Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 482

ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602-1680) Scrutinium physico-medicum contagiosae luis, quae pestis dicitur. Typis Mascardi 1658 [16] 252 [15] pp. 22.4 cm.

Kircher was one of the earliest scientists to use the microscope to investigate the causes of disease. A very learned individual, Kircher was a mathematician, physicist, optician, Orientalist, musician, and physician. In this work, he details seven experiments on the nature of putrefaction, showing how maggots and other living creatures are developed in living matter. He also describes his finding that the blood of plague patients is filled with countless "worms" that are invisible to the naked eye but visible through the microscope. He was one of the earliest to suggest the germ theory of disease.

Cited references: Cushing K94; Garrison-Morton 5118; Osler 3120 (1659 ed.); Waller 5295; Wellcome III, p. 395

Gift of John Martin, M.D.