Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 405

HELKIAH CROOKE (1576-1635) Mikrokosmographia [Greek title transliterated]: A description of the body of man. Printed by William Jaggard 1615 [16] 1011 (misnumbered 1111) [2] pp., illus. 32.5 cm.

Crooke, who received his medical degree from Cambridge, was prone to be a rather quarrelsome individual of sometimes dubious character, especially when financial matters were involved. He had a number of clashes with London's College of Physicians over questions of his ethical conduct as well as the propriety of certain portions of the present work. The way in which he prepared the present work reflects on the nature of his character to some extent because he took most of this material from the writings of Bauhin (see No. 392) and Du Laurens (see No. 387). The thirteen books of descriptive text were taken almost entirely from Bauhin's Theatrum anatomicum. The illustrations are also from Bauhin's book and may be indirectly linked to Vesalius because Bauhin borrowed freely from many anatomists including Vesalius. Following each of the thirteen books is a section in which Crooke discussed the controversial matters that were raised in his text. Crooke translated that material almost verbatim from Du Laurens' Historia anatomica. He made no secret of the fact that he took his text and illustrations from Bauhin and other material from Du Laurens because in his opening "Preface to the Chyrurgeons" he states: "My present worke is for the most part out of Bauhine for the History, Figures, and the seuerall Authors quoted in his Margents. The Controuersies are most what out of Laurentius. . . ." Some parts of Crooke's Mikrokosmographia had been printed and were in circulation in late 1614. They ultimately came to the attention of the College of Physicians whose members were disturbed because the book was to be in English and especially because they felt that the illustrations dealing with generation, conception, and reproduction were indecent, even though many were taken from Vesalius. However, the College was unsuccessful in its attempts to have the book suppressed or altered before publication. The male and pregnant female on the title page may well be an expression of Crooke's defiance of their actions. The book was one of the last English anatomies based on continental sources to appear before the emergence of a truly English anatomical school. It was also the largest and most comprehensive English anatomy up to its day, and the early editions were quite successful. The University of Iowa copy has a duplicate "Praeface to the chyrurgeons" bound before the table of contents.

See Related Record(s): 392 387

Cited references: Cushing C486; Osler 2395 (2nd ed., 1631); Russell 218; Waller 2218 (2nd ed.); Wellcome 1683

Gift of John Martin, M.D.