Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1419

RIKKEI SUGITA (1786-1845) Ganka shinsho. Gungyokudo [1815] Illus. (part col.). 25.2 cm.

Joseph Jacob von Plenk (see No. 1030) was one of the last great medical writers to publish all of his principal works in Latin. The popularity of his writings was such that they were soon translated into other modern languages. His treatise on ophthalmology, Doctrina de morbis oculorum (Vienna, 1777), soon appeared in Italian, German, Portuguese, and Dutch editions. A Dutch edition of 1787 found its way to Japan where it was translated by Sugita and first published in 1815. At a time when colored illustrations were just beginning to appear in western books, the Japanese were already accomplished color printers and this work contains some excellent colored depictions of the eye and its anatomy.

See Related Record(s): 1030

Gift of John Martin, M.D.