Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 464

NICOLAAS TULP (1593-1674) Observationes medicae. Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium 1652 [16] 403 pp., illus. 15 cm.

Along with other distinguished anatomists in Holland, Tulp, a professor of anatomy at Amsterdam, left a rich legacy of anatomical discoveries. His name is current in the eponym "Tulp's valve" (the ileocecal valve) and his face is familiar as the central figure in Rembrandt's painting, "Doctor Nicolaas Tulp Demonstrating the Anatomy of the Arm," which hangs in The Hague. The present work, Tulp's only book, was first published in 1641. This enlarged edition contains the first descriptions of beri-beri and of what is probably diphtheria. Several interesting plates complement the book, including a well-known one showing a most comically bemused chimpanzee, erroneously labeled an "orang-outang."

Cited references: Cushing T177; Garrison-Morton 3737; Osler 4126 (1672 ed.); Waller 9716

Gift of John Martin, M.D.