Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 409

JEAN BAPTISTE VAN HELMONT (1577-1644) Ortus medicinae; id est, Initia physicae inaudita. Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium 1648 [34] 808 (misnumbered 800) pp., front. (ports., coats of arms). 20 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 408

Helmont's most important work, Ortus medicinae ("Birth of medicine"), was published four years after his death by his son. Its publication in the Netherlands, a Protestant country, was thought necessary to avoid the Inquisition, whose disfavor Helmont had earlier incurred because of his mystical and magical tastes not entirely in keeping with Church dogma. In this work, Helmont established his name as one of the founders of biochemistry, although some authorities believe that he is perhaps overrated because of his vacillations between mysticism and science. In any event, his discovery of digestive juices in the stomach and intestine, and especially his first use of the specific gravity of urine for diagnostic purposes, mark him as a man of no insignificant importance in the history of medicine.

Cited references: Cushing H241; Garrison-Morton 665; Osler 2929; Waller 4307; Wellcome III, p. 241

Gift of John Martin, M.D.