Details
HUNTER, John (1728-1793). A Treatise on the Venereal Disease. London: n.p. [privately printed for the author at 13 Castle-Street], 1786.
4o (264 x 212 mm). 7 engraved plates by William Sharp after drawings by William Bell (some mostly marginal spotting). Contemporary calf (rebacked, front hinge cracked, worn). Provenance: possibly William Johnston Almon (1816-1901), physician from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who was one of the first doctors in North America to use chloroform as a form of anaesthetic (manuscript notation on title-page noting the purchase of the book from the sale of the Almon Library, Halifax, N.S. 1904); C.N.B. Camab? (ink stamp on title-page).
FIRST EDITION. Progress of knowledge and treatment of venereal diseases received a setback with the publication of Hunter's treatise, which supported the old theory, current since the sixteenth century, that syphilis and gonorrhea were manifestations of the same venereal pathogen. Hunter's erroneous conclusion was based upon an experiment designed to test this theory, in which an unknown subject was inoculated with infectious matter taken from a gonorrheal patient, who, unbeknownst to Hunter, had also contracted syphilis. When the subject developed syphilitic symptoms, Hunter interpreted this result as validation of the theory, as eighteenth-century medical doctrine did not recognize the possibility of mixed infection. Garrison-Morton 2377; Heirs of Hippocrates 969; Norman 1117; Osler 1227; Robb-Smith, "John Hunter's private press," J. hist. med & allied sciences 25 (1970), pp. 262-269. Waller 4998; Wellcome III, p.317.
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FIRST EDITION. Progress of knowledge and treatment of venereal diseases received a setback with the publication of Hunter's treatise, which supported the old theory, current since the sixteenth century, that syphilis and gonorrhea were manifestations of the same venereal pathogen. Hunter's erroneous conclusion was based upon an experiment designed to test this theory, in which an unknown subject was inoculated with infectious matter taken from a gonorrheal patient, who, unbeknownst to Hunter, had also contracted syphilis. When the subject developed syphilitic symptoms, Hunter interpreted this result as validation of the theory, as eighteenth-century medical doctrine did not recognize the possibility of mixed infection. Garrison-Morton 2377; Heirs of Hippocrates 969; Norman 1117; Osler 1227; Robb-Smith, "John Hunter's private press," J. hist. med & allied sciences 25 (1970), pp. 262-269. Waller 4998; Wellcome III, p.317.