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A pioneer work on tropical medicine

PISO, Willem.
Historia medica Brasiliae. Novam editionem curavit et praefatus est Josephus Eques de Vering medicinae doctor, indigena Hungariae, regiae Gallicae honorum legionis eques, et facultatis medicae Vindobonensis sodalis.






Vienna, Congregationis Armenorum, 1817. 8vo. Contemporary half calf with gilt title on spine, marbled boards. 157, (1 blank) pp.

Later edition of this very important work on the tropical medicine of Brazil by Willem Piso (1611-78), who served as the physician of the Dutch settlement in Brazil from 1636 to 1644. He studied the herbal medicines of the indigenous people and advocated many of their health practices. Searching the jungle for medicinal plants, he was the first European to grasp the usefulness of native treatments using ipecacuanha, sassafras, sarsaparilla, guaiacum, and other plants.
His work was the first part of the Historia naturalis Brasiliae, first published in Leiden at F. Hackius and Amsterdam at L. Elzevier in 1648, and was called a 'pioneer work on tropical medicine'. The work includes many descriptions of diseases and native remedies for them, and establish the author as one of the earliest authorities on tropical medicine. Among the diseases for which he provides a thorough analysis are American trypanosomiasis, treponematoses (yaws), and tungiasis. Piso also studied the causes of dysentery, and the physical problems resulting from dietary deficiencies.
One of his significant discoveries was directly related to the high incidence of diseases of the eyes among the Dutch soldiers and civilians in the colony. A number of them suffered from both night and day blindness and other infectious and degenerative conditions. Piso found that the native population did not have many of these problems; especially absent was the condition of night blindness, and he attributed this to a significant difference in diet between the two populations. The native diet was based on fresh fish and vegetables, items which were often lacking in ordinary Dutch eating habits. In another dietary subject, Piso was an early advocate of eating oranges and lemons for the prevention of scurvy, and wrote that Brazilian lemons were outstanding for overcoming that disease.

Good copy.- (Repaired burning hole in lower margin from pp. 135 to the end).
Sabin 63030; Lesky 505 & 679; cf. Garrison-Morton 2263.1 (first ed.); Rodrigues 1910 (idem); Borba de Moraes II pp. 675-6 (idem); Wellcome IV, 392.

Related Subjects: Brazil  Horticulture  Medicine  Travel & Voyages 

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