Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 868

ANTON DE HAEN (1704?-1776) Ratio medendi in nosocomio practico. Typis Joannis Thomae Trattner 1760-1773 [2nd ed.]. 8 fold. plates. 18.9 cm.

A pupil of Boerhaave and native of The Hague, de Haen is best remembered as an associate of van Swieten (see No. 855). He was appointed professor of medicine at Vienna in 1756 where he became one of their finest physicians and clinical teachers. He insisted on detailed case histories and careful physical and laboratory examination before reaching a diagnosis and prescribing treatment. A very conservative individual, he believed in demons and magic, and yet he introduced the thermometer into the Vienna clinic and insisted on autopsies whenever possible to determine the cause of death and advance clinical knowledge. The present work, dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa, was his principal work. It is not only a guide to hospital practice as the title suggests but contains numerous case histories and ranges widely over what must have been all the recognized clinical entities of the time. De Haen quotes widely from both ancient and contemporary authors and frequently includes the results of his autopsies. Beginning on page 255 of Volume VI is one of the first description of amenorrhea in connection with a pituitary tumor. Haen records the case history of a young woman suffering from amenorrhea as well as many neurological symptoms assumed to result from increased intracranial pressure and a tumor in the area of the optic chiasma and the pituitary gland. Autopsy revealed a tumor in that location and, although the hormonal physiology involved was not known, the tumor was correctly assumed to be the cause of the patient's illness and death (see Garrison-Morton 3878). In the University of Iowa Libraries' set, volumes VII through XV are in first edition.

See Related Record(s): 855

Cited references: Osler 2867 (1761-1775 ed.); Wellcome III, p. 189

Gift of John Martin, M.D.