Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 359

GIROLAMO MERCURIALE (1530-1606) De morbis muliebribus praelectiones. Apud Felicem Valgrisium 1587 [24] 197 [3] pp. 24 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 354

The present work was initially published in Volume II of Gynaeciorum sive de mulierum affectibus comentarii Graecorum, Latinorum, barbarorum edited by Bauhin (see No. 392) at Basel in 1586. The treatise has here been published for the first time as a separate work, edited by Bauhin with the assistance of Michele Colombo (d. 1600). Mercuriale organized his work into four books. The first discussed sterility and uterine tumors, the second abortions, the third the puerperium, and the fourth diseases of the uterus. Thorough and comprehensive, he named and defined each disease or entity under discussion, explored its etiology and symptoms, and finally gave his prognosis and therapeutic recommendations. Mercuriale advocated use of the vaginal speculum to determine the state of the uterus, suggested packing the cervix with a sponge to dilate it, and was among the first to refer to the lack of fertility among the noble class. He is sometimes credited with developing the milk theory of puerperal fever since he was the first to state that milk retention was the cause of uterine inflammation.

See Related Record(s): 392

Cited references: Durling 3097; Wellcome 4248 (1591 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.