Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 603

JAN SWAMMERDAM (1637-1680) Miraculum naturae; sive, uteri muliebris fabrica. Apud Joh. du Vivie 1717 4th ed. [6] 57 pp., 3 fold. plates. 20 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 602

In the late seventeenth century the idea that the human female ovary was the site of egg formation became a subject for renewed investigation. Swammerdam and Horne (see No. 536) developed this concept early in their anatomical researches on the male and female reproductive systems when they began working together in 1666. The following year they received correspondence from Steno (see No. 608) who had independently come to the same conclusion. Swammerdam was successful in persuading Steno to withhold his findings so that he and Horne could publish their book on the subject, which was already being prepared by Horne. Swammerdam and Horne were also aware of Graaf's monograph on the male testicle (see No. 637) which anticipated several of their findings. Nevertheless, Horne failed to complete the book and it was never published. Graaf continued his research and in 1672 published his well-known work on the female reproductive system (see No. 638). Within a few weeks, Swammerdam published the present treatise in which he bitterly attacks Graaf and makes his claim as the discoverer of the egg producing function of the female ovary. In spite of this unpleasant aspect of the book, it does contain an excellent description of the circulation in the female genital tract as well as an early case history of a patient with no uterus and one of the first discussions of the size of a corpus luteum cyst. Swammerdam also illustrates the round ligament of the uterus which had largely been ignored by previous anatomists.

See Related Record(s): 536 608 637 638

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 1211 (1672 ed.); Waller 9384 (1729 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.