The Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body

Birmingham: The Classics of Medicine Library, 1986. Limited edition. Hardcover. vg. Octavo. XXVIII, 314, [2]pp. Original gold-tooled leather with gold lettering on spine. Raised bands. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Ribbon marker. Remarkable facsimile edition of Baillie's famous work "The Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body." When published in 1793, it was the first book on the subject in English, and the first to make the morbid anatomy a subject itself. Rather than giving the history and symptoms of every case, as had been the trend, Baillie dealt with the morbid appearances of each organ in turn. The work is limited in so far as it discusses the thoracic and abdominal organs and the brain, and leaves untouched the skeleton, muscles, nerves, and spinal cord. He was the first to define cirrhosis of the liver, to distinguish renal cysts from the rare cysts of parasitic hydatids of the kidney, and to challenge the opinion that death was often due to a growth in the heart. Binding and interior in near fine to fine condition.