Tractatus de febrium natura & differentiis.... 82pp. manuscript. With Brevis chirurgiae synopsis manuscript 81pp

1720.

Astruc, Jean (1684-1766). Tractatus de febrium natura & differentiis. Authore D. D. J. Astruc in alma Monspelliensiu[m] medicinae facultate professore regio dignissimo. Manuscript document. 4to. 76pp. N.p., 1720. Together with another medical ms. in the same hand (Brevis chirurgiae exegesis. Seu synopsis, per summaria capita . . .), 81pp. The two mss. contained in a single volume, 222 x 167 mm. Modern quarter morocco, marbled boards, slightly rubbed. Portion of ms. title cut away, otherwise fine.

A transcription of Astruc's lectures on fevers delivered at Montpellier, where Astruc served as professor of medicine from 1716 to 1728. Astruc, who later joined the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, was a highly skilled and influential teacher. During the 18th century it was common practice for medical lectures such as these to be transcribed and for a small number of manuscript copies to be sold to students who might not have been able to attend. Astruc was:

"extremely methodical and clear in his instruction. In a series of courses lasting six years he [covered all phases of medicine: anatomy, physiology, psychology, gerontology, pathology, therapy, venereology, gynecology, neurology and pediatrics. Even in American libraries there are manuscript copies of these carefully prepared and highly appreciated courses; during Astruc's lifetime some of them were used for editions printed without his knowledge in England, Switzerland and Holland" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography).

An unauthorized edition of Astruc's lectures on fevers was published in England in 1749 under the title Academical Lectures on Fevers; it is likely that the present lectures are incorporated in this work. We have not found any French or Latin editions of this title in the library databases, and it is quite possible that this work remains unpublished in this form.

Astruc was the author of several important medical works, most of which were first published in Latin. The best known of these is his De morbis veneris (1736 and later eds.), the first great work on venereal disease (see Garrison-Morton 5195).

The surgical manuscript following Astruc's work is a brief exegesis of surgical operations arranged by chapter headings. Its authorship is unknown.

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