Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 901

WILLIAM CULLEN (1710-1790) Synopsis nosologiae methodicae. Apud Guilielmum Creech 1785 4th ed. Vol. I: iv, 368 pp.; Vol. II: [4] 417 pp. 20.4 cm.

Cullen, a Scottish physician, was instrumental in founding the school of medicine at Glasgow and later became one of the leading figures at the Edinburgh Medical School. Active as a practitioner, Cullen was also an outstanding teacher and attracted students from home and abroad. Benjamin Rush, William Shippen, Jr., Philippe Pinel, and Joseph Black were among his many pupils who later achieved fame and success. Cullen was one of the first teachers to deliver his lectures in English instead of the traditional Latin. Although Cullen's classification of disease was incomplete and unnatural, it was a definite improvement over the efforts of his predecessors who included Boerhaave, Sauvages, Linné, and Vogel. Cullen classified diseases by their symptoms, distinguishing four classes: pyrexias, neuroses, cachexias, and local diseases. He divided the classes into orders and further subdivided the orders into genera. For example, in the class of pyrexias he included the orders of fevers, inflammations, and hemorrhages. First published in 1769, his classification became extremely popular and remained in print until well into the nineteenth century.

Cited references: Cushing C524 (1792 ed.); Garrison-Morton 2204 (1st ed., 1769)