| OLOF EDLUND Antiquarian Bookseller STOCKHOLM |  |
| OLOF EDLUND Antiquarian Bookseller STOCKHOLM | |
| $ 500 |
| First Swedish edition of Winsløw's Quaestio medico-chirurgica ... an mortis incertae signa minus a chirurgicis ... [The uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections, demonstrated] ... (Paris 1740), enlarged and with notes by Jean Jacques Bruhier d'Ablaincourt [?-1756], also enlarged, and possibly translated from the French, by Olof Tillæus [1704-62]. Among classical Greek and Roman societies the signs of death were the absence of a heartbeat and breathing, and the onset of putrefaction. In medieval times a candle was held to the mouth - a flicker of the candle was shown as a sign of life. However, these signs were rejected by anatomist Jacob Winsløw in 1740, who recommended that resuscitation should be attempted on seemingly lifeless patients by stimulating various parts of the body with the "juices of onions, garlic and horse-radish, . . . whips and nettles, ... and by hideous Shrieks and excessive Noises." Pins were also inserted under the toenails. He documented forty-nine examples of supposed live burial. This fed the public's fears of premature burial, and placed growing pressure on doctors to come up with more reliable 'signs of death' as a diagnostic tool. German doctors concluded that putrefaction was the only reliable indicator of death. A number of cultures include an interval between death and disposal of the body that allows time for putrefaction. For example, the leichenhäuser (corpse houses) of 19th century Germany provideda place where 'corpses' were kept under surveillance until putrefaction was apparent. "Winslow's own anatomical studies combine a talent for making observations with systematic thoroughness. His best-known work was his Exposition anatomique de la structure du corps humain. It was the first treatise on descriptive anatomy, and, in its elimination of extraneous physiological details and hypothetical explanations, represented a pioneer work of exact scientific research. It was used by students and surgeons well into the following century" (DSB). |
| * DSB, 14, pp. 449-51. Waller 10351. |