Gregory Pincus had success testing a hormonal compound in animals; to pursue oral hormone contraceptive for humans, he needed an experienced clinician. Rock, who had used hormone treatments to successfully halt ovulation in his infertility patients…
Contraception, sterilization, sterility, and premarital hygiene were taught in less than half of American medical schools. The National Committee on Maternal Health surveyed medical schools to determine the state of human reproduction education in…
In response to the 1929 NCHM survey, Harvard Medical School’s Dean David Edsall reported, “The men are taught something of the methods of contraception and sterilization during their regular course work, but there is no specific class in…
This is one of the first articles to publish results from the early study at the Free Hospital for Women involving 50 female participants being treated for infertility with a hormonal regimen. Rock found that using a combination of estrogen and…
Rock promoted the Committee on Human Reproduction research agenda in 1949. During discussion of his paper, "Next Steps in Research on the Physiology of Reproduction in Man," he describes a possible approach to hormonal contraception.
After World War II, Dickinson’s National Committee on Maternal Health and Planned Parenthood (the successor to Margaret Sanger’s American Birth Control League) asked the National Research Council to oversee a program of research in…
Polish physician Tobias ben Moses Cohn knew nine languages and was court physician to five sultans in Adrianople. In 1724, he moved to Jerusalem. The Ma’aseh Tobiyyah [“Works of Tobias”] is an encyclopedia of theology, botany,…
Each participant that entered into the Rock-Hertig study was asked to fill out a survey form and monitor her cycle, as well as record dates of coitus. This information was then used during the ‘egg hunting’ process after surgery.
With funding from the Carnegie Institution, Rock worked with Arthur T. Hertig and Eleanor Colby Adams to identify 34 fertilized ova that document the first 17 days after conception. Hertig had completed a fellowship at the Carnegie Institution in…
This manuscript copy of Avicenna's Canon, written by Mordechai bar Elia in a rabbinical hand, was formerly in the library of Prince Dietrichstein of Nikolsburg.
These notes outline the procedures for the year’s work on in-vitro fertilization. Along with the outline came a test tube sketch from James Snodgrass to Miriam Menkin.
Another barrier, as Dickinson argued in a lecture he prepared for Margaret Sanger’s first world congress on birth control in 1934, was the lack of scientific knowledge of human reproduction.
Made at the request of librarian James Read Chadwick, the bronzed fist of Oliver Wendell Holmes was displayed in the original Holmes Hall of the Boston Medical Library's building following the memorial meeting on October 30, 1894. The sculptor,…
Vials of Surfactant TA (Tokyo Akita), a modified sheep lung surfactant, brought back from Tetsuro Fujiwara's lab at Akita University School of Medicine, Japan, by Mary Ellen Avery. Building off of Avery's 1959 discovery that the cause of Respiratory…
After J. B. D. Demeaux's Recherches sur l'evolution du sac herniaire suivies de considerations chirurgicales sur les complications auxelles il pent donner lieu, plate 7
After J. B. D. Demeaux's Recherches sur l'evolution du sac herniaire suivies de considerations chirurgicales sur les complications auxelles il pent donner lieu, plate 8
The subject was a German machinist, age thirty-seven. Born in 1815. The patient believed the hand was an advantage at playing the piano. He died of chronic diarrhea at Massachusetts General Hospital in March 1852. The limb was removed and…
A set of questions intended for Charles Lowell to answer regarding the case Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes, in which he sued his physicians over a dislocated hip bone.
A handwritten list of questions written by Charles Lowell to be answered by Dr. John Collins Warren, Dr. James Mann, Dr. William Spooner, Dr. David Townsend, and Dr. Thomas Welsh for the sake of the case known as Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes. Lowell…
Dr. Warren's written response to Charles Lowell's questions posed in the name of the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes court case. Lowell sued his physicians over a dislocated hip bone, and Dr. Warren spoke on behalf of the defendents throughout the trial.
The letter suggests to Dr. Warren that he publish his work on the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes case independently of Charles Lowell. Lowell wants to publish the Deposition, but uses the defendant's names freely, so Gray encourages him to go to the…
This letter is sent after Lowell visited Dr. Nathan Smith to get a second opinion on his hip's diagnosis. In it, Lowell explains that Dr. Smith disagrees with Warren, and believes that the bone is not (and has never been) dislocated.
The letter speaks of a drawing of the Os Innominatum that the author will send to Warren in order to illustrate his point in the trial of Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes.
Dr. McDowell sends his compliments to Dr. Warren on his publication, "Letter to the Hon. Isaac Parker," regarding the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes court case.
Dr. Mitchell sends this letter after having read Dr. Warren's "Letter to the Hon. Isaac Parker," complimenting his work and dedication to the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes case.
A letter notifying Dr. Warren that Lowell wrote an article that appeared in the "American Traveller" that morning in which he used his name. He assures Warren that he did not intend to offend, and suggests that by bringing attention to him in the…
Handwritten chart from the records of Massachusetts General Hospital noting the following fields of information: date, name, kind (of hip dislocation), cause, date discharged, result, and remarks (notes on operation, e.g. with pulleys). The records…
An engraving depicting the mounted hip bone which appears in John Mason Warren's "Surgical Observations with Cases and Operations" to illustrate his discussion of the Lowell case.
Four photographs taken of Lowell's hip bone from different angles, so it is possible to see the calcification of bone, in addition to the formation of a new socket below the acetabulum.
An examination of the Lowell hip case by Dr. Jonathan Mason Warren, over 40 years after the trial took place. He looks at the disected hip bone - Charles Lowell died in 1858 - in an attempt to discover what really happened.
A write-up in the local Maine newspaper about the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes trial. It discusses the case, and nicely outlines all of the contradicting professional diagnoses.
A copy of a review of the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes case that was originally published in the Medical Intelligencer on August 16th and the 23rd of that year. A reader requested that it be printed in order so that he might use the local newspaper as…
Additional public commentary on the Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes case. The author criticizes Dr. Warren for believing the dislocation was in the ischiatic notch.
This renowned publication catalogues different types of dislocations and lists their appropriately corresponding treatment. It was referenced throughout the trial of Lowell vs. Faxon and Hawkes.