Title
A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Children (1895)
Author
Alfred Vogel, M.D. (translated and edited by H. Raphael, M.D.)
Image
Description
This late 19th-century pediatric manual by German physician Alfred Vogel covers childhood illnesses in remarkable depth, reflecting both the medical knowledge and limitations of its era. The work includes discussions of infant anatomy, physiology, and common childhood diseases, with treatment guidance rooted in 19th-century medical practice. Translated and expanded by Dr. H. Raphael for American physicians, this edition contains six lithographic plates and updated commentary.
Condition
The binding shows wear with rubbing and scuffs to the leather spine, but the text pages remain clean and legible.
Gallery
Historical context
Published in 1895, this book represents the professionalization of pediatrics at a time when the specialty was only just emerging. Vogel’s Diseases of Children was widely used across Europe and America and became an essential reference for practitioners treating young patients before modern pediatrics fully developed.
Curious Facts, Ephemera, and Trivia
The book describes conditions such as “epistaxis” (nosebleeds) and “infantile circulation” in language that mixes anatomy with clinical observation.
Raphael, the translator, worked at Bellevue Hospital in New York, one of the earliest major American centers for pediatric care.
The six lithographic plates were considered advanced illustrations for medical publishing at the time.
Excerpt
“Immediately after birth the muscles of inspiration contract, and the air finds its way for the first time into the pulmonary vesicles… This sudden change in volume of both thoracic and abdominal viscera leads doubtless to alterations in the circulation of the different organs.” (Part I, Chapter I)
Why it is in the Cabinet
This volume is a cornerstone piece for the Pediatrics category in the Cabinet’s medical library, preserving the perspective of 19th-century child health and treatment methods.
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