Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 678

HENDRIK VAN DEVENTER (1651-1724) Observations importantes sur le manuel des accouchemens. Pierre François Giffart 1734 Pt. I: xxxix [1] 368 pp.; Pt. II: [4] 371-431 [2] pp., plates (part fold.). 24.9 cm.

Deventer, born at The Hague, may be numbered among the founders of modern obstetrics. As a practitioner in his native city, he directed his greatest efforts to the practice of midwifery and to the study of its many unsolved problems. He was also interested in orthopedics and spent a great deal of time studying the bones of the pelvis. It was through his investigations of the normal and deformed pelvis and their effects on the course of labor that he was able to make significant contributions to the science of midwifery. The present work on obstetrics was first published in 1696 in the Dutch language at Leiden. A more elaborate Latin edition appeared in 1701, and this French translation was made from it. The book contains forty full-page illustrations of various aspects of delivery and other facets of midwifery.

Cited references: Waller 2421; Wellcome II, p. 460