Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 884

ALBRECHT VON HALLER (1708-1777) Opuscula pathologica. Sumpt[ibus] Marc-Mic. Bousquet 1755 304 pp., 3 fold. plates. 19 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 880

Haller here presents sixty-two selected case histories with related autopsy findings for a wide variety of disease conditions. In discussing the pathology of a case of torticollis, he expressed doubts about the therapeutic effectiveness of myotomy. He was well aware of the dangers of tracheal and vascular compression in individuals with large goiters, and was perhaps the first to describe calcification of the pericardium. By experimenting with dogs and cats, he showed that fluid is swallowed and aspirated into the lungs during drowning while this does not happen when the body is submerged after death. The first complete edition of Haller's De respiratione experimenta anatomica is also included in this book. The first two parts were published in 1746 and 1747 while the third was published in Opuscula sua anatomica in 1751. The fourth part together with a new preface for the entire work is printed here for the first time. It is the first investigation into the role that the intercostal muscles have in respiration. A special section following this work contains a bibliography of Haller's works.

Cited references: Waller 4015; Wellcome III, p. 199

Gift of John Martin, M.D.