Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1844

ARTHUR HILL HASSALL (1817-1894) The microscopic anatomy of the human body, in health and disease. Samuel Highley 1849 Vol. I: xii, 570 [2] pp.; Vol. II: [2] [xiii]-xxiv 122 pp., 66 part col. plates. 21.2 cm.

Hassall's father was a surgeon and Arthur followed him into that profession, practicing in London for many years. He later took an M.D. degree at London's University College so he could qualify as a physician. Hassall was a superb practical microscopist and some of his studies were used to help enact the first Food Adulteration Act of August 6, 1860 in England. He performed so many important studies and services in questions of food adulteration and sanitation that he is considered to be the father of modern sanitary science. Hassall was also well known as a zoologist and a botanist whose History of the British freshwater algae (London, 1845) is an acknowledged classic. The present work is the first complete work on microscopic anatomy in the English language. Hassall's purpose was to illustrate the microscopic structures found in the fluids and tissues of the body. His description of the thymic corpuscles, contained in Volume I, led to the term Hassall's corpuscles. Volume II, with plates drawn by the author, contains sixty-nine numbered plates, many in color. Plates VIII, XVII, and XXXVIII were never issued "in order to make room for more important matter" (p. xxiv).

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 544; Waller 4137 (German ed., 1852); Wellcome III, p. 222

Gift of John Martin, M.D.