Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 406

ROBERT BURTON (1577-1640) The anatomy of melancholy. Printed by J. Lichfield and J. Short, for H. Cripps 1624 2nd ed. [4] 64 [4] 557 [7] pp. 28.6 cm.

This deeply serious work by a layman was said by Osler to be "a great medical treatise" (Osler 4621). The author, under the assumed name of Democritus Junior, offers many causes for melancholy, discusses the cure of its many forms and, in his studious discussion, throws much light on the customs and social attitudes of the day. It is a medical work in that, in all its seventy and more editions, it has continued to express the author's understanding of human psychiatric problems. Almost half of the thousand references to other authors are medical. The work was one of Dr. Samuel Johnson's favorites.

Cited references: Cushing B880; Osler 4622; Wellcome 1161

Gift of John Martin, M.D.