Rare Books — #51 – 100
51 Blacklock, Thomas, 1721-1791.
Poems . . . together with an essay on the education of the blind. To which is prefixed a new account of the life and writings of the author. Edinburgh: A. Chapman & Co. for W. Creech and T. Cadell (London), 1793.
viii, xxv, [1], 262 p.; 27 cm. (4to)
The second part of this volume contains the first English edition of Haüy’s incunabulum on the education of the blind, translated by the blind Scottish poet Blacklock. Blacklock, who lost his sight at the age of six months as a result of smallpox, became the protege of the Edinburgh philosopher David Hume who encouraged his literary efforts. The notice on Blacklock in the Dictionary of national biography reports incorrectly that this translation was never published.
52 Blankaart, Steven, 1650-1702.
Anatomia reformata, sive concinna corporis humani dissectio, ad neotericorum mentem adornata. Editio novissima plurimis recens inventis, tabulisque novis emendatior ac locupletior. Accedit ejusdem authoris De balsamatione nova methodus, à nemine antehac similiter descripta. Leyden: J. Luchtmans & C. Boutestein, 1695.
[14], 759, 750-51, 762-63, 754-55, 766-67, 758-59, [14] p., [84] plates; 20 cm. (8vo)
Illustrated with eighty-four plates, this popular anatomical text, present here in the third Leyden edition, was reprinted a number of times in the seventeenth century. The proper placement of such a large number of plates required instructions to the binder which are given in five languages – Latin, German, Dutch, Spanish, and French. Despite these detailed polyglot instructions, evidence of the wide distribution expected for this work, sixteen plates are incorrectly placed in this copy.
A chapter on the eye (p. 297-319) treats primarily the lachrymal system drawing heavily on the anatomical work of Steno (359) and Nuck (276).
Hirschberg §345. Wellcome II:177.
52.1 Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich, 1752-1840.
De ocvlis levcaethiopvm et iridis motv commentatio. Göttingen: Ch. Dieterich, 1786.
38 p., 1 color plate; 23 cm. (4to)
Physician, natural philosopher, historian, and bibliographer, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach is often referred to as the “founder of scientific anthropology.” He studied human beings as objects of natural history, classifying subdivisions of the species on the basis of facial features and skin color. As professor of medicine, Blumenbach taught at the University of Göttingen for more than sixty years. He was a pioneer lecturer of comparative anatomy, and emphasized its importance in anthropological research (cf. Heirs 1113, 1116; Hirsch I:576-577). This fairly early work of Blumenbach is a study on albinism, mutations of eye color, and movements of the iris.
Blake, p. 51; Callisen II:352; Dawson, p. 68.
Bock, Emil, 1857-1916.
See Stellwag von Carion (357).
53 Boerhaave, Hermann, 1668-1738.
Praelectiones publicae de morbis oculorum . . . . Editio altera Gottingensi multo emendatior. Accesserunt huic editioni ejusdem autoris Introductio in praxim clinicam, praelectiones de calculo, aliquot morborum historiae, & consilia. Paris: G. Cavelier, 1748.
[8], 376 p., 4 plates; 17 cm. (12mo)
Boerhaave, considered the father of the modern method of clinical instruction, had a world-wide reputation as a physician and teacher and his lectures and writings exerted an enormous influence on the practice of medicine in the eighteenth century. He was the first to describe accurately the muscular fibers in the ciliary body, but his greatest contribution to ophthalmology was in the broad dissemination which he gave to the revolutionary doctrine of Maître-Jan (243-44) and Brisseau (63) on the true nature of cataract.
Hirschberg §332; Waller 1223; Wellcome II:191.
53.1 Boissonneau, Auguste, fl. 1840-1867.
Rapport adressé a S. M. Guillaume II . . . sur les suites déplorables de l’ophthalmie militaire observées depuis son invasion et traitées gratuitement par l’application des yeux artificiels pendant le cours des années 1842, 1843 & 1844. Paris: s.n., 1844.
xii, [2], 58 p.; 24 cm.
Auguste Boissonneau, a professor of ocular prostheses in Paris, published several writings about movable artificial eyes. This booklet contains a report and some documentation about his activities between 1842 and 1844. The report is addressed to William II of the Netherlands and concerns the debilitating effects of ophthalmia in the royal military forces. The volume also includes a collection of letters and other documents about Boissonneau’s achievements in applications of the artificial eye.
NUC 64:316.
54 Bonnet, Amédée, 1802-1858.
Traité des sections tendineuses et musculaires dans le strabisme, la myopie, la disposition à la fatigue des yeux, le bégaiement, les pieds bots, les difformités du genou, les torticolis, les resserrements des machoires, les fractures . . . suivi d’un mémoire sur la névrotomie sous-cutanée. Paris & Lyons: Dumoulin, Ronet & Sibuet (Lyons) for J. B. Baillière, Germer-Baillière & C. Savy (Lyons), 1841.
[4], lxiv, 664 p., 16 plates; 21 cm. (8vo)
A detailed study of the relationship of the ocular muscles to the fibrous capsule of the eye and its implications for the operation for strabismus. The author re-discovered and more fully described the ocular capsule first observed by Tenon (373) and now eponymously known by both names. Bonnet is credited with reviving the operation for enucleation: “Since his classical description all operations for the ablation of the globe have been based upon the details elucidated by him, for it was Bonnet who first sought to conserve the capsule of Tenon, thereby protecting the soft parts of the orbit from injury” (Chance, p. 141).
Hirschberg §495; Wellcome II:200.
Bordenave, Toussaint, 1728-1782.
“Examen des réflexions critiques de M. Molinelli, inserées dans les Mémoires de l’Institut de Bologne, contre le mémoire de M. Petit, sur la fistule lacrymale, inseré parmi ceux de l’Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris, année 1734.”
In Académie Royale de Chirurgie, Mémoires (2).
Bordenave, Toussaint, 1728-1782.
“Mémoire dans lequel on propose un nouveau procédé pour traiter le renversement des paupières.”
In Académie Royale de Chirurgie, Mémoires (2).
Bordenave, Toussaint, 1728-1782.
See Pellier de Quengsy (292).
55 Borri, Giuseppe Francesco, 1627-1695.
Epistolae duae. I. De cerebri ortu & usu medico. II. De artificio oculorum humores restituendi. Ad Th. Bartholinum. Copenhagen: D. Paulli, 1669.
[4], 68 p.; 19 cm. (4to)
This work contains an exchange of letters between Borri and the famous Danish physician Thomas Bartholin. Borri explains his method of the restitution of the eye fluid by infusion of celandine juice, a secret which he claims to have obtained from the English chemist Sir Robert Southwell. Although Borri’s method was proved ineffective, it led to important discoveries in the field of ophthalmological research.
Hirschberg §319; Wellcome II:206.
56 Bose, Adolph Julian, 1742-1770.
De morbis corneae ex fabrica ejus declaratis. Leipzig: Widow of Langenhemius, 1767.
36 p.; 22 cm. (4to)
A doctoral degree in medicine was conferred on Bose by the University of Leipzig in 1767 and the following year he was appointed extraordinary professor of medicine at Wittenberg. He held this chair for only two years before his early death at the age of twenty-eight. His doctoral dissertation deals with the diseases of the cornea and includes numerous references to the earlier literature on the subject.
57 Botti, Giuseppe, 17th cent.
Cecità illuminata, cioè breve compendio della formazione, e struttura dell’occhio, e delle sue parti constituenti; d’onde si mostra come si formi la visione, con l’assegnazione de mali dell’ occhio, e le loro cause, col modo di guarirle per mezzo del salutifero estratto di varie essenze. Parma: G. Rossetti, 1698.
63, [1] p.; 15cm. (8vo)
An uncommon tract on the anatomy and physiology of the eye, written by a member of the Duchess of Parma’s household. The author also discusses various diseases of the eye and recommends treatment with an extract from various essences.
58 Bouchut, Eugène, 1818-1891.
Du diagnostic des maladies du système nerveux par l’ophthalmoscopie. Paris: G. Baillière, 1866.
xx, 503 p. + atlas ([28] p., XII plates): ill.; 22 cm.
“Si la découverte de cet instrument a été l’origine de progrès importants pour l’étude des maladies de l’oeil, sachons qu’il peut être la source de progrès non moins précieux dans le diagnostic des maladies cérébro-spinales en nous donnant le moyen de découvrir au travers de l’oeil les altérations qui se produissent dans les différentes parties de la moelle et du cerveau” (Introduction, p. xix-xx).
Published six years before Allbutt’s classic work on the use of the ophthalmoscope in the diagnosis of the diseases of the nervous system (10). Unlike Allbutt, who never returned to the subject, Bouchut was the author of two subsequent works on the subject, his Atlas d’ophthalmoscopie médicale (Paris, 1876), and the Cérébroscopie (Paris, 1877). Hirschberg (XV:553) quotes Bouchut as stating about his work in ophthalmoscopy, “I have done for the brain what Auenbrugger and Laennec with the help of auscultation and percussion have done for the diagnosis of lung and heart diseases.”
Hirsch I:648; Hirschberg §1287; Osler 2092.
Boudt, Cornelis de, engr.
See Prints 5, 6.
Bourgeois, Jacques.
Advis aux curieux de la conservation de leur veue. Sur les lunettes dyoptiques, nouvellement mises en usage, pour l’utilité publique. (Facsimile) Paris, 1645.
In Heymann (190).
Boury, Johann Wilhelm, respondent.
“De maculis corneae earumque operatione chirurgica, apotripsi.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 2:261-328.
59 Bowen, John.
Practical observations on the removal of every species and variety of cataract, by hyalonyxis, or vitreous operation, illustrated by cases; with critical and general remarks on the other methods employed. London (Paris?): Callow & Wilson, 1824 (1823?).
x, [4], 120 p., [1] plate; 22 cm.
The author’s purpose in writing this book was to point out “some general method of removing the diseased lens, by which we can indiscriminately act in all cases, whether the cataract be fluid, soft, hard, lenticular, or capsular” (p. 5). Bowen advocated “hyalonyxis” or the surgical puncture of the vitreous humor as in keratonyxis in all cases of cataract. Scarpa and Saunders, in confining their use of this procedure to soft cataracts and particularly juvenile cataracts, were the first to discriminate in undertaking the discission or needling operation.
Little is known of the author beyond what he reveals in this work. Bowen had practiced as an ophthalmic surgeon for fifteen years before writing this book and had spent the previous seven years in Europe, chiefly in Italy. Bowen speculates on the geographic incidence of eye disease and suggests a correlation with the presence of “sulphureous matter” as evidenced by the high proportion of eye disease and blindness in volcanic areas such as Naples, Sicily, and especially the towns near Mount Vesuvius. Guthrie (Lectures on operative surgery, p. 300) noted that Bowen’s book was actually printed and published in Paris in October 1823.
BOA I:27; Hirschberg §638.
60 Bowman, Sir William, 1816-1892.
Lectures on the parts concerned in the operations on the globe, and on the structure of the retina, delivered at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields, June 1847. From the London Medical Gazette. London: Wilson & Ogilvy, 1848.
45 p.: ill.; 21 cm.
“Bowman did more than any other man to advance ophthalmic surgery in England. The above work is the first to include a sound description of the microscopical anatomy of the eye and the ciliary (‘Bowman’s’) muscle. The book consists of several lectures given at the London Ophthalmic Hospital and published in the Lond. Med. Gaz. in 1847. Part of it is reprinted in Med. classics, 1940, 5:292-336” (G-M 1505). The copy described is an offprint of the original journal article.
Hirschberg §647-649.
60.1 Boyer, Lucien A. H., 1808-1890.
Recherches sur l’opération du strabisme. Mémoire présenté a l’Académie Royale des Sciences. Paris: Lancette, G. Baillière . . ., 1842-44.
2 v. in 1 ([4], iii, [1], 320 p., X plates; [4], 114, [6] p., 2 plates): diagrs., 24 cm.
Born of French parents in Turin, Lucien Boyer studied in Paris, where he received his medical degree in 1836. From 1852 to 1870 he was physician to the Senate of the Second Empire. Boyer published on uterine tumors, hernia and diathesis, but his name is best known for his study of treatments for strabismus. In this work, which he presented to the Académie Royale des Sciences, he argues for the importance of the strabismus operation. He discusses the anatomical and physiological aspects of strabismus in addition to describing methods, tools, and possible results of the surgery.
AmEncOph II:1266; BM 25:250; Hirsch I:667; Hirschberg §495; NUC 71:55.
60.2 Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
A disquisition about the final causes of natural things: wherein it is inquir’d, whether, and (if at all) with what cautions, a naturalist should admit them? . . . To which are subjoyn’d, by way of appendix, Some uncommon observations about vitiated sight. London: H. C. for J. Taylor, 1688.
[16], 274, [6] p.; 18 cm. (8vo)
Provenance: William Wilshere, Hitchin (bookplate).
“Physicist, physiologist, chemist, and philosopher, Boyle was one of the great scientists and intellects of the seventeenth century. This work contains Boyle’s discussion of many physiological matters, especially those concerning the eye and defective vision. Boyle recognized that the site of the cataract is in the optic lens, and he included a number of case histories to substantiate his findings. . . . [Page 157] contains the famous passage in which Boyle relates his conversation with William Harvey on how he discovered the circulation of the blood” (Heirs, p. 203-204). The appended Some uncommon observations about vitiated sight (p. [239]-274) has a separate title page.
Cushing B556; Fulton 186A; Heirs 567; Krivatsy 1726; Reynolds 614; Waller 10766; Wellcome II:224; Wing B3946(var.).
Brecht, Carl David, respondent.
“Tobiae leucomata.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 1:312-340.
60.3 Brenta, Luigi.
Fenomeni della visione. Milan: O. Manini, 1838.
39, [1] p., 3 plates; 24 cm.
The volume consists of a letter by Luigi Brenta, an optician in Milan, to an unnamed physicist, followed by the description of Brenta’s optical experiments and observations. His investigations concern electromagnetic force in the eye, divergency of light-beams, and images on the retina. This copy of the book is bound in its original printed wrapper and was signed by the author on the bottom of the third plate.
NUC 702:181.
Bresler, J., trans.
See Ramón y Cajal (309.1).
61 Brewster, Sir David, 1781-1868.
Memoirs of the life, writings and discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. Edinburgh: T. Constable and Co., 1855.
2 v. (xxii, [2], 478 p., [1] plate; xi, [1], 564 p., [1] plate): ill., port.; 23 cm.
Originally published in one volume in 1831, Brewster entirely rewrote and expanded his life of Newton after having the opportunity to examine papers in the possession of the Earl of Portsmouth to which he’d not had access before. Trained as a clergyman in the Established Church of Scotland, Brewster abandoned the pulpit for a life of scientific inquiry. He was the author of numerous articles on optics, and is particularly noted for his work in the understanding of the polarization of light.
Wallis 370.
Breyer, Julius Friedericus, respondent.
“De ophthalmia venerea et peculiari in illa operatione.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 3:94-134.
Briggs, James, d. 1848, trans.
See Scarpa (328).
62 Briggs, William, 1642-1704.
Ophthalmo-graphia, sive oculi ejusque partium descriptio anatomica, nec non, ejusdem nova visionis theoria. Leyden: P. van der Aa, 1686.
312, [12] p., [3] plates; 13 cm. (12mo)
Briggs, who studied at Montpellier under Vieussens, was one of the few seventeenth century physicians who specialized in the treatment of the eye. He was the first to describe and depict the papilla of the optic disk. “In dealing with the retina, Briggs specially notes and figures the papilla . . . we no longer find the lens filling the whole of the inside eye as in most earlier diagrams; and the retina is postulated as the percipient layer and not the choroid, while the function of the lens in transmitting and refracting the light is recognized” (James, p. 78). Newton derived much of his knowledge of the anatomy of the eye from this work and contributed an appreciation to Briggs’s other work, Nova visionis theoria.
Hirschberg §305; Waller 1456; Wellcome II:238.
63 Brisseau, Michel, 1676-1743.
Traité de la cataracte et du glaucoma. Paris: L. d’Houry, 1709.
[16], 260, [12] p., 4 plates; 17 cm. (12mo)
“Brisseau was the first to demonstrate the true nature and location of cataract” (G-M 5825).
Often overlooked but of equal significance to the history of ophthalmology are Brisseau’s observations on glaucoma. In this work he clearly distinguishes between cataract and glaucoma, and for the first time glaucoma is described as a disease of the vitreous humor and not of the lens. The treatise on cataract was written in 1705 and originally communicated to the Académie Royale des Sciences by a colleague because the author was ‘merely a physician.’ The book concludes with the author’s response to the objections raised by De La Hire, Mery, Littre and St. Yves.
Hirschberg §325-326; Waller 1464; Wellcome II:240.
Bronner, Edward, trans.
See Selected monographs (338.1).
63.1 Brücke, Ernst Wilhelm, Ritter von, 1819-1892.
Anatomische Beschreibung des menschlichen Augapfels. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1847.
[4], 70 p., [1] color plate: ill.; 28 cm.
“A remarkable all-round physiologist and anatomist, Brücke’s investigations covered all branches of the subject, including the luminosity of the eye in animals (1845), phonetics (1856-62), the semilunar valves (1855), and artistic anatomy (1892) . . .” (Orr 478). His optical works constituted the basis for the invention of the ophthalmoscope (cf. Gorin, p. 127; Hirsch I:729). This treatise, a descriptive anatomy of the human eye, was published shortly before Brücke was appointed professor of physiology at the University of Königsberg, where he taught ophthalmology during the winter semester of 1848/49.
Hirsch I:730; NUC 80:244; NYAM 6:544.
Brunn, Walter Albert Ferdinand von, 1876-1952.
See Stromayr (366).
63.2 Budge, Julius Ludwig, 1811-1888.
Über die Bewegung der Iris. Für Physiologen und Ärzte. Braunschweig: F. Vieweg & Son, 1855.
x, [2], 206 p., [3] folding plates: ill.; 23 cm.
“An important book marking a progress in the investigation of pupillary movements. Budge emphasized that contraction and dilatation were active processes, a view later confirmed by [Karl] Voelckers and [Victor] Hensen” (Dawson 1081). For the discoveries described in it, this work was awarded the Prix Monthyon by the Academy of Sciences in Paris and another prize by the Academy of Medicine in Brussels. Julius Budge was professor of anatomy and physiology in Bonn and later in Greifswald, and in addition to this classic of ophthalmology he published treatises on the central nervous system and the blood circulation in the liver.
Dawson 1081; G-M 1510; Hirsch I:755.
Bull, Charles Stedman, 1844-1912, ed.
See Stellwag von Carion (355) and Wells (413).
64 Burnett, Swan Moses, 1847-1906.
A theoretical and practical treatise on astigmatism. St. Louis: J. H. Chambers & Co., 1887.
viii, 245, [1] p.: ill.; 23 cm.
The most important work of a distinguished American ophthalmologist. Of this work Hirschberg wrote, “Nach Donders Schrift Astigmatus und cylindr. Gläser, Berlin 1862, ist die Arbeit von Burnett die erste ausführliche Sonderschrift über Astigmatismus in der Welt-Literatur, klar, vollständig eingehend, auch mit genauer Literatur-Angabe” (§767).
Professor of ophthalmology and otology at Georgetown University, Burnett was also a noted collector of art and books. His first wife, Frances E. Hodgson, was the author of Little Lord Faunteleroy.
BOA I:35; Hirschberg §767.
65 Büsch, Johann Georg, 1728-1800.
Tractatus duo optici argumenti. Hamburg: C. E. Bohn, 1783.
[12], 132 p., [l], plate; 17 cm. (8vo)
Two optical essays by the professor of mathematics at Hamburg. In dealing with myopia the author is particularly scornful of Boerhaave’s work on the diseases of the eye (53) noting that it was hardly worthy of mention. Boerhaave attributed myopia to either an overly convex cornea or to an enlarged eyeball. Haller, who edited and published Boerhaave’s lectures from the manuscript notes of different students, also rated the mathematical portion of Boerhaave’s work as particularly deficient.
Hirschberg §432.
Caille, Claude-Antoine, praeses.
See Michel (259.1).
Camerer, Alexander, praeses.
“De ophthalmia venerea et peculiari in illa operatione.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 3:94-134.
Camerer, Johann Gottfried, respondent.
“De conjunctivae et corneae, oculi tunicarum, vesiculis ac pustulis.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 1:143-168.
66 Camper, Petrus, 1722-1789.
Dissertatio physiologica de quibusdam oculi partibus. Leyden: E. Luzac, Jun., 1746.
[6], 28, [2] p., 1 plate; 22 cm. (4to)
A remarkable figure in eighteenth century science and medicine, Camper entered the University of Leyden at age twelve and graduated twelve years later, taking two degrees simultaneously. Both this entry and number 67 are Camper’s dissertations for these degrees. The present thesis was written for his medical degree. The quidam partes referred to in the title are the lens and the orbit only, described prior to a brief examination of the physiology of vision. Camper was the author of a remarkable treatise on the eye (De oculorum fabrica et morbis) which he never published. It did not appear in print until 1913 as part of the Opuscula selecta Neerlandicorum de arte medica (fasc. II).
Hirsch I:813; Hirschberg §433.
67 Camper, Petrus, 1722-1789.
Dissertatio optica de visu. Leyden: E. Luzac, 1746.
[6], 25, [1] p., [1] plate; 21 cm. (4to)
The dissertation of the Dutch anatomist who discovered the fibrous structure of the lens. This was the first of his numerous anatomical memoirs.
Hirschberg §433.
68 Camper, Petrus, 1722-1789.
Optical dissertation on vision, 1746. Facsimile of the original Latin text, with a complete translation and an introduction by G. ten Doesschate. Nieuwkoop: B. de Graaf, 1962.
29, [3], [6], 25, [1], [2], 31, [3] p., [2] plates; 26 cm.
Series: Dutch classics on the history of science, 3.
“ . . . made after the copy in the Bibliotheca Medica Neerlandica, Amsterdam . . . present edition limited to five hundred copies . . .” (colophon).
Cangiano, Emmanuele, trans.
See Florio (138).
68.1 Canton, Edwin, d. 1885.
On the arcus senilis, or, fatty degeneration of the cornea. London: R. Hardwicke, 1863.
[8], 228 p., 3 plates: ill.; 23 cm.
Provenance: Signed by the author for H. Skelton.
Edwin Canton studied and worked as an assistant surgeon at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, and later as a surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He was named Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1845. A well-known lecturer and successful operative surgeon, Canton also was a prolific medical author in ophthalmology, surgery, and pathology (cf. Hirsch I:820). This work, which originally was published in The Lancet (1850, 1853, and 1863), discusses the arcus senilis, its pathology, formation, occurrences, and treatment.
BOA I:37; Dawson 1173; NUC 94:218.
69 Cappuri, Antonio.
De peculiari cataracta in anteriorem oculi cameram prolapsa commentarius. Bologna: Laelius a Vulpe, 1794.
19, [3] p.; 24 cm. (4to)
Observations on a particularly difficult operation during which the cataract had slipped into the anterior chamber of the eye. The author was a surgeon at Lucca.
Blake, p. 77.
69.1 Carcano Leone, Giovanni Battista, 1536-1606.
Anatomici libri II. In quorvm altero de cordis vasorum in foetu vnione pertractatur, ostenditurq[ue] hac in re explicanda solum Galenumueritatis scopum attigisse, reliquos omnes anatomicos lapsos fuisse. . . . In altero de musculis, palpebrarum atq[ue] oculorum motibus deseruientibus, accuratè differitur. . . . Pavia: G. Bartolo, 1574.
2 v. in 1 (44 leaves; 44 leaves); 15 cm. (8vo)
Provenance: D. Luigi Zangrandi (stamp); –Withdrawn by the Wellcome Library (stamp).
“The first volume of Carcano’s treatise deals with the source of the vessels in the fetus, and contains the first clear description of the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus since that of Galen. The second volume includes the first exact description of the lacrimal duct . . . and the route taken by the tears” (Norman 398; cf. Hirsch I:828). Carcano was born in Milan, studied in Pavia, then became a military surgeon, and at the age of 25 he was appointed director of the military hospital in Milan. Later in Padua he studied under Fallopio, and in 1573 was named professor of anatomy in Pavia, where he taught for 25 years.
G-M 1479; Norman 398; Wellcome I:1276; Willius-Dry, p. 45.
70 Carron du Villards, Charles Joseph Frédéric, 1801-1860.
Recherches pratiques sur les causes qui font échouer l’opération de la cataracte selon les divers procédés. Paris: Bacquenois for J. Rouvier & E. Le Bouvier, 1835.
[6], xii, 384 p., 2 plates; 21 cm.
An analysis of the causes of accidents and failures in the operations for cataract which draws heavily on the experience of the author’s teachers, Scarpa and Maunoir. Some years later, Maunoir (251) published a short memoir on this same subject to document his disagreement with Carron du Villards on some points he considered of extreme importance. This copy, in a special extra-binding with an elaborate coat-of-arms in gilt on both covers, is probably from the library of Ferdinand II of the House of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies.
Hirschberg §568.
71 Carron du Villards, Charles Joseph Frédéric, 1801-1860.
Guide pratique pour l’étude et le traitement des maladies des yeux. Paris: Cosson for Société Encyclographique des Sciences Médicales, 1838.
2 v. ([8], xii, 556 p., [2] plates; [4], 644 p., [2] plates); 22 cm.
“Carron du Villards taught ophthalmology in Paris; his book is one of the best of the period” (G-M 5853). The extensive bibliography, with entries arranged chronologically under a number of specific subjects, was derived from Beer’s Bibliotheca ophthalmica (Vienna, 1799) though it does not include the critical annotations found in Beer’s work.
The author spent some time in North Africa, Mexico, Central and South America and his books are interesting for the information he gathered there about ophthalmological subjects.
Hirschberg §568; Wellcome II:305.
71.1 Carter, Robert Brudenell, 1828-1918.
On defects of vision which are remediable by optical appliances. A course of lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. . . . London: Macmillan & Co., 1877.
[8], 145, [1] p.: ill.; 23 cm.
A series of lectures describing defects of refraction, accommodation, and convergence in the eye. The author offers treatments for presbyopia, hyperopia, myopia, astigmatism, and asthenopia with the aid of contemporary modern appliances. Robert Carter was the founder of the eye clinic in Nottingham and author of several works on ophthalmic surgery. He considered himself “a conspicuously unsuccessful general practitioner in the country” until the age of forty. Coming to London in his forty-first year, he became surgeon to the Royal South London Ophthalmic Hospital within the year, thus beginning a second, longer, and eminently successful career as one of the most distinguished British ophthalmic surgeons of the late nineteenth century.
BOA I:38; Hirsch I:844-845; NUC 97:210.
72 Carter, Robert Brudenell, 1828-1918.
The modern operations for cataract; being the Lettsomian lectures for 1884. London: Macmillan and Co., 1884.
83 p.; 23 cm.
“Three Lettsomian lectures on the operations for cataract in use by 1884. The author advises preliminary iridectomy and discusses the advantages of early operation” (BOA I:38).
BOA I:38; Hirschberg §671.
Carter, Robert Brudenell, 1828-1918, trans.
See Scheffler (330).
73 Cavalieri, Bonaventura, 1598-1647.
Lo specchio ustorio overo trattato delle settioni coniche, et alcuni loro mirabili effetti intorno al lume, caldo, freddo, suono, e moto ancora. Bologna: C. Ferroni, 1632.
[16], 224 p., [1], 10 leaves: ill.; 21 cm. (4to)
The first edition of this important work on conic sections and their application to different branches of physics. Cavalieri demonstrated for the first time that a projectile follows a parabolic trajectory; and also introduced here the conception of the inertia of bodies, later elaborated by Newton.
74 Chandler, George, d. 1822.
A treatise on the diseases of the eye, and their remedies; to which is prefixed, the anatomy of the eye; the theory of vision; and the several species of imperfect sight. London: T. Cadell, 1780.
v, [3], 191 p., 4 plates; 23 cm. (8vo)
This book was an early attempt at compiling a state-of-the-art textbook of ophthalmology. Sprengel, a contemporary medical historian, severely criticized Chandler’s work as a worthless compilation and a poor copy of the works of Heister, St. Yves, and others.
Hirschberg §395; Wellcome II:325.
75 Chandler, George, d. 1822.
Abhandlung über die Krankheiten des Auges und die dagegen anzuwendenden Heilmittel nebst vorausgeschickter Betrachtung über die Zergliederung des Auges, Theorie des Sehens und die verschiedenen Arten des unvollkommenen Gesichts. Leipzig: Weygand, 1782.
[8], 200 p., [2] plates; 18 cm. (8vo)
A German translation of Chandler’s treatise on eye diseases (74). Chandler had a reputation as an extremely rapid operator in England.
Hirschberg §395.
75.1 Chérubin d’Orléans, Father, 1613-1697.
La vision parfaite: ou le concours des deux axes de la vision en un seul point de l’objet. Paris: S. Mabre-Cramoisy, 1677-81.
2 v. in 1 ([26], 168, [20] p., 17 plates; [28], 84, 87-217, 216-224, [16] p., 13 plates): ill.; 33 cm. (fol.)
“First edition of an important work on optics which is rarer than the author’s Dioptrique oculaire. Chérubin, whose real name was François Lasseré, discussed the invention of a binocular telescope and also an opera glass. He hoped that a clearer image would be formed by the use of both eyes. There are many fine illustrations of different types of telescopes, and the book is an excellent specimen of 17th century printing” (BOA II:20).
BOA II:20; Krivatsy 2429; NUC 105:503.
76 Chevalier, Arthur, 1830-1872.
Hygiène de la vue ouvrage utile a tout le monde. Troisième édition. Paris: Ch. Albessard, 1864.
164 p.: ill.; 16 cm.
A popular work on the preservation of sight and the proper use of spectacles. The author was a member of the celebrated family of Paris opticians, and the son of Charles Louis Chevalier, a pioneer in photographic optics in Daguerre’s time. Arthur Chevalier was himself an early worker in the field of microphotography, while continuing the family business to the third generation.
77 Chevalier, Arthur, 1830-1872.
L’art de conserver la vue ouvrage utile à tous. Troisième édition entièrement refondue. Paris: P. Brunet, 1870.
[4], viii, 175, [3] p.: ill.; 18 cm.
Though parts of the text and many of the illustrations are identical, this work differs considerably from Chevalier’s Hygiène de la vue (76).
78 Chevallier, Jean Gabriel Auguste, 1778-1848.
Le conservateur de la vue, suivi du catalogue général et prix courant des instrumens d’optique, de mathématiques et de physique, de la fabrique et du magasin de l’auteur. Paris: Prudhomme for the author, 1810.
[6], viii, 163, [5], xlvii, [1] p., 8 plates; 22 cm. (8vo)
Chevallier, Ingénieur-Opticien de le Prince de Condé, was celebrated for his many inventions and perfections of a great variety of instruments. This is the first of many editions of this popular and practical work on optics. It contains the catalogue of instruments (called for on the title page), omitted from some later editions, and it seems to be the only edition with every copy signed (half-title, verso) by the author.
Hirschberg §470.
79 Classen, August, 1835-1889.
Ueber das Schlussverfahren des Sehactes. Rostock: G. B. Leopold’s Universitäts-Buchhandlung (Ernst Kuhn), 1863.
vi, 76 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
Hirschberg §1136.
80 Classen, August, 1835-1889.
Physiologie des Gesichtssinnes zum ersten Mal begründet auf Kant’s Theorie der Erfahrung. Braunschweig: F. Vieweg & Son, 1876.
xviii, [2], 202 p.; 23 cm.
Kantian idealism had a profound influence on scientists such as Helmholtz, Du Bois-Reymond, Virchow and others of their generation, separating their thinking from the romantic Naturphilosophie that colored German thought throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.
The present work is a perfect example of Kantian influences on the scientific thought of the period. A German ophthalmologist whose works centered principally in physiological optics, Classen here examines contemporary theories in the physiology of vision in light of Kantian epistemology.
81 Cleoburey, William, 1793-1853.
A review of the different operations performed on the eyes, for the restoration of lost and the improvement of imperfect vision; in which the most judicious and successful methods of operating on these organs are described, and the general causes of failure faithfully delineated. Also a full account of the various structures and diseases of the eyes and their appendages; together with the necessary mode of treatment: the whole being the result of several years of extensive practice in this important department of surgery. London: W. Clowes for T. & G. Underwood, 1826.
viii, 288, [2] p.; 23 cm.
The cataract operations of depression, extraction, and discission and methods for forming an artificial pupil are reviewed and illustrated with case histories from the author’s practice in Oxford. The chaotic arrangement of this work prompted one contemporary reviewer [London Medical Repository 26:126-135 (1826)] to suggest “Desultory Remarks” as an alternate title.
Waller 2010; Wellcome II:358.
82 Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum.
Par P. Pansier. Paris: J. B. Baillière and Son, 1903-1933.
7 fascicles; 26 cm.
Contents: fasc. 1. Arnaldus de Villanova, Libellus regiminis de confortatione visus — Johannes de Casso, Tractatus de conservatione visus (1903); fasc. 2. Alcoatin, Congregatio sive liber de oculis (1903); fasc. 3. cAlī ibn cĪsā, Memoriale oculariorum (1903); fasc. 4. David Armenicus, De oculorum curationibus (1904); fasc. 5. Zacharias, Tractatus de passionibus oculorum (1907); fasc. 6. Anonymi tractatus de egritudinibus oculorum (1908); fasc. 7. Constantinus Africanus, Liber de oculis — Galenus, Littere ad Corisium (1909, 1933).
In these seven fascicles, which appeared between 1903 and 1933, Pansier published for the first time selected manuscripts of the great ancient and medieval physicians and philosophers on vision and the eye. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of early ophthalmology and the manuscript resources of many European libraries, he has made available the little known or previously unknown ophthalmological writings of Arnaldus de Villanova, Johannis de Casso, Alcoatin, cAlī ibn cĪsā, David Armenicus, Zacharias, Constantinus Africanus, and Galen. The editor’s introductory comments and bibliographical notes and his translation of the Arabic passages add to the usefulness of this work. The final fascicle, scheduled for publication in 1909 and finally issued in 1933, carries both imprint dates and includes Pansier’s description of the difficulties he encountered in obtaining support to complete this series.
Waller 2066.
Collimitius, Georgius, 1482-1535, ed.
See Witelo (422.1).
83 Colombat, Marc, 1797-1851.
Traité des maladies et de l’hygiène des organes de la voix. 2. éd. Paris: Moquet for Mansut, 1838.
400 p., 2 plates; 23 cm.
An important work in the field of laryngology by one of the early specialists in this field.
84 Colombier, Jean, 1736-1789.
Dissertatio nova de suffusione seu cataracta; oculi anatome & mecanismo locupletata. Amsterdam: P. F. Didot (Paris), 1765.
viii, 194, [2] p.; 16 cm. (12mo)
The only ophthalmological work of Colombier, a French military surgeon, this treatise deals with the nature of cataract, its causes, diagnosis, and prognosis and presents a survey of the operative methods of several different practitioners. The author, a well-known cataract extractor, was one of the first to prefer extraction to couching or the operation of depression.
Hirschberg §335.
Combach, Johann, 1585-1651, ed.
See Bacon (27 & 28).
Conring, Hermann, 1606-1681, ed.
See Feyens (135).
Constantinus Africanus, 1018-1087?
Liber de oculis.
In Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum (82), fasc. 7.
Cooper, Sir Astley Paston, bart., 1768-1841.
See Neue Bibliothek (272.1).
85 Cooper, William White, 1816-1886.
Practical remarks on near sight, aged sight, and impaired vision; with observations upon the use of glasses and on artificial light. London: G. J. Palmer for J. Churchill, 1847.
ix, [3], 216 p., [1] plate: ill.; 20 cm.
“Investigations of theories of light and principles of reflection and refraction. Chapters on the structure of the eye, the causes, symptoms, and treatment of myopia and presbyopia, the effect of artificial light on the eye” (BOA I:45).
BOA I:45; Hirschberg §672; Wellcome II:389.
86 Cooper, William White, 1816-1886.
On wounds and injuries of the eye. London: J. Churchill, 1859.
xii, 330 p., III plates: ill.; 23 cm.
According to Hirschberg, English ophthalmic textbooks of the nineteenth century gave especial attention to injuries of the eye. This work however is the first to be entirely devoted to the subject. Praised by Hirschberg for its completeness and clarity, the book is illustrated with wood engravings and lithographs after drawings by the author.
BOA I:45; Hirsch II:100; Hirschberg §672.
87 Coper, Johann, praeses.
De oculo. Bremen: H. Brauer, 1671.
36 p.: ill.; 19 cm. (4to)
An early thesis on the anatomy of the eye illustrated with a full page engraving of the human eye and a schematic representation of its constituent parts. The thesis was presented at Bremen by Henricus Schweling, a pupil of Johann Coper.
Cornarius, Janus, 1500-1558, trans.
See Aetius, of Amida (5).
87.1 Courtivron, Gaspard le Compasseur de Créqui-Montfort, marquis de, 1715-1785.
Traité d’optique, où, l’on donne la théorie de la lumiere dans le système newtonien, avec de nouvelles solutions des principaux problêmes de dioptrique & de catoptrique. Paris: Durand & Pissot, 1752.
v, [1], 192 p., 7 plates: ill.; 24 cm. (4to)
“An 18th century optical treatise in which Newton’s theory of light is discussed, and the author suggests solutions for various problems of dioptrics” (BOA I:46). A physician in the French cavalry and a member of the Académie des Sciences, Courtivron was the author of several works in optics, geometry, and physics.
BOA I:46; NUC 125:210; Poggendorff I:490.
Culver, Charles Mortimer, trans.
See Landolt (228).
88 Cunier, Florent, 1812-1853.
Mémoire sur l’ophthalmie contagieuse qui regne dans la classe pauvre et ouvrière. Brussels and Leipzig: C. Muquardt, . . . et al., 1849.
52 p.; 23 cm.
Ophthalmia was rampant in the working class districts of Brussels in the 1840s, posing so serious a health problem as to attract the attention of the government. This pamphlet, addressed to the mayor of the city, examines the causes and treatment of ophthalmia, and the necessity of alleviating the misery of Brussels’s afflicted population. The most important Belgian ophthalmologist of the first half of the nineteenth century, Cunier was a highly original ophthalmic surgeon, a prolific author, and the founder of the Annales d ’Oculistique.
Cureau de la Chambre, Marin, 1594-1669.
See La Chambre, Marin Cureau de, 1594-1669.
89 Curtis, John Harrison, b. 1778.
A treatise on the physiology and diseases of the eye: containing a new mode of curing cataract without an operation; experiments and observations on vision, also on the inflection, reflection, and colours of light; together with remarks on the preservation of sight, and on spectacles, reading-glasses, etc. London: J. Moyes for Longmans, 1833.
[8], 222, [2] p., [1] plate; 23 cm.
A colored frontispiece captioned “The connexion of the organs of sight & hearing illustrated” suggests the author’s motivation for writing this layman’s work. Curtis, a noted aurist and founder of the Royal Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear, writes in the introduction that he had repeatedly observed that in cases of deafness accompanied by visual defects “the healthy action of the nerves of the ear has extended its influence to the eye.” The book is an admixture of curious and nonsensical theory with sound scientific observation. Curtis believed that affections of the eye were “all nearly the same disease, varying only in situation and degree, and . . . are derived from similar sources.” He further stated that the most common source of these affections is a “derangement of the digestive organs, acting on the abdominal ganglia and great sympathetic nerve.” On the other hand, the section on comparative ophthalmic anatomy and physiology (p. 49-64) was, according to Shastid, “the best by far since those of Aristotle and As-Sadili.” This section is given in toto by Shastid in American encyclopedia of ophthalmology, 5:3594-3600.
AmEncOph 5:3593-3600; BOA I:48; Hirschberg §470; Wellcome II:421.
90 Dalrymple, John, 1803-1852.
The anatomy of the human eye. London: F. Warr for Longmans, 1834.
[2], vii, [3], 294, [10] p., 5 plates; 23 cm.
“First English work on ocular anatomy” (G-M 1497). That the systematic study of the anatomy of the eye was still very much in its infancy is indicated by the fact that the author took as his model Zinn’s Descriptio anatomica oculi humani (426) a work nearly eighty years old. Despite his admiration of Zinn’s great work, Dalrymple was rather careless in quoting his writings, and the Latin excerpts are full of errata and citation errors.
BOA I:49; G-M 1497; Hirschberg §640; Wellcome II:428.
91 Dalrymple, John, 1803-1852.
Pathology of the human eye. London: J. Churchill, 1852.
[81] p., XXXVI plates; 38 cm.
Dalrymple only just lived to complete this work, his magnum opus. The excellent plates were lithographed by W. Baggs after the watercolors of Messrs. W. H. Kerney and Leonard, which they prepared under the supervision of Dalrymple and his colleague John Scott.
The preparation of the atlas was begun before the publication of Helmholtz’s description of the ophthalmoscope (1851), and issued the year after. It is interesting to speculate how successive editions might have differed had Dalrymple lived to make use of the new instrument.
Hirsch II:173; Hirschberg §640.
Danti, Ignazio, 1537-1586, trans.
See Euclid (125).
Daumier, Honoré Victorin, 1808-1879.
See Prints 10, 11.
David Armenicus, 12th cent.
Compilatio in libros de oculorum curationibus Accanamosali et diversorum philosophorum de Baldach.
In Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum (82), fasc. 4.
92 David, Jean Pierre, 1737-1784.
Recherches sur la maniere d’agir de la saignée, et sur les effets qu’elle produit relativement à la partie où on la fait. 2. éd. rev. et corr. Paris: Vallat-La-Chapelle, 1763.
xxiv, 333, [3] p.; 17 cm. (12mo)
Bloodletting, the subject of this treatise, though often much abused, was an important and potentially effective therapy employed by physicians and ophthalmologists for centuries. The author, a Rouen surgeon, married the daughter of Le Cat (234), chief surgeon at Rouen’s Hotel Dieu. David was later chosen by his father-in-law to succeed him in that office. Here he deals primarily with general bloodletting or venesection and only the procedures employed rather than their application to specific diseases. While the old practice of venesection had little application in the treatment of eye diseases, temporal phlebotomy was advocated in acute infections of the eye as late as 1910 and in 1918 Elliot suggested the use of leeches in the non-operative treatment of congestive glaucoma.
Daviel, Jacques, 1696-1762.
“Sur une nouvelle méthode de guérir la cataracte par l’extraction du cristalin.”
In Académie Royale de Chirurgie, Mémoires (2).
Daviel, Jacques, 1696-1762.
See Pellier de Quengsy (292).
93 Daviel, Jacques Henri.
Utrum, cataractae tutior extractio forsicum ope? Theses anatomicae et chirurgicae. Paris: Widow of Delaguette, 1757.
[2], 17 p.; 25 cm. (4to)
A dissertation on cataract extraction by the son of Jacques Daviel. In this work the younger Daviel takes up the theme of his father’s earliest critics at the Académie Royale de Chirurgie, regarding the instruments used by the elder Daviel in the operation of extraction. Curiously, his father is mentioned by name only once, in a footnote on page nine having nothing to do with the operation for which his father was noted.
Hirschberg §350, 355.
94 Delacroix, Henri 1842-1890.
Jacques Daviel à R eims. Reims: F. Michaud; Paris: G. Masson, 1890.
90 p., IV plates: port.; 25 cm.
Jacques Daviel stayed briefly at Reims in 1751, an account of which is given here along with letters exchanged between Daviel and the Reims surgeon J.-B. Caqué. The correspondence relates principally to Daviel’s operation for the extraction of cataract. Delacroix was an ophthalmologist at Reims who died shortly before this work was ready for publication.
Hirschberg §346.
95 Delingette, E. P.
Dissertation sur l’ophtalmie aiguë. Strasbourg: Levrault, 1815.
[4], 19 p.; 23 cm. (4to)
As a military surgeon in the Napoleonic army in Egypt, the author treated many cases of Egyptian ophthalmia. This dissertation on trachoma is based on the experience acquired in the treatment of these cases.
96 Demours, Antoine Pierre, 1762-1836.
Traité des maladies des yeux, avec des planches coloriées représentant ces maladies d’après nature, suivi de la description de l’oeil humain, traduite du Latin de S. T. Soemmerring. Paris: F. Didot for the author & Crochard, 1818.
3 v. + atlas (xxxvi, 551 p.; [6], 518 p.; [6], 517, [2] p.; 126 p., 80 plates); 21 cm. (8vo), atlas 27 cm. (4to)
This four volume work, one of the most important and elaborate books on the diseases of the eye published to that time, includes the first full description of glaucoma in which heightened intraocular pressure is recognized (1:468-472; 3:203-276). The work is a compilation of hundreds of carefully annotated case histories obtained in the course of the author’s twenty years of experience and from his father’s nearly fifty years of practice. Credit for the observations on glaucoma belongs principally to the father, Pierre Demours (97), who was the superior clinical investigator, though it is quite properly shared with the son who excelled as a surgeon. The final volume contains a French translation of the Latin edition of S. T. Soemmerring’s Abbildungen des menschlichen Auges (348). The sixty-five plates include remarkable specimens of early color illustration.
Hirschberg §374.
97 Demours, Pierre, 1702-1795, trans.
Essais et observations de medecine de la Société d’Edinbourg, ouvrage traduit de l’Anglois, & augmenté par le traducteur d’observations concernant l’histoire naturelle, & les maladies des yeux. Paris: H. L. Guerin (Vol. 2-7: H. L. & J. Guerin), 1740-1747.
7 v. (l, 432, 429-31, [13], 129, [2] p., 5 plates; xxiv, 543 p., 4 plates; [8], 543 p., 5 plates; vii, [1], 674, [6] p., 4 plates; xii, 604 p., 6 plates; [8], 573 p.; [6], 523, [1] p.); 17 cm. (12mo)
To his translation of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh’s Medical essays and observations Demours has added (1:1-129, 2nd sequence) observations on the natural history of salamanders and case histories involving mydriasis and staphyloma. Demours, father of Antoine Pierre Demours, published many essays on ocular anatomy and is often credited with the first description of the posterior membrane of the cornea now known as ‘Descemet’s membrane’. The Philosophical Society of Edinburgh was the immediate precursor of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh. A biographical notice of Demours is included in his son’s Traite des maladies des yeux (96)1: [xxvii]-xxxiii.
Hirschberg §371.
98 Denonvilliers, Charles Pierre, 1808-1872.
Traité théorique et pratique des maladies des yeux, par C. Denonvilliers . . . et L. Gosselin. Paris: Labé, 1855.
vii, [1], 955 p.; 19 cm.
A separate printing of those sections of the Compendium de chirurgie pratique (3 v., Paris, 1840-61) dealing strictly with the diseases of the eye. These sections on ocular pathology were prepared by Denonvilliers and Leon Gosselin (1815-1887), who collaborated with Auguste Bérard (1802-1846) on the Compendium itself.
BOA I:51; Hirsch II:227; Waller 2365.
Derby, Hasket, 1835-1914, trans.
See Graefe (160).
99 Descartes, René, 1596-1650.
L’homme . . . et la formation du foetus, avec les remarques de Louis de La Forge. A quoy l’on a ajouté Le monde ou traité de la lumière. . . . Seconde édition, revue & corrigée. Paris: C. Angot, 1677.
[64], 511, [9] p.: ill.; 25 cm. (4to)
Second French edition of Descartes’ principal statement of his mechanistic physiology. The editor, Claude Clerselier (1614-84) added Descartes’ Le monde, ou traité de la lumière to this printing of L’homme. Like the latter, Le monde had originally been published in 1664, but in a text hastily prepared and printed with many errors.
In the preface the editor states that Le monde might well be read first, as it contains Descartes’ notion of matter as motion, and matter in motion as the ultimate law of the universe. All Descartes’ scientific explanations were hence mechanistic, including his physiology.
The greater part of L’homme is given to a detailed examination of sensation, and of the physiology of vision in particular. According to Stephen Polyak (Polyak, p. 100-101) Descartes “produced a remarkable hypothesis of the intrinsic organization of the visual system which was far ahead of his time,” and more specifically, stated “for the first time, a clearly conceived and expressed idea of a topographical projection or representation of the retina on the brain” (ibid, p. 103).
Neither L’homme nor Le monde were published during Descartes’s lifetime. He thought it wiser to withhold their publication following Galileo’s condemnation in 1633. The physiological basis of the Dioptrique, however, was founded on the system described in the unpublished L’homme.
The illustrations in the text are from woodblocks cut from designs found in Descartes’s own manuscript, and from drawings by Gérard de Gutschoven and Louis de La Forge (1632-1666?), whose “Remarques . . . sur la Traité de l’homme” makes up a considerable part of the volume. On many of the cuts the designer is indicated by a D, G or F.
Osler 933 (imprint of T. Girard. See 3rd note to 944).
100 Descartes, René, 1596-1650.
Opera philosophica. Editio ultima, nunc demum hac editione diligenter recognita, & mendis expurgata. Amsterdam: D. Elsevir, 1677-78.
[38], 222; [16], 248; [24], 92, [4]; [12], 191, [1]; 164, 88 p.: ill., port.; 20 cm. (4to)
Contents: Principia philosophiae (1677);—Specimina philosophiae: seu, Dissertatio de methodo . . . . Dioptrice, et meteora (1677);—Passiones animae (1677);—Meditationes de prima philosophia (1678);—Appendix, continens objectiones quintas & septimas in . . . Meditationes de prima philosophia . . . & duabus epistolis, una ad Patrem Dinet . . . altera ad . . . Gisbertum Voetium (1678).
Collected philosophic works of one of the most original and influential scientific minds of the seventeenth century, who also laid the foundations of modern critical philosophy. The Specimina philosophiae is a collection of three essays originally published together in 1637. The second of these, the Dioptrice, was Descartes’s principal work on optics; while in the third, the Meteora, he continues the discussion of the laws of reflection and refraction. Each title in the volume has a separate title-page. The engraved portrait is lacking.
Wellcome II:452.
100.1 De Schweinitz, George Edmund, 1858-1938.
Diseases of the eye. A hand-book of ophthalmic practice, for students and practitioners. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1893.
xii, 17-641 p., 2 plates: ill.; 23 cm.
A comprehensive handbook of ophthalmology that was published in ten editions and five reprints over 32 years, and was at the time the most respected work in its field. Garrison calls it a “sterling text-book” (Garrison, p. 613), and remarks that De Schweinitz did “much valuable work on the toxic amblyopia” (ibid.). The career of George de Schweinitz included practices at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia General Hospital, the Philadelphia Polyclinic, and the Jefferson Medical College. He was president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia between 1910 and 1913, and was founder and director of the U.S. Army’s ophthalmological school at Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.
BOA I:188-189 (1906 and 1924 eds.); Fischer II:1428 (1892 and 1924 eds.); Kaufman I:196-197 (1892 ed.; reprints); Osler 3948 (1892 ed.).