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Title
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A Telling of Wonders: Teratology in Western Medicine through 1800
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Description
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This exhibit examines the evolution of teratology (i.e. the study of perceived abnormalities in the natural world, both real and imagined) through the eyes of physicians and philosophers. How have they considered and how have they intertwined different interpretations in their representations and explanations of wonders from Antiquity to the end of the 18th century?
This richly illustrated exhibit includes pamphlets, rare broadsides, and significant books in the history of teratology drawn from the extensive collections of The New York Academy of Medicine Library.
Caroline Duroselle-Melish, Reference Librarian, Historical Collections, conceived, researched, and developed “A Telling of Wonders: Teratology in Western Medicine through 1800” physical exhibit. Open and free to the public, the exhibit was on display from November 1, 1999 to February 15, 2000 at the New York Academy of Medicine Library. Shortly after, the current online exhibit was created based on the physical exhibit.
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Title
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A collection of choise receipts : manuscript, circa 1680-1700
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Description
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Late 17th-centrury English manuscript divided into two parts: "A Collection of Choise Receipts" and "A Book of Physical Receipts." The first part of the manuscript contains approximately 390 recipes on 254 numbered pages. Of the recipes in the first part approximately 204 are culinary and approximately 175 are for medicines, perfumes, sweet bags, cosmetics, and household cleaners. A large portion of the culinary recipes concern banqueting, particularly fruit preserving; wines, liqueurs, non-medicinal waters, and syrups; and cakes and biscuits. Dinner and supper recipes, such as puddings, meat, poultry, and fish, are also well represented. The second part contains approximately 781 medicinal recipes on 214 numbered pages. Various diseases and conditions such as ague, bleeding, consumption, colic, dropsy, fits, fever, plague, pox, and stone are mentioned. Both parts are followed by indexes. The entire manuscript is written in one very legible hand, possibly that of a professional scribe. The characters "J H" appear frequently in the first part of the manuscript. Many of the recipes are attributed, some to nobility.
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Subjects (LC)
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Cooking, English -- Early works to 1800, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Manuscripts, English -- 17th century
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Title
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An Abstract of the Patent Granted by His Majesty King George…
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Description
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Patent medicines originated in England in the mid 17th century and were marketed with extravagant claims, offering cures for a host of maladies. Recommendations for dosage were vague, and ingredients (often including opium) were usually not specified. In 1726 Benjamin Okell was granted the royal patent for Dr. Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, a tincture of gambir (an astringent extract from an Asian plant) and opium. Advertisements published in the London Mercury as early as 1721 directed prospective customers to the warehouse and printing shop at Bow's Churchyard, where they could purchase the drops for one shilling. Our copy of the 1731 reprint by Peter Zenger is likely the first piece of medical printing in New York. Zenger, who would later become famous for printing seditious texts, was instrumental in establishing freedom of the press in America. The Academy has the only known copy. Bound with our copy of the abstract is a copy of A Short treatise of the virtues of Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops, also issued by Okell and his printing house partners. Here, Batemans efficacy as a treatment for numerous ailments are described in sections dedicated to each. The last section of the treatise offers testimonials from satisfied customers.
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Subjects (LC)
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Advertising—Medicine, Early works to 1800, Fever, Medicine, Patent medicines, Rheumatism
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Title
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Anatomy and Surgery
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Description
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A collection of texts on anatomy and surgery, covering the anatomical atlas, anatomical proportions, illustrations of the arteries, surgical procedures, and treatment of head wounds.
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Title
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Apicius [De re culinaria Libri I-IX]
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Description
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This manuscript contains 500 Greek and Roman recipes from the fourth and fifth century, both culinary and medical, reflecting the polyglot culture of the Mediterranean basin. Sometimes referred to as the oldest extant cookbook in the West, the manuscript is divided into ten books. It is likely that the Apicius began as a Greek collection, mainly written in Latin, and adapted for a Roman palate. The collection is likely compiled from many sources, as no evidence exists that Apicius (a Roman gourmet in 1st century AD), authored a book of cookery. Our manuscript was penned in several hands in a mix of Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian scripts at the monastery at Fulda (Germany) around 830 AD. It is one of two manuscripts (the other at the Vatican) presumed to have been copied from a now lost common source. The Apicius manuscript is the gem of the Academy’s Margaret Barclay Wilson Collection of cookery, acquired in 1929.
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Subjects (LC)
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Cookbooks, Cooking, Latin peoples, Cooking, Mediterranean, Cooking, Roman, Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medicine
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Title
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Approved receipts in physick : manuscript, circa 1650-1700
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Description
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Manuscript recipe book consisting of mostly medical formulas, as well as some culinary recipes and a few alchemical preparations. Predominately in two unidentified hands. There are approximately 480 medical recipes (467 numbered) and 21 culinary recipes. Includes remedies for sores, burns, wounds, ailments of the eyes, complexion, "greene sickness," colds, coughs, and more. Most of the recipes are unattributed, but there are a few exceptions, including a receipt for "Sr Walter Rawley's great cordiall". Culinary recipes include syrups, wines, meats, pickles, preserves, and waffles. The book was probably compiled in the second half of the 17th century.
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Subjects (LC)
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Cooking, English, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800, Traditional medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Cooking, English, Manuscripts, English -- 17th century
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Title
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Aristotle’s Masterpiece, Or The Secrets of Generation displayed in all the parts thereof
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Description
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Published initially in 1684 and popular in both America and England for over two hundred years, this became the most widely reprinted medical book in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The contributions of the Masterpiece were not particularly scientific, but drew largely from Hippocrates, and Galen, as well as other classical and medieval writers. The source material came from two earlier books: Levinus Lemnius’s Secret Miracles of Nature, originally published in Latin in 1599, and The Complete Midwives Practice Enlarged (author unknown). Chapter headings include sections titled, “The Signs of Barrenness” “The Way of getting to a Boy or a Girl,” “How a Midwife Ought to be Qualified” and “A Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation.” The information this title offered on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth wasn’t particularly innovative; many seventeenth century discoveries in gynecology are absent from the text and replaced by Hippocratic pathology, or by superstition. The “Aristotle” of the title was pseudonymous, and likely evoked by the book’s author to give the tome scientific credibility. The book’s true author is unknown, though Culpepper and William Salmon, an English physician and author, are sometimes credited.
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Subjects (LC)
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Abnormalities, Human, Conception, Early works to 1800, Gynecology, Medicine, Midwifery, Obstetrics, Reproduction, Sex instruction, Sexual behavior
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Title
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Au Régiment Spécifique Victorieux: La corvée de quartier
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Description
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Trade card advertising Victorieux featuring an image of five men in white uniforms cleaning the street. They are sweeping and shoveling horse refuse and carting it away in a wheelbarrow. Soldiers (including one playing a trumpet), a horse, and buildings are visible in the background. The back mentions the French army's use of the Victorieux.
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Subjects (LC)
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Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Brooms And Brushes, Carts And Carriages, Hats, Housing, Men, Men's Hats, Musical Instruments, Refuse And Refuse Disposal, Shovels, Street Cleaning, Streets, Trees, Trumpet
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ID
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WH372
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Collection
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William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards
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