Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1329

THOMAS MINER (1777-1841) Essays on fevers, and other medical subjects. E. & H. Clark 1823 x [2] [13]-484 pp. 22 cm.

Miner, born in Middletown, Connecticut, graduated from Yale in 1796 and, until 1802 when he began the study of medicine, engaged in teaching and the study of law. After successful study with two local physicians, he entered practice in Middletown where he remained for the greater part of his career. Tully, also a Connecticut native, graduated from Yale in 1806. His medical training was similar to that of Miner's and he entered practice in 1811, spent some years in Middletown, and became president of the Vermont Academy of Medicine in 1824. He practiced for a time in Albany, New York and in 1829 was appointed to the chair of theory and practice of medicine at Yale. Here the two physicians have collaborated on a treatise on fevers. Their effort was controversial among members of the medical community because the authors recommended a number of changes in the accepted methods for treating fevers. Miner was aware that they would likely be criticized for their ideas and he addressed this issue in the book's Preface. Miner was responsible for preparing the first part of the book on the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of fevers. In the second part of the book, Tully reported on the history of the yellow fever epidemics that afflicted Chatham in 1796 and Middletown in 1820. He also included a lengthy analysis of an article on an epidemic fever in Virginia that appeared in Chapman's journal in November 1822.