Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 524

SAMUEL COLLINS (1618-1710) A systeme of anatomy. Printed by Thomas Newcomb 1685 Vol. I: [14] lvi [14] 678 pp.; Vol. II: [6] 679-1263 [15] [28] pp., 74 plates (front. (port.)). 36.4 cm.

There were three well-known physicians named Samuel Collins' each of whom lived in or near London during the latter part of the seventeenth century. All three individuals have been credited with authorship of the present work but the Collins who actually wrote the book was born at Rotherfield in Sussex and studied medicine at Padua where he received his medical degree in 1651. The following year he was incorporated at Oxford, in 1673 at Cambridge, and achieved fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians in 1668. Collins served as censor of the College on fourteen different occasions, gave the Gulstonian lectures in 1675, was anatomy reader in 1684, and was appointed Lumleian lecturer in 1694 and served in that capacity until his death. He held other offices in the College and was its president in 1695. In A history of comparative anatomy from Aristotle to the eighteenth century (London, 1944), Francis J. Cole commented that "Samuel Collins' large and imposing volumes represent the first attempt to produce a comprehensive treatise on comparative anatomy based on new material" (p. 17). Collins had long had an interest in comparative anatomy and the present work is largely the result of studies he undertook after his retirement from the active practice of medicine. The book met with praise from Haller (see No. 892) but also received criticism from other members of the scientific community. Although Collins occasionally acknowledged the work of Edward Tyson (1650-1708), Cole commented that "Collins' indebtedness to Tyson, however, is nowhere adequately recognized, nor are his borrowings confined to that admirable anatomist" (pp. 157-158). Collins did plagiarize several of Tyson's plates and incorporated observations by Malpighi, Swammerdam, and other anatomists. Although Collins intended this to be a comparative anatomy, he concentrated chiefly on the structure of the human body. Observations of over 100 different species, especially fish and birds, are included in the book but the human form is always considered first. Among Collins' contributions were the earliest depictions of the anatomy of the crab and the first illustration of the brain of the lamprey. Collins' portrait was engraved by William Faithorne (ca. 1616-1691) and three of the plates bear his name as artist and engraver. At least ten other plates provide evidence of his worksmanship but the remainder were done by another unidentified individual. There was evidently some miscommunication between Collins and his engraver because in some instances the legends for the plates do not match the lettering of the figures.

See Related Record(s): 892

Cited references: Russell 194; Wellcome II, p. 373

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