Rouppe, Louis - De morbis navigantium, liber unus - 1764

Treatise on naval medicine

Rouppe, Louis
De morbis navigantium, liber unus. Accedit observatio de effectu extracti cicutae storkiano in cancro
Lugduni Batavorum [i.e. Leiden]: Apud Theodorum Haak, 1764 {First edition}

8vo (22x14,5 cm): [8], 338pp, [2]. With a terminal errata leaf. Bound in original card boards with blank cover, title in manuscript to spine.

Condition good plus: Extremities rubbed and discoloured, boards with spots. Pen writing and illegible stamp on title page. Pages rough cut, but clean.

The first edition (following the dissertation of 1762) of physician Louis Rouppe's (1729-1780) is a treatise on naval medicine. Having travelled extensively in the West Indies as ship's surgeon aboard the Dutch vessel Princess Carolina, Rouppe consolidated his expertise to address the myriad diseases common amongst seamen, their causes symptoms, and effective treatment. He precedes Captain Cooks famed 1776 paper delivered to the Royal Society in his lengthy analysis of scurvy; praises the efficacy of water hemlock as a cancer drug; and broaches the delicate subject of sailor's conduct on land - and the venereal diseases that were often the result. Rouppe was a surgeon in the Dutch navy. This is the first edition of his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden in 1764, published in Latin. Pages 90-212 comprise a chapter titled “de Scorbuto,” on scurvy, its causes and prevention. This section begins by recounting Lind’s work in considerable detail, and is thus an early source validating his ideas. He also deals with shipboard sanitation, catarrh, rheumatism, venereal diseases, fevers, epilepsy, diarrhea and cancer. Marginal lining by contemporary reader, but very good condition.