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The Cambridge Library Collection reissues milestone publications in the history of Western medicine as well as studies of other medical traditions. Its coverage ranges from Galen's work on anatomy to Florence Nightingale's advice to nurses, with a special focus on nineteenth-century developments. It is sobering to realise that as recently as the Victorian period, learned opinion was that diseases such as typhus and cholera were spread by a 'miasma' and suggestions that doctors should wash their hands before examining patients were greeted with mockery by the profession. The series includes colonial reports on tropical diseases, treatises on the effects of climate and diet, documents on public health and military medicine, early research into mental health and genetics and publications on spa culture and medicinal plants.

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69 results in Cambridge Library Collection - History of Medicine

Page 2 of 4

The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics
  • Volume 2, Part 1
  • Jonathan Pereira
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • After training as an apothecary and surgeon, Jonathan Pereira (1804–53) taught materia medica for many years. His lectures at the medical school in London's Aldersgate Street were highly successful and formed the basis for the first edition of his major encyclopaedic work on medicinal substances. A pioneering text in the field of pharmacology, Pereira's work, which he subsequently updated in further editions, provided pharmacists and medical professionals with a more rigorous scientific understanding of the drugs and remedies they prescribed. After Pereira's death, medical jurist Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806–80) and physician George Owen Rees (1813–89) prepared this revised and expanded fourth edition, interspersed with instructive woodcuts. Volume 2 is divided into two parts. Part 1 (1855) continues with articles on special pharmacology, moving on from inorganic compounds to discuss the medicinal properties of organic compounds.

The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics
  • Volume 1
  • Jonathan Pereira
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • After training as an apothecary and surgeon, Jonathan Pereira (1804–53) taught materia medica for many years. His lectures at the medical school in London's Aldersgate Street were highly successful and formed the basis for the first edition of his major encyclopaedic work on medicinal substances. A pioneering text in the field of pharmacology, Pereira's work, which he subsequently updated in further editions, provided pharmacists and medical professionals with a more rigorous scientific understanding of the drugs and remedies they prescribed. After Pereira's death, medical jurist Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806–80) and physician George Owen Rees (1813–89) prepared this revised and expanded fourth edition, interspersed with instructive woodcuts. Volume 1 (1854) includes discussion of 'physical remedies' such as heat, cold and electricity, and 'hygienic remedies' of diet, exercise and climate. It then focuses on general pharmacological practice and specific drugs, describing the medicinal properties of inorganic compounds.

The Elements of Medical Chemistry
  • Embracing Only Those Branches of Chemical Science which Are Calculated to Illustrate or Explain the Different Objects of Medicine, and to Furnish a Chemical Grammar to the Author's Pharmacologia
  • John Ayrton Paris
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, published the first edition of his Pharmacologia in 1812. It was immediately successful, and went into eight further editions until 1843. The third edition, of 1820, has been reissued in this series. This book, published in 1825, was intended as a companion volume, providing a 'grammar' of chemistry for the medical student. After an imaginary dialogue on the importance of chemistry, between a provincial physician and 'the author', to whom the former is entrusting his son for his medical education, the book moves systematically from the general application of chemistry to medicine, through topics such as gravity, crystallization and electricity, to the detail of the actions of specific elements, and tables of relevant weights and measures, providing fascinating insights into the history of medical education.

Manual of Lunacy
  • A Handbook Relating to the Legal Care and Treatment of the Insane in the Public and Private Asylums of Great Britain, Ireland, United States of America, and the Continent
  • Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow
  • Preface by Forbes Winslow
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • A controversial psychiatrist, Lyttleton Stewart Forbes Winslow (1844–1913) grew up around the lunatic asylums run by his father, Forbes B. Winslow, who was a specialist in the treatment of mental illness, establishing also medical grounds for the plea of insanity in criminal defence. Lyttleton spent much of his own medical career attempting to show the courts that crime and alcoholism were linked to mental illness, though he later gained notoriety for his amateur detective work: he claimed to know the identity of Jack the Ripper. Published in 1874, this book examines, often through case descriptions, the legal framework within which the mentally ill were managed, and comparisons are made with the status quo elsewhere in the world. It is an enlightening but often disturbing insight into the institutional treatment of mental illness in the late nineteenth century.

A Treatise on Diet
  • With a View to Establish, on Practical Grounds, a System of Rules, for the Prevention and Cure of the Diseases Incident to a Disordered State of the Digestive Functions
  • John Ayrton Paris
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785–1856), several of whose other medical and popular works have been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection, published this book on the significance of diet to health in 1826. In the first part, Paris discusses the physiology of the digestive system, and the way that sensations of hunger, thirst and fullness are conveyed. In the second part, he considers types of food and drink, and methods of cookery. Paris suggests the times of day at which different meals should be taken, and the types and amounts of food and drink to be consumed. Part 3 deals with the problems of indigestion. A table of matters for investigation is given which covers the patient's lifestyle and habits as well as their immediate physical symptoms, and Paris firmly makes the point that changes of lifestyle are at least as important as medicine in effecting a cure.

Essays Medical and Experimental
  • The Second Edition, Revised, and Considerably Enlarged. To Which Is Added an Appendix
  • Thomas Percival
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • A physician and medical reformer enthused by the scientific and cultural progress of the Enlightenment as it took hold in Britain, Thomas Percival (1740–1804) wrote on many topics, including public health and demography. His influential Medical Ethics (also reissued in this series) is considered the first modern formulation. This one-volume reissue brings together two volumes of his essays on a variety of medical subjects, published in a revised second edition of 1772 and a follow-up collection of 1773. Many of the essays reflect his concern for public health, particularly for the citizens of Manchester. The appendix to the first volume includes two essays that were previously unpublished. Several of the pieces record medical oddities encountered by Percival, and others document his observations on the possible medicinal applications of certain plants, including coffee. His four-volume Works (1807), containing additional essays that appeared after 1773, is also reissued in this series.

The Life of Edward Jenner M.D.
  • With Illustrations of his Doctrines, and Selections from his Correspondence
  • Volume 2
  • John Baron
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
    First published in:
    1838
  • Written by his friend, the physician John Baron (1786–1851), this laudatory biography of the 'father of immunology' did much to enhance the reputation of Edward Jenner (1749–1823) upon its publication in two volumes between 1827 and 1838. The work covers Jenner's personal and professional life both before and after his development of the vaccine for smallpox, as well as touching on the vaccine's reception and use around the world. Thoroughly explaining the history and facts of vaccination, Baron established himself as an authority on the subject. Although criticised by some for its unquestioning praise of Jenner's genius, the work is valuable for its use of primary sources, drawing heavily on correspondence and personal notes, excerpts of which appear throughout the text. Volume 2, published in 1838, covers Jenner's later life and the global reception of vaccination. The appendix lists the various honours bestowed upon him.

The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics
  • Volume 2, Part 2
  • Jonathan Pereira
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • After training as an apothecary and surgeon, Jonathan Pereira (1804–53) taught materia medica for many years. His lectures at the medical school in London's Aldersgate Street were highly successful and formed the basis for the first edition of his major encyclopaedic work on medicinal substances. A pioneering text in the field of pharmacology, Pereira's work, which he subsequently updated in further editions, provided pharmacists and medical professionals with a more rigorous scientific understanding of the drugs and remedies they prescribed. After Pereira's death, medical jurist Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806–80) and physician George Owen Rees (1813–89) prepared this revised and expanded fourth edition, interspersed with instructive woodcuts. Volume 2 is divided into two parts. Part 2 (1857) contains new articles, additional illustrations and a separate index. It concludes the analysis of organic compounds, both vegetable and animal.

A Treatise of the Scurvy, in Three Parts
  • Containing an Inquiry into the Nature, Causes, and Cure, of that Disease
  • James Lind
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Born in Edinburgh, with family connections to the local medical profession, James Lind (1716–94) went on to spend nine years at sea as a surgeon for the Royal Navy. His service made him familiar with one of the most common and debilitating ailments of the eighteenth century. Scurvy posed a particular problem for Britain, an island nation seeking to assert itself overseas through its navy. The symptoms of the disease had been recognised for centuries, but the causes remained elusive. First published in 1753, Lind's treatise explores the topic thoroughly, weighing the evidence and presenting a theory of the disease's aetiology, suggesting methods of prevention and treatment, and also discussing previous work on the subject, including ancient texts. Lind provided the groundwork for later investigations, his research lending support to the later practice of including the juice of citrus fruit in a sailor's diet, even though vitamin deficiency was not yet understood.

Notes on Military Hygiene for Officers of the Line
  • A Syllabus of Lectures Formerly Delivered at the U.S. Infantry and Cavalry School
  • Alfred A. Woodhull
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
  • For those engaged in military conflict at the end of the nineteenth century, infection and disease were still as formidable enemies as the guns of an opposing army. Yet advances in sanitary science and understanding continued to help officers keep their troops in optimal fighting condition. After serving as an assistant surgeon for the Union Army during the American Civil War, Alfred Alexander Woodhull (1837–1921) began to publish on the topics of hygiene and sanitation, and how they related to military effectiveness. Arguably his most important publication, the present work was based on lectures he delivered at the US Infantry and Cavalry School. It covers such varied topics as the selection of men, uniform design, and the management of waste. First published in 1890, it was recommended as a textbook by the surgeon general of the time. Reissued here is the revised third edition, which appeared in 1904.

A Practical Essay on the History and Treatment of Beriberi
  • With Observations on Some Forms of Rheumatism Prevailing in India
  • J. G. Malcolmson
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    27 March 2014
  • Reissued here together are two medical works, both published in 1835, by John Grant Malcolmson (1803–44), a British surgeon based in India. His extended essays explore the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of beriberi and rheumatism, conditions which were widespread in Asia at the time. Also describing the contrasting effects that the illnesses had on India's native population and on European colonials, Malcolmson draws on his first-hand experience to speculate on the underlying causes. His analysis of beriberi, forming the larger of the two components here, discusses a disease which had perplexed doctors in the early nineteenth century. Beginning with numbness and spasms in the legs, and eventually rendering the patient completely bedridden, beriberi was frequently fatal, and physicians frequently confused it with other rheumatic disorders. It is now known to be caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B1).

The Life of Edward Jenner M.D.
  • With Illustrations of his Doctrines, and Selections from his Correspondence
  • Volume 1
  • John Baron
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
    First published in:
    1827
  • Written by his friend, the physician John Baron (1786–1851), this laudatory biography of the 'father of immunology' did much to enhance the reputation of Edward Jenner (1749–1823) upon its publication in two volumes between 1827 and 1838. The work covers Jenner's personal and professional life both before and after his development of the vaccine for smallpox, as well as touching on the vaccine's reception and use around the world. Thoroughly explaining the history and facts of vaccination, Baron established himself as an authority on the subject. Although criticised by some for its unquestioning praise of Jenner's genius, the work is valuable for its use of primary sources, drawing heavily on correspondence and personal notes, excerpts of which appear throughout the text. Volume 1, published in 1827, focuses on Jenner's early life and the history and science of vaccination.

The Treatment of the Insane without Mechanical Restraints
  • John Conolly
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • Trained as a physician and alienist (psychiatrist), John Conolly (1794–1866) first published this work in 1856. It describes the abolition of mechanical restraints in the treatment of mentally ill patients at the Hanwell County Asylum in Middlesex, where Conolly worked as resident physician. He argues for a system of non-restraint to be implemented as standard in all asylums, focusing on understanding patients as individuals and treating them with care and compassion. Conolly had introduced at Hanwell an innovative programme for patients that was based around positive activities, personal freedom, privacy, good-quality food, exercise, and, most importantly, the absence of any physical restraint. Though controversial at first, Conolly's enlightened methods and writings helped further the cause of humane treatment. This work remains a key text in the history of asylum reform and changing attitudes to mental illness.

The Works, Literary, Moral, and Medical, of Thomas Percival, M.D.
  • To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of his Life and Writings, and a Selection from his Literary Correspondence
  • Volume 2
  • Thomas Percival
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • A physician and medical reformer enthused by the scientific and cultural progress of the Enlightenment as it took hold in Britain, Thomas Percival (1740–1804) wrote on many topics, including public health and demography. His influential publication on medical ethics is considered the first modern formulation. In 1807, his son Edward published this four-volume collection of his father's diverse work. Some of the items here had never been published before, including a selection of Percival's private correspondence and a biographical account written by Edward. Volume 2 contains essays on moral and literary subjects, notably a Socratic discourse on truth as well as miscellaneous observations on the influence of habit and association. Also included are a memoir of the philanthropist Thomas Butterworth Bayley and the text of Percival's Medical Ethics (1803), which has been reissued separately in this series along with his Essays Medical and Experimental (revised edition, 1772–3).

The Influence of Climate in the Prevention and Cure of Chronic Diseases
  • James Clark
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
  • Published in 1829, this important work raised awareness of a poorly understood topic, running to a third edition by 1841. Sir James Clark (1788–1870) had trained as a surgeon in Edinburgh and gained experience in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. During subsequent European travels, he studied the effects of climate on disease, particularly tuberculosis, and this publication represents an expanded version of his Medical Notes on Climate, Diseases, Hospitals, and Medical Schools in France, Italy, and Switzerland (1820), which is also reissued in this series. A licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians from 1826, and elected to the Royal Society in 1832, Clark became a trusted physician and friend to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are his Treatise on Pulmonary Consumption (1835) and Memoir of John Conolly (1869).

The Works, Literary, Moral, and Medical, of Thomas Percival, M.D.
  • To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of his Life and Writings, and a Selection from his Literary Correspondence
  • Volume 3
  • Thomas Percival
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • A physician and medical reformer enthused by the scientific and cultural progress of the Enlightenment as it took hold in Britain, Thomas Percival (1740–1804) wrote on many topics, including public health and demography. His influential publication on medical ethics is considered the first modern formulation. In 1807, his son Edward published this four-volume collection of his father's diverse work. Some of the items here had never been published before, including a selection of Percival's private correspondence and a biographical account written by Edward. Volume 3 contains the first two parts of Essays Medical and Experimental, the revised edition of which has been reissued separately in this series in one volume in addition to his Medical Ethics (1803). The essays reflect Percival's wide range of interests, such as the application of philosophical methods to medical questions, the importance of accurate record keeping, and the risks of inoculating very young children against smallpox.

A Sketch of the Life and Writings of Robert Knox, the Anatomist
  • Henry Lonsdale
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • Among the ablest anatomical teachers of his day, Robert Knox (1791–1862) also busied himself with the study of zoology and ethnology. Prepared by his pupil and colleague Henry Lonsdale (1816–76), this 1870 biography explores the scope of Knox's scientific research and the nature of his character. It describes how Knox developed at Edinburgh one of the most significant anatomical schools in Britain, playing a dominant role in expanding the comparative anatomy collection held by the city's Royal College of Surgeons. Despite his eminence and popularity as a lecturer, his reputation was deeply tarnished by his association with the notorious murderers Hare and Burke, who had provided Knox with bodies for dissection. Drawing on surviving correspondence and information gathered from friends and colleagues, Lonsdale's work stands as a robust defence and sympathetic portrait of a prominent yet controversial figure in the history of nineteenth-century medicine.

Medical Notes on Climate, Diseases, Hospitals, and Medical Schools, in France, Italy, and Switzerland
  • Comprising an Inquiry into the Effects of a Residence in the South of Europe, in Cases of Pulmonary Consumption
  • James Clark
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
    First published in:
    1820
  • Having trained in Edinburgh as a surgeon and served aboard Royal Navy vessels, Sir James Clark (1788–1870) developed a particular interest in the spread of the tuberculosis pandemic in Europe. A licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians from 1826, and elected to the Royal Society in 1832, he became a trusted physician and friend to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This early work of 1820 was based on his first-hand knowledge of the treatment of tuberculosis in southern Europe as well as the effects of climate on the disease. Among his tubercular patients in Italy around this time was the poet John Keats (who would succumb in 1821). Also reissued in this series are Clark's Treatise on Pulmonary Consumption (1835), his Memoir of John Conolly (1869), and The Influence of Climate in the Prevention and Cure of Chronic Diseases (1829), a development of aspects of the present work.

Women as Army Surgeons
  • Being the History of the Women's Hospital Corps in Paris, Wimereux and Endell Street, September 1914–October 1919
  • Flora Murray
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • After training to be a doctor at the London School of Medicine for Women, Flora Murray (1869–1923) became an active member of the Women's Social and Political Union. At the outbreak of the First World War, she and her fellow suffragists laid down their banners and sought to aid the Allied war effort. Working within the newly formed Women's Hospital Corps, Murray and her colleague Louisa Garrett Anderson (1873–1943) overcame initial prejudice and established two military hospitals in France in the period 1914–15. Their success prompted an invitation from the War Office to open the Endell Street Military Hospital in London, staffed entirely by women. First published in 1920, Murray's account, illustrated with numerous photographs, records important steps in furthering the acceptance of women in the medical profession. For female doctors, surgeons and nurses, the war provided not only the 'occasion for service' but also 'great professional opportunities'.

A Memoir of John Conolly, M.D., D.C.L
  • Comprising a Sketch of the Treatment of the Insane in Europe and America
  • James Clark
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    13 June 2013
  • John Conolly (1794–1866) was a physician and alienist (psychiatrist) who worked with the mentally ill at the Hanwell County Asylum in Middlesex, where he introduced the principle of non-restraint. This action was at first controversial and met with strong opposition, but it served to further the cause of humane treatment, securing Conolly's reputation. Published in 1869, this biography was the last major work of Sir James Clark (1788–1870), a supporter of Conolly's enlightened methods. Clark himself had enjoyed a distinguished medical career, becoming a trusted physician and friend to Queen Victoria. Also reissued in this series are his Medical Notes on Climate, Diseases, Hospitals, and Medical Schools in France, Italy, and Switzerland (1820), The Influence of Climate in the Prevention and Cure of Chronic Diseases (1829) and A Treatise on Pulmonary Consumption (1835).

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