Books in the Cambridge Library Collection - History of Medicine series

The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785-1856) published this work on the significance of diet to health in 1826. After describing the physiology of the alimentary system and discussing the benefits and disadvantages of various foods and drinks, Paris suggests cures, including changes of lifestyle, for digestive illnesses.

Smallpox was once a common disease ruining the lives of many people across Britain. In this 1806 pamphlet, English surgeon William Blair (1766-1822) challenges the opponents of the first effective vaccine against smallpox. His publication, aimed at a broad audience, also includes a report from the Royal Jennerian Society.

When Jenner announced his experiments with vaccination against smallpox, William Woodville pursued similar trials, and in 1799 published the results: 200 cases where patients were vaccinated with matter obtained from cows or other cowpox sufferers. This demonstration of the safety and efficacy of vaccination led to its much wider adoption.

Henry Maudsley (1835-1918) practised psychiatry in London. He developed ideas of heredity derived from Darwin, aiming to 'bring man, both in his physical and mental relations, as much as possible within the scope of scientific enquiry'. Body and Mind contains his 1870 Gulstonian lectures and two earlier articles.

In this 1857 work, Robert Gardiner Hill describes his and Edward Charlesworth's reforms at the Lincoln Asylum, and attempts to refute the claim of the more famous John Conolly to primacy in abolishing restraints. Hill also reprints examples from the pamphlet war that arose out of this controversial topic.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917), physician, feminist and champion of women's medical education, played a key role in advancing the position of women in British professional life. This 1939 biography by her daughter Louisa, herself a distinguished physician, is presented largely through Elizabeth's own letters.

The surgeon John Hall, born 1529/30, published this work in 1565 as an appendix to his translation of a thirteenth-century surgical work. Hall was vociferously opposed to fraudulent medicine, and this work, edited by surgeon and antiquarian Thomas Pettigrew (1791-1865) and published in 1844, describes his struggles against quacks.

First published in 1753, this important treatise seeks to provide a thorough account of the nature, causes and treatment of scurvy. James Lind (1716-94) provided the groundwork for later investigations, and his research lent support to the later practice of including the juice of citrus fruit in a sailor's diet.

This joint reissue comprises two texts on military healthcare, providing instruction on the treatment of wounds and injuries common to soldiers, and advising on topics from malaria to drunkeness. Charles Gordon's 1873 manual precedes A Guide to Health for the Use of Soldiers by R. C. Eaton, first published in 1890.

Jonathan Pereira (1804-53) died before completing a further revision of his rigorous encyclopaedia of medicinal substances. A pioneering text in pharmacology, interspersed with instructive woodcuts, it is reissued here in the updated and expanded fourth edition completed by expert colleagues and published in three parts between 1854 and 1857.

Jonathan Pereira (1804-53) died before completing a further revision of his rigorous encyclopaedia of medicinal substances. A pioneering text in pharmacology, interspersed with instructive woodcuts, it is reissued here in the updated and expanded fourth edition completed by expert colleagues and published in three parts between 1854 and 1857.

Reissued in the enlarged four-volume fourth edition of 1849-51, this work remains a landmark publication. The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790-1867) had revised and augmented the work since 1820. Illustrated throughout, it describes the pharmaceutical properties of mineral, plant and animal substances.

Reissued in the enlarged four-volume fourth edition of 1849-51, this work remains a landmark publication. The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790-1867) had revised and augmented the work since 1820. Illustrated throughout, it describes the pharmaceutical properties of mineral, plant and animal substances.

Reissued in the enlarged four-volume fourth edition of 1849-51, this work remains a landmark publication. The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790-1867) had revised and augmented the work since 1820. Illustrated throughout, it describes the pharmaceutical properties of mineral, plant and animal substances.

Reissued in the enlarged four-volume fourth edition of 1849-51, this work remains a landmark publication. The French pharmacist Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Gaston Guibourt (1790-1867) had revised and augmented the work since 1820. Illustrated throughout, it describes the pharmaceutical properties of mineral, plant and animal substances.

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-93) was one of the founders of modern neurology. Detailed analysis of symptoms combined with post-mortem analyses enabled him to produce classic descriptions of different neurological disorders. These lectures, based on Charcot's work at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, were first published in Paris in 1872-3 and 1877.

A physician and medical reformer, Thomas Percival (1740-1804) is most notable for his pioneering contribution to the formulation of medical ethics. This four-volume collection, published in 1807, gathers together his diverse works. A selection of his correspondence and a short biography are also included.

A physician and medical reformer, Thomas Percival (1740-1804) is most notable for his pioneering contribution to the formulation of medical ethics. This four-volume collection, published in 1807, gathers together his diverse works. A selection of his correspondence and a short biography are also included.

A physician and medical reformer, Thomas Percival (1740-1804) is most notable for his pioneering contribution to the formulation of medical ethics. This four-volume collection, published in 1807, gathers together his diverse works. A selection of his correspondence and a short biography are also included.

A physician and medical reformer, Thomas Percival (1740-1804) is most notable for his pioneering contribution to the formulation of medical ethics. This four-volume collection, published in 1807, gathers together his diverse works. A selection of his correspondence and a short biography are also included.

Written by his friend, the physician John Baron (1786-1851), this laudatory two-volume biography of Edward Jenner (1749-1823) appeared between 1827 and 1838. It illuminates Jenner's professional and personal life by drawing heavily on his correspondence, providing also a thorough explanation of the facts of vaccination.

James Clark (c.1737-1819) was a British physician who practised medicine on the Caribbean island of Dominica for many years. In 1793 there was a deadly and widespread outbreak of yellow fever. Clark published this account in 1797, discussing the disease's possible causes and treatments.

This five-volume collection of the writings of the distinguished surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-93), edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, was published between 1835 and 1837. Volume 5 contains the plates which accompany the works in the other volumes, with notes.

This five-volume collection of the writings of the distinguished surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-93), edited by James Palmer, with a biography by Drewry Ottley, was published between 1835 and 1837. Volume 3 discusses blood and the vascular system, wounds (especially those suffered in war), and infection.

Eminent scientist Frederick Dawtrey Drewitt (1848-1942) had general readers in mind when he retraced the steps that led to the growing worldwide recognition of the 'father of immunology', Edward Jenner (1749-1823). The first edition was published in 1931 and this enlarged second edition appeared in 1933.

This 1839 pamphlet by Sir Andrew Halliday on the poor state of health of the British Army in the West Indies argues that many lives could be saved if the local knowledge and advice of experienced medical authorities was given greater consideration by the military.

A comprehensive 1905 study of the bubonic plague, charting its 3000-year history, its spread across the world and its devastating effect on human populations. The book includes clinical data on the causes of the disease, its effects on the human body, its transmission, and its diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

Drawing upon extensive source material, this 1951 publication details the history of the art and practice of medicine in Persia (Iran), from the earliest times to the twentieth century. Packed with medical curiosities and interesting facts, the book outlines the important part played by Persia in the history of medicine.

Published in 1856, this work by John Conolly (1794-1866) describes the abolition of mechanical restraints in the treatment of mentally ill patients at the Hanwell County Asylum in Middlesex, arguing for a system of non-restraint to be introduced to all asylums. It is a key text of asylum reform.

The physician and author John Ayrton Paris (1785-1856) and his co-author J. S. M. Fonblanque (1787-1865) published this three-volume work in 1823. Volume 1 considers the role of medical evidence in matrimonial cases, and those involving pollution and the adulteration of food. It also opens the complex topic of unnatural death.