Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1451

RICHARD BRIGHT (1789-1858) Reports of medical cases. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Greene 1827 xvi, 222 pp., 16 plates (part col., part fold.). 33.5 cm.

In his day, Bright was the leading medical consultant in London and the most famous of the "great men of Guy's," a name given to the succession of eminent workers at Guy's Hospital. A student of Sir Astley Paston Cooper (see No. 1224 ff.) and James Currie (see No. 1144), Bright's powers of observation marked him as a true follower of Sydenham. Although Bright advanced no new theories of disease and did little original classification in pathology, he collected and recorded an extraordinary amount of data from which he was able to draw his conclusions and to base his assumptions. The list of original descriptions attributed to Bright includes those for pancreatic diabetes, unilateral convulsions, laryngeal phthisis, condensation of the lung in whooping cough, and glomerulonephritis (Bright's disease). His Report of medical cases, covering a large number of diseases, is one of the most important books in nineteenth-century medical literature. The detailed case reports are models of clarity and conciseness and give ample evidence of Bright's skill as a clinician. The sixteen colored lithograph plates are among the finest medical illustrations and are beautifully preserved in this copy.

See Related Record(s): 1224 1144

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 2285; Osler 1340; Waller 1460; Wellcome II, p. 239

Gift of John Martin, M.D.