Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 322

BARTOLOMEO EUSTACHI (1520?-1574) Opuscula anatomica. Vincentius Luchinus excudebat 1564 [12] 323 [7] 95 [204] pp., 8 plates. 19.4 cm.

At first a Galenist in his teaching at Rome but later an adherent to the "new school," Eustachi was the first to describe the Eustachian tube, the adrenal glands, the thoracic duct, and many of the finer structures of the teeth. This rare volume is the first compilation of his works on the teeth, kidney, ear, and venous system. Eustachi was among the first to study the teeth in any detail, and his treatise contains an early description of the first and second dentitions as well as the tooth's basic composition of enamel and dentin. He also attempted to explain why the tooth was sensitive to various stimuli. His treatise on the kidney shows that he possessed knowledge of the organ that surpassed that of his predecessors, and it also contains the first account of the adrenal gland. His work on the ear includes descriptions of the tube that bears his name as well as the tensor tympani and stapedius muscles. In his treatise dealing with the venous system, he described the thoracic duct and the Eustachian valve--the valvula venae cavae inferioris in the right ventricle of the heart. The eight plates mentioned in No. 324 were first published in this work.

See Related Record(s): 324

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, p. 200; Cushing E111; Durling 1408; Garrison-Morton 801, 1093, 1139, 1228, 1538, 3668; Wellcome 2091

Gift of John Martin, M.D.