Item #14673 Institutiones chirurgicae in quibus quicquid ad rem chirurgicam pertinet, optima et novissima ratione pertractatur. Lorenz HEISTER.
Institutiones chirurgicae in quibus quicquid ad rem chirurgicam pertinet, optima et novissima ratione pertractatur
Institutiones chirurgicae in quibus quicquid ad rem chirurgicam pertinet, optima et novissima ratione pertractatur

Institutiones chirurgicae in quibus quicquid ad rem chirurgicam pertinet, optima et novissima ratione pertractatur

Amsterdam: Janssonius Waesberghe, 1739. 2 vols. 4to. [xxvi]-4-48,[viii], 715, [1]; [ii], 715-1249, [49] pp. FIRST EDITION IN LATIN. Complete with 38 folding engraved plates. Frontispiece portrait and title in red and black. An excellent copy with a few stains on preliminaries and end leaves, some dust soiling and a few fore edges of plates frayed. Bound in modern cloth with bookplate and “sold” stamp of Trinity College Library, Cambridge. Item #14673

First edition in Latin of one of the most valuable surgical books of the period. The plates of instruments and bandages are still of importance today. According to Heister’s contemporaries, this book was the first complete systematic work on the science of surgery, and served for over one hundred and twenty years as a means of education for medical students. “As a surgeon he covered in his writings, the simple things as well as the most complicated surgical subjects. Bandages, dressing of wounds were described accurately, and ligations (by acu-pressure). The plates of instruments and bandages are still of importance today. He was a good dentist, and in the field of eye disease he stated that cataract depends upon cloudiness of the lens” Leonardo, History of Surgery, pp. 197-198.

Heister (1683-1758), considered the founder of scientific surgery in Germany, was also a very successful teacher. His lectures were of major importance since he founded his theories upon sound anatomical facts. Heister is credited for coining the term tracheotomy, and was the first physician to perform a post-mortem section of appendicitis.

Price: $3,000.00

See all items by