HOFFMANN, Friedrich. ~ Vollständige Anweisung zu einer sichern, vernünftigen und in Erfahrung stehenden medicinischen Praxi Medica, auss Hrn. D. Friederich Hoffmanns... Scriptis und Manuscriptis mit großem Fleiß verfertigt, zu Berförderung des gemeinen bestens heraus gezogen und in Ordnung gebracht. Ulm: Daniel B. Sohn, 1736.
8vo (160 × 95 mm), pp. [xiv] (without leaf a4, probably blank and cancelled), 855, [27]. Title printed in red and black, black letter German text, woodcut ornaments, decorative initial letters. Contemporary blind-ruled sheep, a few minor expert repairs to spine. Early inscription dated 1744 to front free endpaper with the name “Christiane GR: Z: Y: B:”, old purple inkstamp to title of the Fürstliche Solms-Lich’sche Bibliothek zu Lich (Hesse). An excellent copy.
Second edition (first 1724) of Hoffmann’s “Complete Instruction for a safe, sensible and medically respected practice of medicine”: a very extensive baroque medical compendium.
Friedrich Hoffmann (1660-1742), a German physician, practised and taught medicine, chemistry and physics in Halle from 1693. He studied and wrote on such varied topics as paediatrics, mineral waters and meteorology and introduced many new drugs into medical practice (such as a compound spirit of ether branded “Anodyne” and “Hoffmanns-Tropfen” still today known as a household remedy). Hoffmann was among the first to describe several diseases, including appendicitis and German measles, and to recognize the regulatory role of the nervous system.
The work contains examinations of common ailments such as fever, infections, haemorrhaging, cramps, spasms and convulsions, consideration of the cerebral and nervous system, lymph and glands, female complaints and childhood illnesses. It also includes numerous medicinal recipes and cures. Not in Wellcome (the catalogue lists the first edition only); the NLM online catalogue lists the first edition of 1724 and another of 1743 only.