Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 735

DANIEL TURNER (1667-1741) Syphilis; a practical dissertation on the venereal disease. Printed for J. Walthoe, R. Wilkin, J. and J. Bonwicke, and T. Ward 1727 3rd ed. [32] [2] 378 [6] pp., front. (port.). 19.5 cm.

Turner, born in London, practiced surgery there as a member of the Barber-Surgeon's Company until he became disenchanted with his membership. After paying a fine, he was disfranchised and soon thereafter was approved as a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. At that time fellows of the College had medical degrees from Cambridge or Oxford and licentiates possessed medical degrees from other institutions. When Turner became a licentiate of the College, he possessed no medical degree and sought to remedy that deficiency by seeking an honorary degree. His efforts were eventually successful and in 1723 he received a medical diploma from Yale College; the first medical degree awarded by an American school. Turner is also known as author of the first English work on skin diseases, De morbis cutaneis (London, 1714). As a result of this popular and widely circulated book, he is considered to be the founder of British dermatology. One of his remedies, Turner's cerate, a mixture of olive oil, wax, and calamine was listed in the National Formulary into the early 1900s. The present work was first published in 1717 and went through five editions besides being translated into French and German. Turner's clinical descriptions are quite accurate and the case histories are painfully clear even today. His remedies included a wide variety of salves, escharotics, douches, fumigations, and other non-specifics. Also included in this edition are Turner's Remarks upon Dr. Willoughby's translation of Monsieur Chicoyneau's Method of cure with a Letter from Mr. Samuel Palmer to the Author of the foresaid Remarks.

Cited references: Waller 9722 (5th ed., 1737)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.