Memorialia Herman Boerhaave, Optimi Medici by Herman BoerhaaveReview by: J. B. de C. M. SaundersIsis, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jul., 1940), p. 158Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/226070 .

Accessed: 08/05/2014 19:55

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to Isis.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 19:55:37 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

158 Isis, xxxii, r

[BoerhaaveJ.-Memorialia Herman Boerhaave, Optimi Medici, 133 PP. & 9 pls.-Haarlem, DE ERvEN F. BOHN, N. V., I939.

The position occupied by HERMAN BomuiAvE (I668-1738) in the history of medicine is in many respects unique. Acknowledged in his own time " communis totius Europae praeceptor," his personal influence and reputation was world-wide and the long list of his distinguished pupils, HALLER, GAUB, MoNRo, RuTHERFoRD, CULLEN, PRINGLE, VAN SWIEMN, DE HAEN, to mention but a few, enshrine his name and inspiration. It is however only in comparatively recent times that the founder of "la medecine collective " has secured a fuller recognition for his importance in the establishment of the fundamentals of modem medical practice and the elements of modem medical education. He gave his pupils, says SIGERIST, " a scientific method of approach to medical problems " and this method was carried by them to the ends of the earth. The bedside clinic will always be associated with his name. Apart from his own Leiden, the medical schools of Vienna, Gottingen and Edinburgh especially, owe much to BoEHMAvE in the early years of their development.

In this small volume are gathered together in graceful tribute to BoERmUvE the many contributions delivered by an international group of medical historians in connection with the recent commemorative celebrations held at Leiden and Hardewyck, under the auspices of the " Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot bevordering der Geneeskunst" and other Batavian societies (i). Opening with a commemorative address by ScHoUTF, the several essays touch upon the many fields of BoEuiAAvE's interests and contributions and of his influence upon medicine in Scotland, America, Germany and Austria, closing with a diary of the pilgrimage made by those attending the bicentennial.

This choice collection of essays makes a handsome tribute to the memory and achievements of Leiden's great son, HERMAN BOERHAAVE. The committee in charge are to be congratulated on this permanent record of the occasion.

(University of Calfornia, J. B. DE C. M. SAUNDERS. San Francisco.)

E. S. Pearson.-Karl Pearson. An Appreciation of Some Aspects of His Life and Work. VIII+ I70 pages. The Universitv Press, Cambridge, and The Macmillan Company, New York, 1938. Price $3.75.

The present work is a reissue in book form of two articles which (I) A short note on the bicentennial celebration of BOERHAAVE appeared in

Isis XXIX, 414, I938.

This content downloaded from 169.229.32.137 on Thu, 8 May 2014 19:55:37 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions