Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 404

DANIEL SENNERT (1572-1637) De dysenteria tractatus. Apud Zachariam Schürerum 1626 [8] 162 [6] pp. 16.6 cm.

Sennert was born and received his early education at Breslau, Poland. He entered the University of Wittenberg in June, 1593 to study philosophy and received a master's degree in that subject in 1598. He was to become a teacher but instead studied medicine for the following three years at Leipzig, Jena, and Frankfurt on the Oder. He received his medical degree from Wittenberg in 1601 and competed successfully for a vacancy on the medical faculty just after he graduated. He served as professor of medicine at the university until his death. Sennert was a well-known teacher, physician, and author. His views are difficult to evaluate because he attempted to reconcile the theories of Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, and the atomists. He was a defender of Galen's humoral pathology and was strongly rooted in the ancient traditions of medical thought. This work on dysentery undoubtedly was prepared as a result of an epidemic of the disease which ravaged Holland, France, and Germany during the Thirty Years War. Sennert discusses the name of the malady and its natural history as well as its possible causes. He includes chapters on the signs and diagnosis of the disease, extensive material on therapeutic measures, and a discussion of prognosis.

See Related Record(s): 393 394 395

Gift of John Martin, M.D.