Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 642

JOHN BROWNE (1642-ca. 1700) A compleat treatise of the muscles, as they appear in humane body, and arise in dissection. Printed by T. Newcombe for the author 1681 [30] 237 (misnumbered 213) pp., front. (port.), 37 plates. 32.1 cm.

John Browne, physician to King Charles II, James II, and William III, was primarily a surgeon who practiced for a number of years at Norwich and later was surgeon to St. Thomas' Hospital, London. His most important contribution was one of the clearest early descriptions of cirrhosis of the liver. Browne was subjected to a scathing attack by James Young (1647-1721) in Medicaster medicatus, or a remedy for the itch of scribling (1685) in which the present work was shown to be plagiarized from works of Casserio (see No. 397) and William Molins (fl. 1640). The thirty-seven anatomical plates in which the poses and backgrounds of the figures had been altered were, with few exceptions, taken from Molins' [Insert Greek text]: or the anatomical administration of all the muscles of a humane body (1648). Browne did not respond to Young's criticism, but did make extensive changes to his text and issued future editions of the book under the title Myographia nova. In spite of blatant plagiarism, his book was widely read and was translated into Latin and German, going through ten editions.

See Related Record(s): 397

Cited references: Cushing B762; Russell 101; Wellcome III, p. 251

Gift of John Martin, M.D.