in July, 1864. The reverse of the original print of this photograph gives January's account of his sufferings as a prisoner of war and the amputation of his own…
"North Western Sanitary Fair, Chicago, Ill., 1865."
Columbia to left, waving American flag. At her feet, an eagle, shield with arrows, and boxes and barrels that are marked NW, NW SV and N.W. SAN COM. The sun setting behing mountains, artillery park, and lake with ships and monitor.
"Sanitary Commission bulletin," vol. 1, no. 2.
Issued twice monthly from November, 1863, to August, 1865, the Bulletin reported on the work of the Commission and the local sanitary fairs, accounts of battles and the experiences of prisoners of war, and provided a regular means to report on the…
"Sanitary Commission bulletin," vol. 1, no. 22.
Issued twice monthly from November, 1863, to August, 1865, the Bulletin reported on the work of the Commission and the local sanitary fairs, accounts of battles and the experiences of prisoners of war, and provided a regular means to report on the…
"The autobiography of a quack : and the case of George Dedlow"
This tale of a Civil War soldier, George Dedlow, who loses both his arms and his legs but continues to experience sensation in his missing limbs the phantom limb phenomenon was written by Silas Weir Mitchell and grew out of his experience with…
"The Douglass patent artificial limbs."
Douglass' advertising pamphlet for his artificial limbs makes a point that, unlike the Salem leg, "these limbs have never been dependent upon the Government for their support, but are thoroughly established on the real and intrinsic merits of the…
"The Salem leg, under the patronage of the United States government for the use of the army."
The injuries and amputations of Civil War soldiers fostered a booming industry in the manufacture and marketing of artificial limbs. The Salem Leg Company—Dr. Edward Brooks Peirson was the president of its board—achieved early prominence due to its…
1836 Boylston Prize Dissertations
After receiving his medical degree from Harvard, Holmes was granted the Boylston Prize in 1836 for his essay responding to the question “How far are the external means of exploring the condition of internal organs to be considered useful and…
A Catalogue of Phrenological Specimens Belonging to the Boston Phrenological Society
Formed after the death of Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, the Boston Phrenological Society assembled a large collection of skulls, masks, and casts of famous and infamous heads to illustrate the various phrenological faculties.
A dissertation on acute pericarditis
This is the manuscript of Holmes' thesis, submitted as part of the degree requirements at Harvard Medical School. Following his return from his sojourn in Europe, he compiled the thesis from lectures of Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis he had attended…
A Dissertation on Artificial Teeth
Nicolas Dubois de Chémant began to issue this text—part scientific tract, part advertisement—in France in 1788, advocating dentures which were more durable and produced no offensive odors. His work passed through five subsequent…
A Guide-Book of Boston for Physicians
The 1906 annual meeting of the American Medical Association was held in early June and provided an occasion for the first public opening of the Quad buildings. Dr. Walter L. Burrage, of the Sub-Committee on Printing and Programmes, edited this guide…
A lecture on homœopathy before the members
of the Boylston Medical Society
In contrast to the bitter controversies of the previous decade, the 1880s saw the distinct medical factions in Boston making tentative overtures to one another. In April 1886, Dr. Vincent Y. Bowditch, president of Harvard's Boylston Medical Society,…
A mortal antipathy : first opening of the new portfolio
First edition of Holmes' novel, A mortal antipathy : first opening of the new portfolio. After Holmes’ death, his friend and fellow novelist William Dean Howells (1837-1920) said of Holmes' work, “His novels all belonged to an order of…
A most excellent and learned woorke of chirurgerie, called Chirurgia parua Lanfranci
The 16th century English surgeon, John Hall, translated the medieval Chiurgia parva of Lanfranc and added to it his lament for the poor training of surgeons in his own time. His poetical defense of surgery was intended to show "the behavour that is…
A treatise on acupuncturation
Churchill's Treatise is the first English monograph devoted to the subject of acupuncture; it describes four cases for which the therapy provided relief of pain. In 1828, James Morss Churchill published a companion work, describing the efficacy of…
Acupuncture illustration from Amoentitatum exoticarum
Some of the best descriptions and illustrations of acupuncture and moxibustion appear in the work of Englebert Kaempfer who traveled in Japan in the early 1690s.
Almanach ad annum 1494
Almanacs were used to record the most propitious days and times for purging, bloodletting, and pharmaceutical manufacture according to astrological and astronomical events. This specimen for the city of Erfurt in 1494 includes woodcuts depicting…
An Abstract of the Rules of the Boston Medical Library
These stern regulations for the ordering of the Library were in place soon after its formation. The complete catalogue indicates that of the 29 titles, nearly one-third were current periodicals, attesting to the Trustees' intention to make the…
An account of a monster
In 1821, Philadelphia physician John Kearsley Mitchell met and examined Aké, a Chinese youth with a partially-formed parasitic twin protruding from his stomach, and sent back this first-hand report from Canton.
An account of the foxglove
Although the use of extracts from the foxglove in cases of dropsy had been common, William Withering was the first to analyze preparations of the plant scientifically and so isolated digitalis. Withering's An account of the foxglove describes over…
An act more effectually to protect the sepulchres of the dead, and to legalize the study of anatomy in certain cases.
Bound copy of the 1831 "An act more effectually to protect the sepulchres of the dead, and to legalize the study of anatomy in certain cases."
An answer to the homœopathic delusions, of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes
This is one of the pamphlets printed in reaction to the Holmes lecture on homeopathy. In responding to Holmes' criticism of the use of infinitesimal doses, Charles Neidhard states, "We, with many Homœopathic physicians, have never believed in…
An Examination of Phrenology
While a professor of anatomy and physiology at Columbian College in Washington, D.C., Thomas Sewall published these two lectures to students—one of the earliest attacks on phrenological doctrine—based on his study of the brain's…
An Introductory Discourse, to a Course of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Physic
This pamphlet is a presentation copy to the Boston Medical Library from its author, David Hosack, a celebrated New York physician who was in attendance at the duel of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. Four of the five items bound together…
An introductory lecture, delivered at the Massachusetts Medical College
Holmes assumed the professorship of anatomy and physiology at Harvard in the fall of 1847 and delivered this introductory lecture to the students on November 3. In an overview of the medical developments of Boston, Holmes alludes here to “the…
Anatomy : descriptive and surgical
With dissections by Henry Gray, lecturer on anatomy, and H. V. Carter, demonstrator of anatomy at Saint George's Hospital, London, Gray's Anatomy quickly became a standard text for medical students. It first appeared in the U.S. in 1859 and became…
Autograph letter signed : Baton Rouge, La., to [John Rogers, Roxbury, Mass.,?].
Alfred R. Glover's body was brought back to Massachusetts and buried in Forest Hills Cemetery. His wife, Mary Louisa Bodge Glover, died on September 10, 1864, of phthisis, though according to Henry A. Willis, historian of the 53rd Regiment, she, it…
Autograph letter signed : Washington, D.C., to [Abby Ann Newbold Cox, New York, N.Y.?]
Former professor of surgery at the New-York Medical College, Abraham L. Cox resigned his New York practice at the opening of the war and became the Surgeon-in-Chief, 1st Division, 20th Corps, of the Army of the Cumberland. "Hastened by the labor and…
Ballot to dissolve the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society
On April 15, 1964, at the 124th annual meeting, the members of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society voted 10-5 to dissolve their organization.
Ben cao yuan shi
The本草原始 [Ben cao yuan shi] ("Origins of the materia medica") describes medicinal plants and herbal substances with their uses and manner of preparation. Like many Chinese medical texts, this early 17th century work was reprinted in Japan during the…
Biddenden Maids Broadside
Thought to be one of the earliest cases of surviving conjoined twins, the Chulkhurst sisters, known as the Biddenden maids, reputedly lived until 1134, although there is considerable uncertainty about the accuracy or even reality of their story. As…
Boericke & Tafel exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition
From the 1877 physician's catalogue and price current of homœopathic medicines and books, surgical instruments, and other articles pertaining to a physician's outfit for sale by Boericke & Tafel, this engraving shows the Boericke and Tafel…
Canon medicinae
The Canon medicinae, a compendium of medical knowledge and a guide to clinical teaching, was derived from Galenic and Hippocratic writings and infused by Avicenna with Arabic medical lore. The Canon includes detailed disquisitions on pathology,…
Cantica de medicina
This lesser-known medical work of Avicenna is bound in a manuscript musical sheet with an unusual skull-and-crossbones illuminated initial.
Cases treated according to homœopathic principles
The second homeopathic practitioner in Massachusetts and the first to practice in Boston, Dr. Josiah Foster Flagg became convinced of the efficacy of homeopathy after obtaining relief from chronic dyspepsia. This case book, listing patients treated…
Catalogue of Books in the Boston Athenaeum
Just after it absorbed the Boston Medical Library, the Athenaeum issued a published catalogue of its holdings. In this copy, owned by Dr. John Orne Green in 1835, faint pencil notations can be discerned next to most of the entries for the Boston…
Catalogue of Books in the Boston Medical Library (1807)
With nearly 150 titles, this second catalogue of the Library from 1807 attests to its rapid growth and includes a list of over fifty titles on order. The holdings include works on phrenology, botanic medicine, and a number of titles concerning…
Catalogue of Books in the Boston Medical Library and the Rules and Regulations concerning the Same (1810)
After the printing of the 1810 edition of the Library's Catalogue, this interleaved copy was used to record subsequent acquisitions. The growth of the collection was so rapid, with over 350 new acquisitions, that another edition of the catalogue was…
Catalogue of Books in the Boston Medical Library and the Rules and Regulations concerning the Same (1823)
The last printed version of a Boston Medical Library catalogue appeared in 1823 and described nearly 800 titles. The rules and regulations on circulation and fines differ considerably from the previous edition and probably reflect changes consequent…
Catalogue of Books in the Boston Medical Library; and the Rules and Regulations concerning the Same (1816)
In 1819, the Boston Medical Library and the Library of the Massachusetts Medical College were unified and the collection made available to Harvard's medical students. This copy of the 1816 Catalogue belonged to a medical student, probably John Orne…
Catalogue of Boston Medical Library Arranged in Numerical Order
One of the few surviving records of the Boston Medical Library, this manuscript catalogue, unlike the printed versions, divides the collection by size—into folios, quartos, octavos, and duodecimos—with each title receiving a shelf mark…
Catalogue of fellows of the Massachusetts Medical Society
Printed as part of the published proceedings of the Society, this list of fellows from 1872 is the last to include homeopathic members such as Israel Tisdale Talbot, David Thayer, and Herman L. H. Hoffendahl, prior to their expulsion in June 1873.…
Catalogue of homoeopathic books
A catalogue of homeopathic books and other items for sale by Otis Clapp.
Chirurgie francoise
Principally a translation of the De chirurgia of Paul of Aegina, the Chirurgie françoise of Jacques Dalechamps incorporates information from other Classical writers as well as from Ambroise Paré, the foremost contemporary authority on…
Clinical Surgery
Shortly before his death, Dr. J. Mason Warren began to assemble the manuscript case reports and correspondence of his father, intending to publish this material as a record of Dr. John Collins Warren's years of experience in clinical surgery. That…
Coloquios dos Simples, e Drogas he Cousas Medicinais da India
Once physician to the King of Portugal, Garcia de Orta travelled to India in order to escape the Inquisition, and remained there the rest of his life. He taught in the faculty of medicine at Lisbon in the early 1530's; in 1534, he settled in Goa,…
Composite Portraits
An arrangement of composite portraits by Henry Pickering Bowditch (1840-1911) in the publication from the second International Exhibition of Eugenics in 1921. While the composite photographs on display here as well as others in the collections of the…
Conrad Wesselhoeft
This unusual album of carte-de-visitephotographs was assembled by Dr. Samuel Gregg, the first homeopathic practitioner in Massachusetts. In addition to photographs of Gregg, the album contains portraits of many of the homeopaths of New England,…
Constantine Hering
This unusual album of carte-de-visitephotographs was assembled by Dr. Samuel Gregg, the first homeopathic practitioner in Massachusetts. In addition to photographs of Gregg, the album contains portraits of many of the homeopaths of New England,…
Contraceptive methods and appliances
This product catalog from a London-based firm of chemists advertises an array of mail-order birth control methods and devices, including sponges, pessaries, condoms, and diaphragms, as well as printed literature on contraception and marriage.
Das Buch der Cirurgia
Brunschwig's Book of Surgery was intended to be a manual of general practice for the independent surgeon and is the first printed German text on this subject. The Cirurgia contains information on the treatment of wounds, dislocations, fractures, and…
Das Buch der Croniken und Geschichten
The first German edition of Hartmann Schedel's famous Nuremberg Chronicle traces the history of the world through six ages, from the Creation to 1493, concluding with the Apocalypse. Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff designed maps, city…
David Thayer
This unusual album of carte-de-visite photographs was assembled by Dr. Samuel Gregg, the first homeopathic practitioner in Massachusetts. In addition to photographs of Gregg, the album contains portraits of many of the homeopaths of New England,…
De bello Peloponnesiaco
Thucydides was a fifth-century Greek and eyewitness to the long struggle (431-404 B.C.) for dominance between the warring city-states of Athens and Sparta. De bello Peloponnesiaco, or The History of the Peloponnesian War, his contemporary account of…
De Febribus
Isaac Israeli was born in Egypt and studied widely in natural history, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. He settled in Kairwan, Tunisia, where he served as court physician to the caliph and wrote several esteemed medical and philosphical works in…
De Lapidibus
De Lapidibus was one of the most popular works of scientific and medical lore current in the Middle Ages. Translations into French, Spanish, Irish, Hebrew, and English are known, while over 125 Latin manuscripts have survived. This is one of only…
De medicina
One of the first medical books ever printed, the De medicina is a compilation of knowledge of diet, pharmacy, and surgery from the time of Imperial Rome, circa 30 A.D. In the Renaissance, Celsus' elegant style earned him the title of Cicero…
De revelatione facta ab angelo Beato Methodio in carcere dete[n]to
This book of prophecies attributed to the fourth-century martyr, Methodius, was probably composed by a fifteenth century monk, Wolfgang Aytinger, to arouse animosity between Christians and Muslims. Although not specifically medical, the De…
De sermonum proprietate, sive, Opus de universo
This encyclopedia of a ninth-century archbishop is the oldest incunable in the Boston Medical Library collection. The De sermonum proprietate contains chapters on subjects as diverse as the earth, animals, precious stones and metals, heretics,…
Death of Dr. Spurzheim
This unsigned obituary is one of several articles devoted to J. G. Spurzheim printed in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal at this time. Note the prominent medical figures, including Drs. John Collins Warren, James Jackson, Walter Channing, and…
Dedication of the new building and hall of the Boston Medical Library Association
Following the formation of the Boston Medical Library in 1875, Holmes agreed to be the Association’s first president. He delivered the dedicatory address at the opening of the library’s new building at 19 Boylston Place in 1878 and here…
Description of an Egyptian Mummy
Renowned for his expertise in pathological analysis, Dr. John Collins Warren was approached by the Massachusetts General Hospital to report on the authenticity of an Egyptian mummy which had been donated to the hospital in 1823. The examination
Diagram of the Phrenological Faculties
An illustration of the thirty-five phrenological faculties, as seen in Samuel Roberts Wells' How to read character : a new illustrated hand-book of phrenology and physiognomy, for students and examiners : with a descriptive chart. This particular…
Diary of a man seeking care under Samuel Hahnemann
After a course of cupping, blistering, and taking the waters at the German spa of Wiesbaden, the unnamed subject of this diary sought relief from his rheumatism by coming under the care of Samuel Hahnemann in Paris in 1838.
Directory of Homeopathic Physicians
As the directory entries for homeopaths in Boston testify, the number of practitioners was on the decline by the mid-1920s, with only 126 listed. Roughly one in every five of these physicians was female. This is just a small fraction of the over…
Dissertatio de arthritide
Published by a physician and botanist of the Dutch East India Company in Japan, this text contains the first Western description of acupuncture.
Domestic homœopathy
This popular homeopathic text for use in the home went through five editions in both London and Boston, where it was printed by Otis Clapp. Inside, there is information on obtaining medicine from "James Epps, Homœopathic Chemist," almost…
Ein hubscher Tractat von dem Ursprung des Bösen Franzos
This small pamphlet on syphilis [A Fine Treatise on the Origin of the French Evil] was enormously popular, appearing in four different editions in Latin and German in the last years of the fifteenth century. The pamphlet was printed during the course…
Elsie Venner : a romance of destiny
First edition of Holmes' novel, Elsie Venner. This is a presentation copy from Holmes to Henry Jacob Bigelow (1818-1890). After Holmes’ death, his friend and fellow novelist William Dean Howells (1837-1920) said of Holmes' work, “His…
Engraving of Skeleton
This unusual copper engraving is one of the earliest printed representations of the human skeleton, predating Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabricaby nearly half a century. Only two other specimens are known.
The engraving appears to be only…
Eugenical sterilization in the United States
Harry H. Laughlin was director of Eugenics Record Office for thirty years and assisted Charles B. Davenport in first publishing the Eugenics Research Association’s Eugenical news to promote the activities of the Office. In 1922, he compiled and…
Eugenics, genetics and the family : scientific papers of the Second International Congress of Eugenics
There were three international meetings of eugenics researchers during the period of the movement’s greatest influence and activity. This volume reprints the scientific papers from the Second Congress, held at the American Museum of Natural…
Examination Papers in Medicine : First, Second and Third Year
Following reform, rigorous medical examinations at the end of each year became a requirement for Harvard students. These are the exam questions posed by Dr. John P. Reynolds to third-year students in obstetrics during the 1877-1878 academic…
Facsimile telegram
Following Holmes’ resignation of his professorship at Harvard, the physicians of New York hosted a public dinner in his honor. Each guest was given a mock telegram from “The American Rabid Telegraph Company,” quoting lines from…
Fasciculus medicinae
Although notable as one of the first incunables acquired by the Boston Medical Library, this first edition of the Fasciculus medicinae is also a cornerstone in the history of medicine, as it contains the first detailed anatomical illustrations ever…
Fifth generation of the Juke Family
One of the first and most influential of the eugenic studies of a pseudonymous family, Richard L. Dugdale’s The Jukes traces the origins of imprisoned members of the same family back to the colonial period to examine inherited and environmental…
First and Second Year in Medical School
Harvard professor James C. White was also a graduate of the Medical School. In 1898, at a meeting of the Vienna Club, he read these extracts from a diary he kept while at Harvard from 1853 until 1855. His entry for October 8, 1853, notes, “Many…