Hieronymus David Gaubius - Pathologie de M. Gaubius - 1788

PATHOLOGY OF MR. GAUBIUS. This work is considered one of the first systematic manuals of general pathology, formalizing the study of the causes and mechanisms of diseases. - Paris: Théophile Barrois le jeune, 1788 - XVIII pp, 556 pages - half-bound leather of the period - duodecimo (8vo) - 13 x 20 cm.

Condition: Endpapers, corners and edges in good condition, hinges solid, smooth spine adorned with gold fillets and the title piece (some leather loss on the spine), rare foxing, ex-libris stamp "Grévin, docteur médecin." Complete. Copy in good condition.

French edition revised and augmented from an influential medical treatise of the Enlightenment, written by Hieronymus David Gaubius (1705–1780), professor of medicine and chemistry at Leiden and successor to Hermann Boerhaave.

Originally published in Latin under the title Institutions Pathologiae Medicinalis, Gaubius’s work helped establish pathology as a systematic medical discipline. It examines the nature, causes and classification of diseases, associating the medical theories of the Leiden school with detailed observations of the symptoms and functions of the human body.

The first French translation appeared in 1770. The 1788 edition presented here constitutes the second French edition, revised and augmented; it was translated by the French surgeon Pierre Sue and updated from the third Latin edition (Leiden, 1781, by David Hahn) as well as from the edition published in Nuremberg by Ackermann in 1787.

The volume offers in-depth discussions on:

• General and special pathology
• The nature, causes and symptoms of diseases
• Disorders affecting the solid and fluid parts of the body
• Blood, lymph, secretions and bodily humors
• Diseases related to the atmosphere, to food and to beverages
• The effects and misuse of medicines
• Poisons and other noxious agents
• Sleep, emotions and passions
• Disorders of the senses
• Delirium, spasms and paralysis
• Respiration, circulation, the heart and the pulse
• Natural and reproductive functions
• The classification, progression and prognosis of diseases

This work testifies to a major transitional period in the history of medicine, during which traditional humoral theories were reorganized alongside an increasingly systematic study of the solids, the fluids, the organs and the physiological functions of the body.

The preliminary pages include the translator’s preface as well as the official approval of the Royal Academy of Surgery, attesting to the recognition this work enjoyed in the medical milieu of the time.