Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 995

GOTTFRIED WILHELM SCHILLING (ca. 1730) De lepra commentationes. Apud Sam. et Joan. Luchtmans; Utrecht: Apud Abr. van Paddenburg 1778 60, 203 [1] pp., 3 fold. plates. 21.4 cm.

Schilling, a native of Priegnitz, had probably received some medical or surgical training in Germany before becoming a ship's doctor and traveling to Surinam. When he returned to Europe, Schilling received a medical degree from Utrecht in 1769 with a thesis on leprosy in Surinam. His thesis on leprosy was translated into Dutch in 1771 and he later wrote the present work on the same subject. Johann David Hahn (1729-1784), from whose hand he received his medical diploma, opens the book with a lengthy preface on leprosy, its history, incidence, and Schilling's contributions. Schilling continues with a discussion of the nature and symptoms of leprosy and a review of the methods of treatment. Philippus Ouseel's (1671-1724) dissertation on the early history and biblical aspects of leprosy is included, with Schilling's observations, as the second part of the book. In the final third of the book, Schilling presents new methods of therapy for the disease concentrating especially on the use of three plants: Tondin, a plant of the clematis family; Cuscuta surinamensis; and Viscum surinamense, a type of mistletoe.

Cited references: Waller 8609

Gift of John Martin, M.D.