Rare Books — #101 – 150
101 Deshais-Gendron, Louis Florent, fl. 1770.
Traité des maladies des yeux, & des moyens & opérations propres à leur guérison. Paris: C. J. B. Herissant, 1770.
2 v. (xii, 389, [7] p.; [4], iv, 438, [2] p.); 17 cm. (12mo)
In 1762 Deshais-Gendron became the first professor of ophthalmology when he was named demonstrator of ophthalmology at the Ecole de Chirurgie in Paris by Lamartinière, chief surgeon to the King and director of all colleges of surgery in France. The book is dedicated to Lamartinière and, to prevent unauthorized reprintings, the dedicatory epistle is initialed by the author as required in the Avis (p. xii). While German contemporaries such as Richter and Haller held a rather low opinion of the book, it served as a standard authority for nearly thirty years and later historians have viewed it as a more than adequate work for its period.
BOA I:75; Hirschberg §376; Waller 3469.
102 Desmarres, Louis Auguste, 1810-1882.
Traité théorique et pratique des maladies des yeux. Paris: L. Martinet for G. Baillière, 1847.
viii, 904 p.: ill.; 22 cm.
The principal work by the author and, after Carron du Villards’s treatise (71), the second systematic textbook in French on diseases of the eye. Desmarres was one of the leading French ophthalmologists of his time who made important contributions to ophthalmic surgery.
Hirschberg §591-594; Wellcome II:457.
103 Desmarres, Louis-Auguste, 1810-1882.
Traité théorique et pratique des maladies des yeux. . . . Deuxième édition revue, corrigée et augmentée. Paris: G. Baillière, 1854-58.
3 v. ([4], 636; [4], 598; xi, [1], 816 p.): ill.; 23 cm.
Originally published in one volume in 1847 (102), the three volume second edition was almost completely rewritten with numerous additions made to the text. In this latter edition Desmarres was able to include descriptions of pathological states made possible only by the use of the ophthalmoscope, the description of which had just been published by Helmholtz in 1851. The first volume is introduced by an anatomical description of the eye translated from the German of Ernst Wilhelm Brücke (1819-1892).
Hirsch II:241; Hirschberg §593-594.
104 Desmonceaux, (Abbé), 1734-1806.
Traité des maladies des yeux et des oreilles, considérées sous le rapport des quatre parties ou quatre ages de la vie de l’homme; avec les remédes curatifs, & les moyens propres à les préserver des accidens. Paris: Lottin, 1786.
2 v. (xxvi, 382, 381-480 p., [2] plates; vi, 316, 316 bis-317 bis, 317-494, [2] p., [2] plates); 20 cm. (8vo)
A priest, physician, and ophthalmologist, the author has often been improperly accorded the honor of being the first to propose the removal of the transparent lens in high-grade myopia. In actuality it was Joseph Higgs of Birmingham who first proposed this procedure in 1745. Haller mentioned extraction of the lens for this purpose but made no claim to have actually performed the operation. It seems likely that Baron Wenzel performed the first reclination and extraction of the lens as a means of relief of high-grade myopia sometime prior to 1775 at the suggestion of Father Desmonceaux.
BOA I:52; Hirschberg §384.
Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft (Heidelberg).
See Festschrift (134.1).
105 Deval, Charles, 1806-1862.
Chirurgie oculaire ou traité des opérations chirurgicales qui se pratiquent sur l’oeil et ses annexes, avec un exposé succinct des différentes altérations qui les réclament, ouvrage contenant la pratique opératoire de F. Jaeger et de A. Rosas, professeurs d’ophthalmologie a Vienne; d’après des documens recueillis par l’auteur aux cliniques de ces professeurs, et accompagné de planches représentant un grand nombre d’instrumens et les principaux procédés opératoires. Paris: P. Renouard for G. Baillière, 1844.
viii, 739 p., 6 plates; 22 cm.
The second French work devoted exclusively to ocular surgery, the first being Pellier de Quengsy’s Précis ou cours d’operations sur la chirurgie des yeux (293). The surgical instruments of Beer, Jaeger, Rosas and others are illustrated and fully described.
Hirschberg §589.
106 Deval, Charles, 1806-1862.
Traité de l’amaurose ou de la goutte-sereine. Ouvrage contenant des faits nombreux de guérison de cette maladie. Dans des cas cécité complète. Paris: V. Masson, 1851.
[4], iv, 441 p.; 21 cm.
Hirsch II:251; Hirschberg §589.
107 Deval, Charles, 1806-1862.
Traité théorique et pratique des maladies des yeux. Paris: Ch. Albessard et Bérard, 1862.
xvi, 1056 p., XII plates: ill.; 25 cm.
This final work may be said to represent the culmination of Deval’s life’s work. It is the product of twenty years’ practice and observation during which time the author examined more than 20,000 cases. The present work and the two preceding titles are Deval’s three most important contributions to ophthalmic literature.
BOA I:52; Hirsch II:251; Hirschberg §589.
108 Devaux, Jean, 1649-1729.
L’art de faire les raports en chirurgie; où l’on enseigne la pratique, les formules, & le stile le plus en usage parmi les chirurgiens commis aux raports. Nouvelle éd., rev., corr., & augm. Paris: Widow of L. d’Houry, 1743.
xii, 576, 577/8-671/2, 673-689 p.; 17 cm. (12mo)
A series of royal decrees established in seventeenth century France a system of medical jurists, surgeons and physicians appointed for each town to examine and report on all wounded or murdered persons. Devaux’s work served as a style manual for the preparation of such surgical reports. A section (p. 102-110) treats reports on the diagnosis and prognosis of wounds of the eye. This edition includes the additions and corrections of Sauveur François Morand (1697-1773).
109 Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784.
Lettre sur les aveugles, a l’usage de ceux qui voyent. London: s.n., 1749.
220, [2] p., 6 plates; 16 cm. (8vo)
The Lettre was based on the story of an Englishman named Saunderson (consistently spelled Saounderson throughout), born blind, who on his death-bed denied the existence of a creator because he had never seen the things in nature which he had been told about. Diderot claimed that the moral and intellectual views of the blind are completely different from those of sighted people. The heterodox views expressed in this essay aroused much opposition and led to the author’s imprisonment for several months. This copy closely corresponds with Niklaus’s description of “l’edition princeps”; however, it contains unrecorded title-page and textual variants.
Hirschberg §344; Niklaus, p. [103]; Wellcome II:466.
110 Dieffenbach, Johann Friedrich, 1792-1847.
Ueber das Schielen und die Heilung desselben durch die Operation. Berlin: A. W. Hayn for A. Förstner, 1842.
viii, 220 p., 3 plates; 22 cm.
“The first successful attempt at treating strabismus by myotomy. The operation was later abandoned owing to the frequently disastrous final effects. A preliminary paper appeared in Med. Ztg. [Medicinische Zeitung] 1839, 8, 227” (G-M 5856). The present work is a full account of the author’s method for correcting strabismus by severing the tendons of the eye muscles. The results of 1,200 operations are summarized. Dieffenbach and Stromeyer shared the Monthyon prize of the Institut de France for their pioneering studies of this procedure.
G-M 5856; Hirschberg §491; Waller 2447; Wellcome II:466.
111 Dionis, Pierre, 1643-1718.
Cours d’operations de chirurgie, démontrées au Jardin royal. Brussels: t’Serstevens & A. Claudinot, 1708.
[22], 615, [25] p., [10] plates: ill.; 19 cm. (8vo)
“Dionis taught operative surgery at the Jardin-du-Roi, Paris, a famous training ground for surgeons” (G-M 5575). First published in Paris in 1707 and reprinted the following year in Brussels, this famous compendium of surgery passed through many editions and was translated into Latin, English, and even Chinese. The sixth demonstration includes descriptions of the operations and illustrations of the instruments required for surgery of the eye and eyelids.
Hirschberg §330; Waller 2474; Wellcome II:471.
112 Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses.
Oculi humani affectus medico-chirurgice consideratos. Denuo in lucem editae cura et studio Christian Friedr. Reuss. Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, 1783-1785.
3 v. ([10], 370 p.; [4], 392 p.; [4], 415 p.); 18 cm. (8vo)
Contents: see Mauchart, praeses (preceding 248).
A collected edition of ophthalmological writings, most of which were theses by the pupils of Burchard David Mauchart. Mauchart was professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Tübingen and one of the outstanding ophthalmologists of his time. Included in this collection of twenty-seven works is an oration by Mauchart on the English ophthalmologist John Taylor (370, 371, 372), to which the editor, Christian Friedrich Reuss (1745-1813), has added a list of Taylor’s works.
Hirschberg §412.
113 Divoux, Johannes Petrus.
De praecipuis oculorum affectibus. Strasbourg: J. H. Heitz, 1734.
[4], 130, [2] p.; 19 cm. (4to)
The principal diseases of the eye are reviewed in this thesis submitted to the University of Strasbourg by a student from the town of Colmar. Extensive bibliographic footnotes are included.
114 Dixon, James, 1813-1896.
A guide to the practical study of diseases of the eye: with an outline of their medical and operative treatment. London: J. Churchill, 1855.
xxiv, 391 p.: ill.; 20 cm.
The first edition of Dixon’s most important work, written while consulting surgeon to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital. A contemporary of Bowen and White Cooper, Dixon held a distinguished place among London ophthalmic surgeons. Heavily grieved by his wife’s death in 1870, he retired from practice to his country home in Dorking, where he devoted the remaining twenty-five years of his life to the study of history and English literature.
BOA I:54; Hirsch II:279; Hirschberg §641.
114.1 Do you want a friend?
Printed for the blind. London: J. Gall (Edinburgh) for the Religious Tract Society, ca. 1830.
10 leaves; 24 cm.
Series: Tracts for the blind.
A religious tract printed by the philanthropist James Gall, who developed a style of embossed type to be read by the sense of touch. His alphabet was an attempt to improve Valentine Haüy’s (181) relief type used for the education of the blind in late eighteenth century France. Haüy’s style was more like cursive writing, whereas Gall’s style featured angular imitations of the Roman antiqua font. With his new method, Gall published several works, mostly for use at the Asylum for the Blind in Glasgow. Later his alphabet was criticized as ineffective and was replaced by letters developed by John Alston (cf. AmEncOph I:253-255, VII:5339-5340).
Doesschate, Gezienus ten, trans.
See Camper (68).
115 Donders, Franciscus Cornelis, 1818-1889.
On the anomalies of accommodation and refraction of the eye. With a preliminary essay on physiological dioptrics. . . . Translated from the author’s manuscript by William Daniel Moore. London: The New Sydenham Society, 1864.
xvii, [3], 635 p.: ill.; 22 cm.
The author of more than 340 works on physiology and ophthalmology, this book stands as Donders’s greatest achievement. It was the basis of all succeeding studies on refraction, accommodation, and their anomalies; and ranks with the labors of Helmholtz in the field of physiological optics. Written originally in Dutch, the manuscript was translated into English by William Daniel Moore (1813-1871) and published for the first time in this New Sydenham Society edition.
BOA I:55; Chance, p. 70; Cushing D221; DicSciBio IV:163; G-M 5893; Heirs 997; Hirsch II:293; Hirschberg §1040.
116 Donders, Franciscus Cornelis, 1818-1889.
An essay on the nature and the consequences of anomalies of refraction. . . . Translated under the supervision of the Kirschbaum School of Languages and Bureau of Translation of Philadelphia. Revised and edited by Charles A. Oliver. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston’s Son & Co., 1899.
x, [9]-80, [2] p., 1 plate: ill.; 23 cm.
BOA I:55; Hirschberg §767.
Duane, Alexander, 1858-1926.
See Fuchs (144).
117 Dufau, Pierre Armand, 1795-1877.
Des aveugles: considérations sur leur état physique, moral et intellectuel, avec un exposé complet des moyens propres à améliorer leur sort à l’aide de l’instruction et du travail. 2. éd., rev., augm., et accompagnée de quatre planches en relief. Paris: W. Remquet for J. Renouard, 1850.
[6], xxx, [2], 348 p., 4 plates; 22 cm.
Written by the director of the Institution Nationale des Aveugles in the tradition established by the author’s predecessors, Haüy (181) and Guillié (169), this work stands as an important contribution to the theory and practice of educating the blind to read and learn useful manual skills. Originally published in 1837, Dufau’s book was awarded the coveted prize of the Académie Française which the year before had been given to de Tocqueville’s classic study of democracy in America. Braille’s system of writing and musical notation, introduced first in 1829 but not officially adopted by the Institution until 1854, the cursive script developed by Haüy, and an embossed map are illustrated by the plates. This copy, in a signed binding by Hanimann, carries a presentation inscription to Demarze, a member of the consultative commission for the Institution, signed by the author’s widow.
118 Duffin, Edward Wilson, 1800-1874.
Practical remarks on the new operation for the cure of strabismus or squinting. London: Wilson & Ogilvy for J. Churchill, 1840.
xiv, [2], 147 p., 10 plates; 22 cm.
“The substance of the following pages was published a short time ago, as a series of separate communications, in the weekly medical journals [The Lancet and London Medical Gazette] and entitled ‘An Inquiry into some of the Consequences, and Causes of occasional failure, attending the new operation for the cure of Strabismus’” (Preface, p. [xi]). The work was praised by a contemporary reviewer for its unusually moderate price considering the number of engravings with which it is illustrated.
BOA I:57; Hirschberg §495; Wellcome II:493.
119 Du Hamel, Jean Baptiste, 1624-1706.
De corpore animato libri quatuor: seu promotae per experimenta philosophiae specimen alterum. Paris: S. Michallet, 1673.
[24], 535, [13] p., [4] plates; 15 cm. (12mo)
Though usually designated as an anatomist, Du Hamel’s interests ranged widely in the realms of scientific inquiry. His writings are regarded as representative of the increasing interest in experimental method that characterizes the progress of much of seventeenth century science. In the De corpore animato the author discusses the physiology of sensation, including nearly a hundred pages on vision (Ch. V, “De visus organo”; Ch. VI, “De visione”).
DicSciBio IV:222; Thorndike VIII:210; Waller 2625; Wellcome II:495.
120 Du Laurens, André, 1558-1609.
Toutes les oeuvres . . . . Recueillies et traduittes en francois, par Me. Theophile Gelée. Rouen: J. Besongne, 1661.
[16], 572, [30], 488 (i.e. 288), [6] p.: ill., port.; 38 cm. (fol.)
The complete anatomical and medical works of the renowned French anatomist who was also physician to Henry IV and professor of physics at the University of Montpellier. In the anatomical works the author devoted ten chapters to the anatomy and physiology of the eye in an exposition and amplification of Vesalius. The author’s principal ophthalmological work, Le conservation de la veue, is reprinted in this edition. An extended analysis of this treatise on the preservation of sight can be found in Percy Dunn’s article, “A sixteenth century oculist,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 9 (2):120-142 (1916).
121 Eble, Burkard, 1799-1839.
Ueber den Bau und die Krankheiten der Bindehaut des Auges, mit besonderem Bezuge auf die contagiöse Augenentzündung. Nebst einem Anhange über den Verlauf und die Eigenthümlichkeiten der letzteren unter der Garnison von Wien vom Jahre 1817-1827. Vienna: F. Ullrich for J. G. Heubner, 1828.
xiv, 255, [3] p., 3 plates; 23 cm.
A detailed study of the gross and microscopic anatomy and the pathology of the conjunctiva based on the author’s research and observations in dealing with trachoma. Eble, an Austrian military physician, signed the plates which illustrate this work. Appended to the study are observations on the Egyptian ophthalmia as it occurred in the Vienna garrison between 1817 and 1827.
Hirschberg §490.
122 Edmondston, Arthur, 1776?-1841.
A treatise on the varieties and consequences of ophthalmia. With a preliminary inquiry into its contagious nature. Edinburgh: G. Caw for W. Blackwood & Longmans (London), 1806.
[4], ix, [1], 85-86 [cancellans], 319 p.; 22 cm. (8vo)
Edmondston, a Scottish surgeon of the Second Regiment of the Argyleshire Fencibles, published in 1802 the first account in English of Egyptian ophthalmia. That work proved to be the first of more than twenty English publications dealing with ophthalmia that appeared between 1806 and 1820. In the present treatise the author establishes his claim as the first to demonstrate the contagious nature of ophthalmia. Although Edmondston was not in Egypt, his researches were based on his experience with an outbreak among troops at Gibralter and on a Paris epidemic in 1803. In dividing inflammations of the eye into idiopathic and symptomatic ophthalmias, he anticipated William Mackenzie’s approach by some thirty years.
Hirschberg §629A.
122.1 Edridge-Green, Frederick William, 1863-1953.
Colour-blindness and colour-perception. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1891.
viii, 311, [1]; 89, [7] p., 3 plates: ill., diagrs.; 19 cm.
Bound with publisher’s catalog (89, [7] p. at end).
Series: International scientific series; v. 71.
The book contains the author’s theory of vision and color “based on the careful examination of 116 colour-blind people” (Pref.). Following a short historical introduction, the text discusses “the physical basis of colour, the psycho-physical perception of colour, normal colour-perception, the composition of colour, acquired colour-blindness, and tests for colour-blindness” (BOA III:57). Edridge-Green’s lantern test officially replaced the Holmgren test in Great Britain in 1915, and he introduced a new kind of color perception spectrometer as well (cf. AmEncOph IV:2410-2412, VI:4157-4158).
BOA III:57; G-M 5937; Waller I:2694.
122.2 Eisenach, Heinrich.
Dissertatio inauguralis sistens obser-vationem irideremiae partialis, nec non vis vitae maternae in conformationem foetus humani. . . . Kassel: H. Hotopius, 1836.
[4], 18 p., [1] plate; 22 cm.
An inaugural dissertation about partial irideremia, especially from the congenital aspect. This work was publicly presented to the physicians of Marburg on the 6th of February, 1836. In the 1870s, Heinrich Eisenach also published in the field of biology, namely on the flora and fauna of the area around Kassel, Germany.
NUC 157:323.
Engelbrecht, Martin, 1684-1756, engr.
See Prints 2, 3.
123 The English impostor detected.
Or, the history of the life and fumigation of the renown’d Mr. J— T—, occulist. Dublin: s.n., 1732.
16 p.; 16 cm. (12mo)
An early attack on John Taylor, known as the “Chevalier” (370-72). This satire, which seems not to have been reprinted, was written in a mock heroic style and concludes with a long poem in Latin that is translated into English. The tract gives an account of the “fumigation” of Taylor, a practical joke played upon him by some young men of Dublin. The author refers to his pseudonym, “Dionysius Querpoides,” in the note to the reader. Taylor is described as “the grand Antiluminary of his Age” (p. 9).
124 Ens, Sicco, 1779-1842.
Historia extractionis cataractae. . . . Franeker: Verweijan, 1803.
xii, 313, [7] p., V plates; 23 cm. (8vo)
The author’s dissertation for his medical degree from the University of Franeker in Friesland. Divided into two sections, the first presents a very thorough historical review of the operation for cataract extraction from Daviel to Ens’s own time. The second section is the author’s epicrisis or synthesis of the best procedure and instruments to be used in the extraction of cataract. The historical utility of this unusual dissertation has been noted by both Hirsch and Hirschberg. Lacking the errata slip after page 313.
Callisen VI:513; Hirsch II:417; Hirschberg §830; Waller 2762; Wellcome II:526.
125 Euclid, fl. ca. 300 B.C.
La prospettiva di Euclide, nella quale si tratta di quelle cose, che per raggi diritti si veggono: & di quelle, che con raggi reflessi nelli specchi ap-pariscono. Tradotta dal R. P. M. Egnatio Danti . . . . Con alcune sue annotationi de’ luoghi piu importanti. Insieme con La prospettiva di Eliodoro Larisseo cavata della Libreria Vaticana, e tradotta dal medesimo nuovamente data in luce. Florence: Stamperia de’Giunta, 1573.
[8], 110, [38] p.: diagrs.; 23 cm. (4to)
Contents: La prospettiva di Euclide [Optica]; — Gli specchi di Euclide [Catoptrica]; — La prospettiva di Eliodoro Larisseo; — Ηλιοδωρου Λαρισσαιου κεφαλαια των οπτικων; Heliodori Larissaei capita opticorum.
The first vernacular and only sixteenth century Italian edition of Euclid’s Optica and the spurious Catoptrica. Included is the first publication of the Capita opticorum of Heliodorus of Larissa, in Italian, followed by the Greek original and its Latin translation.
Euclid’s was the first mathematical exposition of a theory of vision. Ignoring the physical and psychological aspects of seeing, Euclid restricted himself to what could be expressed mathematically. Thus, in positing rectilinear visual rays, Euclid was able to develop a theory of vision along strictly geometrical lines. The sixty-one propositions of the Optica, modeled on the geometrical system of the Elements, remained authoritative until the time of Kepler. The Capita opticorum of Heliodorus of Larissa is the only work of this second century Greek mathematician to have survived. Both Euclid and Heliodorus were rendered into Italian by Ignatio Danti (1537-1586).
BM Italian, p. 239; Wellcome I:2085.
126 Euler, Leonhard, 1707-1783.
Dioptricae pars prima, continens librum primum, de explicatione principiorum, ex quibus constructio tam telescopiorum quam microscopiorum est petenda; pars secunda, continens librum secundum, de constructione telescopiorum dioptricorum . . .; pars tertia, continens librum tertium, de constructione microscopiorum tam simplicium, quam compositorum. St. Petersburg: Academia Imperialis Scientiarum, 1769-71.
3v. ([4], 337 p., III plates; [8], 592 [i.e. 584] p., III plates; [8], 440 p.): ill.; 26 cm. (4to)
One of the most important mathematicians of the eighteenth century, Euler’s work was ever related to its applications to the other sciences and to problems of technology. In the first part of the Dioptrica Euler discusses the properties of lenses as an introduction to the construction of dioptric instruments. The second and third parts describe the construction of the telescope and microscope.
Blake, p. 139; BOA I:65.
127 Fabini, Johann Gottlieb, 1791-1847.
Doctrina de morbis oculorum. Budapest: J. T. Trattner de Petróza, 1823.
[8], 355, [1] p.; 22 cm.
The author obtained his medical degree at Vienna in 1817 and served as an assistant in Beer’s clinic before receiving his appointment by the University of Pest. Hirschberg considered this work to be probably the last ophthalmology text written in Latin.
Hirschberg §480-481.
128 Fabini, Johann Gottlieb, 1791-1847.
Doctrina de morbis oculorum. Editio altera, denuo elaborata. Budapest: K. Trattner for O. Wigand, 1831.
[8], 370, [2] p.; 23 cm.
An Italian translation of this work was issued at Treviso in the same year as this second edition which is augmented by the inclusion of formulas and a bibliography.
Hirschberg §480-481.
129 Fabre, Antoine François Hippolyte, 1797-1854.
Némésis médicale illustrée, recueil de satires . . . rev. et corr. avec soin par l’auteur; contenant trente vignettes dessinées par M. Daumier. Paris: Béthune & Plon for Bureau de la Némesis Médicale, 1840.
2 v. (xxxii, 278 p.; 360 p.): ill.; 25 cm.
Originally published in parts (1836-1838?), this collection of twenty-five satires in verse is the first collected edition of Fabre’s work. It contains the first issue of Daumier’s famous illustrations and is one of the few books illustrated by Daumier. Passages in “Les Specialities” (2:[51]-74) refer to ophthalmology and to such notable practitioners as Sanson, Sichel, and Rognetta.
Waller 2876; Wellcome III:2.
130 Fabri, Honoré, 1606-1688.
Synopsis optica, in qua illa omnia quae ad opticam, dioptricam, catoptricam pertinet, id est, ad triplicem radium visualem directum, refractum, reflexum, breviter quidem, accurate tamen demonstrantur. Lyons: H. Boissat & G. Remeus, 1667.
[8], 246 p., 6 plates; 23 cm. (4to)
A significant work on optics, which though carefully read by Fabri’s contemporaries, has been regarded with mixed feelings by historians of science. It was described as “copié des écrivains les moins recommendables” by the compiler of the Biographie médicale (IV:89), yet was regarded as one of Fabri’s most important works by Poggendorf (I:711).
Fabri is one of the more interesting characters in the annals of seventeenth century science. A man of science, he was nonetheless a member of the Inquisition for thirty-four years. A voluminous writer on the sciences, he could yet be described by Thorndike (VII:665) as one who “attempted to meet developing modern science on its own ground, to fight against it with its own weapons, or . . . to accost it with diplomatic courtesy and seeming friendliness, to yield a few minor points, and to try to outwit it on more important issues.”
131 Fabri, Honoré, 1606-1688.
Tractatus duo: quorum prior est de plantis, et de generatione animalium; posterior de homine. Nuremberg: W. M. Endter & heirs of J. A. Endter, 1677.
[12], 582, [14] p., [1] plate; 23 cm. (4to)
Originally published in Paris in 1666, this second edition is divided into two parts. The first discusses plants and animal generation; the second human physiology. Thirty-five pages of the De homine are given to the eye and a discussion of the physiology of vision (p. 287-321). The book’s only plate illustrates this section. It is also here that Fabri claims to have publicly taught the circulation of the blood long before a copy of Harvey’s De motu cordis ever came into his hands.
Wellcome III:3.
132 Fabricius, Hieronymus, ab Aquapen- dente, 1537-1619.
Opera chirurgica in pentateuchum, et operationes chirurgicas distincta. Editio quinta et vigesima. Padua: M. de Cadorinis, 1666.
[8], 364, 31 p., 9 plates; 31 cm. (fol.)
Fabricius, a pupil of Fallopius at Padua and one of the greatest teachers of anatomy, succeeded his teacher, and built, at his own expense, the famous anatomical theater at Padua. His work on the valves of the veins allowed Harvey, his pupil, to finish his concept of the heart as a pump and present a complete theory of the circulation of the blood. “His ocular operations are all essentially taken from the Greeks and Arabians—chiefly Celsus, Paulus and Albucasis—and he even admits that he himself performed the cataract operation only twice or thrice all told. Later, he renounced this operation absolutely, recommending for cataract the use of a certain collyrium in an eye-cup” (AmEncOph VII:5132-33).
Hirschberg §316; Wellcome III:4.
133 Fabricius von Hilden, Wilhelm, 1560-1634.
Selectae observationes chirurgicae quinque & viginti. Item, De gangraena et sphacelo tractatus methodicus. Geneva: G. Cartier, 1598.
[16], 168 p.: ill.; 17 cm. (8vo)
This selection of twenty-five case histories by the “Father of German Surgery” was translated from the French by Joannes Rheterius and edited by Jean Antoine Sarrasin (1547-1598). In its format it is a precursor of the author’s famous Observationum et curationum chirurgicarum centuriae I-VI, published between 1606 and 1641. The cases reported here are all reprinted in Centuria I (Basel, 1606). Among the cases of eye surgery is an account of a boy whose eye was pierced by an arrow with the loss of the aqueous humor. Fabricius reported that the fluids were quickly restored and the patient’s sight recovered. This observation was significant as the loss of this fluid, greatly feared by earlier writers, came to be recognized as relatively inconsequential.
Durling Suppl 69 (Basel); Hirschberg §321; Wellcome I:2127 (Basel).
133.1 Farrar, John, 1779-1853, comp.
An experimental treatise on optics, comprehending the leading principles of the science, and an explanation of the more important and curious optical instruments and optical phenomena. Cambridge, Mass.: Hilliard & Metcalf, 1826.
vii, [1], 350, [2] p., VI folded plates; 26 cm.
Provenance: Samuel May, July 20, 1827, Harvard University, Cambridge; Hilliard, Gray; Elmer A. Harrington (inscriptions).
John Farrar was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard University. He selected and compiled the content of this work from J.-B. Biot’s Précis élémentaire de physique expérimentale, to be the third part of his course on natural philosophy. Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862), a French physicist and geodesist, was especially interested in questions relating to the polarization of light, and his observations in this field gained him the Rumford medal of the Royal Society in 1840.
This copy of Farrar’s book was obviously used for practical teaching, as the handwritten marginal notes bear witness to it. One of the notes manifests the user’s appreciation of the phenomenon of light saying: “Light comes to us from the Sun . . . 96 millions of miles; about 12 millions of miles in a minute, about 200,000 miles in a second” (title page).
BM 71:95; BOA I:66; NUC 167:257.
Farre, John Richard, 1774-1862.
See Saunders (326).
134 Feller, Christian Gotthold, 1755-1785.
De methodis suffusionem oculorum curandi, a Casaamata et Simone cultis. Leipzig: S. L. Crusius, 1782.
[2], 29 p., [1] plate; 19 cm. (8vo)
Feller, a Leipzig physician, witnessed and here described the public demonstrations of cataract extraction performed by Simon in Paris in 1777 and by Casa Amata in Leipzig two years later. This dissertation is the only source which describes the procedures of these two surgeons. Casa Amata, ophthalmic surgeon to the Royal Court at Dresden from 1779 to 1806, was probably the first to attempt the surgical correction of aphakia with intraocular lenses. Cf. D P. Choyce, “Intraocular lenses,” [Letter to the Editor], The Lancet 2 (8035):451 (August 27, 1977).
Hirschberg §442.
Fernel, Jean, 1497-1558.
See Bailey (30.1).
134.1 Festschrift zur Feier des siebzigsten Geburtstages von Hermann von Helmholtz.
Stuttgart: Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1891.
[8], 91, [1] p., VIII plates: ill.; 40 x 33 cm.
A collection of essays by eighteen prominent ophthalmologists of England, Germany, France, and Italy published in honor of Hermann von Helmholz’s 70th birthday. The topics include: hemorrhagic disease of the retina, retinal embolism, diagnostic ophthalmoscopy, strabismus, sciascopy, choroiditis, ocular motions, and cataract operation. “These papers are abstracted in the Centralb. f. Augenheilk. 1892, page 74 and following and page 236 and following” (Hirschberg §1037).
Helmholz is responsible for several advancements in ophthalmology, including the invention of the ophthalmometer, the development of the telestereoscope (1852), and new findings about accommodation (1854). His most important contribution, the invention of the ophthalmoscope (1851), may be considered the greatest event in the history of ophthalmology, since it vastly extended the means for study, diagnosis, and treatment. In particular, the instrument made it possible to see the fundus of the living eye. Helmholz received many honors, and his collected works became standard and were extensively translated.
Gorin, p. 126; Hirschberg §1037; NUC 141:338 (1891 Hamburg ed.); Poggendorff IV:612; Waller 4298.
135 Feyens, Thomas, 1567-1631.
Libri chirurgici XII. De praecipuis artis chirurgicae controversiis. . . . Opera posthuma, Hermanni Conringii, cura nunc primum edita. Frankfurt am Main: T. M. Goez, 1649.
[12], 108 p.; 19 cm. (4to)
The surgical writings of Thomas Feyens (or Fienus), professor of medicine at Louvain, edited for posthumous publication by Hermann Conring (1606-1681). Among the twelve treatises included here, the second (“De depositione,” p. 25-32) describes the treatment of cataract by depression; and the third (“De depositione ungulae,” p. 33-34) describes the operation for pterygium. The final treatise is on rhinoplasty. Feyens was a student of Tagliacozzi’s at Bologna and witnessed the success of many of his teacher’s rhinoplastic operations.
Hirsch II:512; Waller 3022; Wellcome III:24.
136 Fischer, Johann Nepomuk, 1777-1847.
Klinischer Unterricht in der Augenheilkunde. Prague: C. W. Medau (Leitmeritz) for Borrosch & Andre, 1832.
lxvii, [1], 416, [2] p., 7 plates; 20 cm.
Considered the founder of modern ophthalmology in Bohemia, Fischer was professor of ophthalmology at the University of Prague and the first physician appointed to the Prague Ophthalmic Institute.
Hirschberg §477.
Flechsig, Paul Emil, 1847-1929.
See Ramón y Cajal (309.1).
137 Florio, Pierre, fl. 1840.
Description historique, théorique et pratique, de l’ophthalmie purulente observée de 1835 à 1839 dans l’Hopital militaire de Saint-Pétersbourg. Paris: Guiraudet & Jouaust for H. Cousin, 1841.
[8], iii, [1], 320 p., 5 plates; 21 cm.
A prefatory note informs readers that by order of the Emperor of Russia this work was printed in the Russian language at government expense and distributed to all military physicians to guide and instruct them in the treatment of purulent ophthalmia. The second chapter provides an introduction to the history of trachoma which was rampant in the armies during the Napoleonic era.
Hirschberg §719.; Wellcome III:34.
138 Florio, Pierre, fl. 1840.
Descrizione istorica teorica e pratica dell’ ottalmia purolenta osservata dal 1835 al 1839 nell’ ospedale militare di Pietroburgo. Tradotta in italiano dal dottor Emmanuele Cangiano. Naples: Filiatre-Sebezio, 1842.
232 p., 5 plates: port.; 21 cm.
The Italian translation includes a portrait of the author not present in the original French edition of 1841.
Hirschberg §719.
139 Follin, François Anthyme Eugène, 1823-1867.
Leçons sur l’exploration de l’oeil et en particulier sur les applications de l’ophthalmoscope au diagnostic des maladies des yeux. . . . Rédigées et publiées par Louis Thomas. Paris: A. Delahaye, 1863.
vii, [1], xxiii, [1], 304 p., II plates: ill.; 23 cm.
The greatly enlarged and improved second edition of Follin’s Leçons sur l’application de l’ophthalmoscopie (Paris, 1859), the earliest work in the French language devoted entirely to the ophthalmoscope.
Hirsch II:559; Hirschberg §1028, 1031.
140 Fontana, Felice 1730-1805.
Dei moti dell’ iride. Lucca: J. Giusti for V. Landi, 1765.
xii, 106 p.; 20 cm. (8vo)
An important book in the history of physiological optics in which the author described the lymphatic vessels in the crystalline lens, confirmed Haller and Caldani in associating the pupillary reflex with the reactions of the retina to light, and noted the effect of cerebral excitement upon the dilation of the pupil. The channels in the ciliary body of the eye are named after Fontana.
Hirschberg §731; Wellcome III:37.
140.1 Fournier, Bernard.
De l’appareil des voies lacrymales. Montpellier: J. Martel, 1803.
45, [1] p.; 25 cm. (4to)
Bound with Baudet-Dulary (35.2).
A treatise concerning the anatomy and pathology of the lacrimal passages as well as the therapeutics of lacrimal apparatus diseases. Bernard Fournier, a former army surgeon, was a member of the Society of Medicine, Arts and Sciences in Grenoble and taught anatomy at the School of Surgery in the same city.
BM 76:449; Callisen 2538.
Fraas, Christoph Friedrich, respondent.
“De pupillae phthisi ac synizesi.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 2:73-114.
France, John Frederick, 1818-1900, ed.
See Morgan (264).
141 Franz, Joann Christoph August, 1807-ca. 1859.
The eye: a treatise on the art of preserving this organ in a healthy condition, and of improving the sight; to which is prefixed, a view of the anatomy, and physiology of the eye; with observations on its expression as indicative of the character and emotions of the mind. London: J. Churchill, . . . et al., 1839.
xix, [1], 296 p., [l] plate; 19 cm.
Franz received his medical education in Leipzig and later emigrated to England where he settled at Brighton. The present work is divided into two parts. The first deals with the anatomy and physiology of the eye (with a curious final chapter on the expression of the eye as indicative of moral disposition). The second part discusses the care of the eyes and the preservation of sight.
BOA I:72; Hirsch II:607; Hirschberg §470; Wellcome III:64.
142 Frick, George, 1793-1870.
A treatise on the diseases of the eye; including the doctrines and practice of the most eminent modern surgeons, and particularly those of Professor Beer. London: C. Smith for J. Anderson, 1826.
xii, [13]-308 p., 1 plate; 22 cm.
“First important American text-book of ophthalmology” (G-M 5844, citing 1823 Baltimore edition). Frick’s work, a compendium based largely on G. J. Beer’s lectures, was so highly regarded in England that it was re-published there with notes by Richard Welbank.
G-M 5844 (1823 Baltimore ed.); Hirschberg §746.
142.1 Froriep, Robert, 1804-1861.
Dissertatio medica de corneitide scrofulosa . . . die II mensis Decembris A. MDCCCXXX. publice auctor defendet auctor Robertus Froriep. Jena: s.n., 1830.
[2], 18 p., [1] col. plate: ill.; 26 cm.
A doctoral dissertation describing scrofulous keratitis and its therapeutics. Two years after publishing this treatise, Robert Froriep was appointed professor at the University of Jena, and the following year at the University of Berlin. He also taught anatomy at the Art Academy of Brandenburg province, where his knowledge of anatomy complemented his not inconsiderable artistic talent. This work contains a color plate that was made from Froriep’s original drawing.
Hirsch II:635; NUC 187:578.
143 Frost, William Adams, 1853-1935.
The fundus oculi with an ophthalmoscopic atlas illustrating its physiological & pathological conditions. Edinburgh and London: Y. J. Pentland, 1896.
xviii, [2], 228 p., XLVII plates: ill.; 29 cm.
Noting in the preface that the great ophthalmoscopic atlases of earlier years were both difficult to come by and included no account of more recent developments in the field, Frost proposed his own atlas as a remedy to the situation. Indeed, the Fundus oculi is the worthy successor to the atlases of Liebreich and Jaeger. The superb plates, lithographed after the drawings of A. W. Head, made this atlas the best available until the electric ophthalmoscope made possible more finely detailed illustration. W. Adams Frost succeeded R. Brudenell Carter as senior ophthalmic surgeon at St. George’s Hospital. His renown rests principally on this excellent atlas.
BOA I:73; Chance, p. 171; Hirschberg §650, 1029.
143.1 Fuchs, Ernst, 1851-1930.
Lehrbuch der Augenheilkunde. Dritte vermehrte Auflage. Leipzig; Vienna: F. Deuticke, 1893.
xvi, 832 p.: ill. (194 woodcuts); 24 cm.
Arlt’s successor at Vienna, Fuchs happens to be better known for this textbook than for any other of his considerable scientific activities. He wrote the Lehrbuch in order to provide his students with the substance of his teaching in a permanent form, relieving them of the need to take copious notes, thus enabling them to concentrate on his lectures. The result was one of the classics on the pathology of the eye. The Lehrbuch went through eighteen German editions between 1889 and 1945, and ten British and American editions between 1892 and 1933.
BOA I:73 (1894 ed.); Fischer I:461 (1889 ed.); G-M 5935 (1889 ed.); NUC 187:177.
144 Fuchs, Ernst, 1851-1930.
Text-book of ophthalmology. . . . Authorized translation from the second enlarged and improved German edition by A. Duane. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1896.
xiii, [1], 788 p.: ill.; 24 cm.
The 1896 printing of the first American edition (lst printing., New York, 1892). This English translation of Fuch’s Lehrbuch der Augenheilkunde (2. Aufl., Leipzig & Wien, 1891) was often referred to in America as “the Bible of the ophthal-mologist.” The work was also translated into French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.
145 Fuchs, Leonhart, 1501-1566.
Tabula oculorum morbos comprehendens, 1538. A facsimile. Palo Alto: privately printed, 1949.
[6] leaves, 1 folding broadsheet; 32 cm., broadsheet 63.3 x 40.5 cm.
Facsimile of a ‘fugitive sheet’ drawn up by the author for his students at Tübingen which survives in possibly a unique copy at the Lane Medical Library, University of California at Los Angeles. Karl Sudhoff published the text of this sixteenth century synopsis of eye diseases in Archiv für Augenheilkunde 97:493-501 (1926).
Hirschberg §143.
146 Fuchs, Samuel, 1588-1630.
Metoposcopia & ophthalmoscopia. Strasbourg: T. Glaser for P. Ledertz, 1615.
[16], 140 p.: ill.; 17 cm. (8vo)
Samuel Fuchs, a native of Koslin in Pomerania, was professor of rhetoric at Königsberg. In this curious and little known work the author suggests a system for the estimation of character based on the shape of the head and the eyes which is linked by Garrison (p. 273) to the work of Carden and Lavater. Among the finely executed engravings and woodcuts are portraits of Cosimo Medici, Andrea Doria, Christopher Columbus, and Philip II, Duke of Pomerania. A. de Neuille published a detailed analysis of this work, “Une precurseur de Lambroso au XVIIe siecle,” in La Revue des Revues (15 June 1896). Cf. L. Stieda, “Samuel Fuchs, der Verfasser der Metoposcopia und Ophthalmoscopia,” Janus 4:134-136 (1899).
Garrison, p. 273; Hirschberg §483; Waller I:3303; Wellcome I:2468.
Fullenius, Bernardus 1640-1707, ed.
See Huygens (199).
147 Furnari, Salvatore, 1808-1866.
Essai sur une nouvelle méthode d’opérer la cataracte. Paris: Crochard & Co., 1839.
16 p., 2 plates; 23 cm.
The author’s description of his method for the extraction of cataract using instruments of his own devising, described and illustrated with two lithographic plates.
148 Furnari, Salvatore 1808-1866.
Traité pratique des maladies des yeux contenant 1º l’histoire de l’ophthalmologie; 2º l’exposition et le traitement raisoné de toutes les maladies de l’oeil et de ses annexes; 3º l’indication des moyens hygiéniques pour préserver l’oeil de l’action nuisible des agens physiques et chimiques mis en usage dans les diverse professions; 4º les nouveaux procédés et les instrumens pour la guérison du strabisme; 5º des instructions pour l’emploi des lunettes et l’application de l’oeil artificiel, suivi de conseils hygiéniques et thérapeutiques sur les maladies des yeux qui affectent particulièrement les hommes d’état, les gens de lettres et tous ceux qui s’occupent de travaux de cabinet et de bureau. Paris: P. Baudouin for J. B. Baillière, 1841.
[2], viii, 440 p., 4 plates; 21 cm.
Written by a graduate of the University of Palermo who achieved a certain reputation in the treatment of eye diseases in Paris where he founded a clinic and dispensary with Carron du Villards (70-71). Furnari returned to Sicily in 1848 to accept the chair of clinical ophthalmology at Palermo which he held until his death. The dedication of this work to Scarpa and Ramazzini reveals the author’s interest in occupational diseases and hygiene as they relate to the eye.
Hirschberg §569.
148.1 Furnari, Salvatore, 1808-1866.
De la tonsure conjonctivale, et de son efficacité contre les lésions panniformes et chroniques de la cornée et contre les ulcérations vascularisées et les opacités interlamellaires de cette membrane. Paris: J. B. Baillière & Sons, 1862.
43, [1] p.: ill.; 23 cm.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author to Dr. Brochin.
Furnari’s much debated article about his method of peritomy operation was published first in the Gazette médicale (1862) and then as a monograph. “Furnari reports in this article that he had performed his first operation of the kind . . . in Africa; he claims that nobody before him had performed this operation, though ‘a partial or circular peritomy of the conjunctiva from the limbus had been performed since time immemorial.’ His operation is identical to the one performed by the ancient Arabs against pannus. They had exactly described it; Furnari only adds a cauterization of the bared sclera and this step was severely criticized by his colleagues” (Hirschberg §735). An Italian translation of this work by Angelo Pace was published in 1864.
Hirschberg §735; NUC 188:150 (1864 Italian ed.).
Galenus.
Littere ad Corisium de morbis oculorum et eorum curis.
In Collectio ophthalmologica veterum auctorum (82), fasc. 7.
Galenus.
See Hunyan ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (197).
149 Gataker, Thomas, d. 1769.
Essays on medical subjects, originally printed separately: to which is now prefixed an introduction relating to the use of hemlock and corrosive sublimate: and to the application of caustic medicines in cancerous disorders. London: R. & J. Dodsley, 1764.
[4], lii, [2], 284 p.; 19 cm (8vo)
The final work in this collection of separate treatises, “An account of the structure of the eye, with occasional remarks on some disorders of that organ,” first published in 1761, was based on a course of lectures delivered at the theatre of London’s Surgeon’s Hall. Gataker was surgeon to Westminster Hospital and St. George’s Hospital and he was succeeded at the latter by the famous John Hunter. An account of the author is provided by R. R. James, “Thomas Gataker: an 18th century English surgeon with ophthalmological leanings,” Archives of Ophthalmology 64:171-179 (1932).
Hirsch II:695.
150 Gauss, Carl Friedrich, 1777-1855.
Dioptrische Untersuchungen. Göttingen: Dieterich, 1841.
[2], 30, 25-34 p.; 27 cm.
“In the same year [Gauss] finished Dioptrische Untersuchungen (1841), in which he analyzed the path of light through a system of lenses and showed, among other things, that any system is equivalent to a properly chosen single lens. Although Gauss said that he had possessed the theory forty years before and considered it too elementary to publish, it has been labelled his greatest work by one of his scientific biographers (Clemens Schäfer, in Werke, XI, pt. 2, sec. 2, 189ff.). In any case, it was his last significant scientific contribution” (DicSciBio V:306).
The peculiarity in the pagination is due to the fact that leaf Dl (p. 25-26) is a cancel. The cancelled leaf is also present however, along with the other three leaves of this gathering, thus duplicating the pagination.
DicSciBio V:306.
Geiger, Matthaeus Abraham Martin, respondent.
“De fistula corneae.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 2:195-232.
Gelée, Théophile, d. 1650, trans.
See Du Laurens (120).