Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 480

GUY PATIN (1601-1672). Lettres choisies. Paris: Chez Jean Petit, 1688. 2nd ed. [20] 432 pp., front. (port.); 14.9 cm.

Guy Patin, an eminent member of the Faculty of Paris, declared Harvey's theory 'paradoxical, useless, false, impossible, absurd and harmful.' This statement is characteristic of Patin. . . . He carried on violent quarrels in the name of the faculty with all innovators, against the physicians of Montpellier, against Renaudot, van Helmont, and many others. His letters . . . give a vivid and bold picture of the condition of physicians and of the Paris Faculty at that time (Arturo Castiglioni, A history of medicine. New York, 1946. pp. 519-520). Although Patin was dean of the faculty at Paris and was a brilliant lecturer, "he contributed little or nothing to the literature of the profession" but his letters "remain as a permanent contribution to literature" (Osler 5277). This edition contains 196 letters, many of them treating of medical topics in Patin's typical vein.

Gift of John Martin, M.D.