Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2168

LUTHER EMMETT HOLT (1855-1924) The diseases of infancy and childhood. D. Appleton and Company 1897 xvii, 1117 pp., 19 plates (part col.), 185 illus., diagrs. 23 cm.

Beginning his medical studies at the Medical College of Buffalo University, Holt transferred to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City after his first year, when he received an opportunity to take a student internship. After a surgical internship at Bellevue Hospital, he entered private practice and resolved to devote himself to pediatrics. In 1889 he became physician in chief at the Babies Hospital in New York City and guided it to national prominence as a pediatric hospital. Holt held academic appointments at the New York Polyclinic Hospital and Medical School and College of Physicians and Surgeons for many years. He played an important role in establishing pediatrics as a specialty in the United States. Holt was especially interested in infant nutrition and led a major campaign for clean milk. His Care and feeding of children (New York, 1894), originally prepared for nurses at the Babies Hospital, first brought him national prominence and became so popular that it went through seventy-five printings and was translated into Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. Holt first began to write the present work in 1890 but did not complete it until 1897. It was quickly recognized as the standard text on pediatrics, went through eleven editions, and was translated into Chinese. It was this book that played a pivotal role in separating pediatrics from internal medicine because of its clear, concise delineation of how the child should be cared for in health and disease.

Gift of John Martin, M.D.