Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

David Greenman notes on Materia Medica lectures delivered by Adam Kuhn at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School

Authors

• Greenman, David

Call number

Ms. Codex 1866
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9977203451503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1011602313
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/ead/upenn_rbml_PUSpMsCodex1866 https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3pz51s9t

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Origin

Date

1785

Summary

This book of notes was kept by David Greenman during a course of Materia Medica lectures delivered by Dr. Adam Kuhn at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1785. The first pages of the volume include some curious annotations by Dr. Edward Cutbush in 1814. Cutbush claims, "These notes have been taken incorrectly from my friends' lectures- I purchased the volume at a public auction. Washington" and a few pages later, "orthography very incorrect." David Greenman's signature on the title page of the notebook has been scribbled over in ink but is still legible. The lecture notes themselves are not limited to Materia Medica in the strictest sense, in that they also include some information about physiology, pathology and therapeutics. The organization of the material in the book is somewhat disjointed, and begins with a brief history of medicine, overview of physiology, discussion of digestion and the qualities of various foods (salt, sugar, milk, etc.), and the means of treating diseases, especially scurvy, by regulation or alteration of the diet. Subsequent sections focus more specifically on medicines and their classifications, especially into the categories of astringents (including "metallic astringents" like iron, lead and zinc), stimulants (including "bitters" like cinchona bark) and sedatives (among which opium is discussed at greatest length). A fairly detailed description of types of tumors, particularly those characteristic of breast cancer, begins on page 128, and a discussion of hysteria follows from page 139 to 148. The medical properties and applications of alkaline substances, soap, errhines (drugs that produce a runny nose) and mercury are subsequently explained, followed by the therapeutic uses of purgatives and blisters. The penultimate section of the book touches upon the topics of plethora (a systemic excess of blood in the body) and complications relating to menstruation, and the final chapter relates to anthelmintics (anti-parasitic medications). At the very end of this book is an alphabetized index of the contents of the notebook, which lists a combination of the names of drugs and medicinal plants, and the medical conditions discussed.

Notes

• Processing Information: Formerly: Dewey MS 615.04 K954.
   

Extent

1 volume (.1 linear foot)

Provenance

• Gift of Mrs. W. P. Durfee of Geneva, New York.
   

Subjects topical

• Cutbush, Edward,--1772-1843
• Kuhn, Adam,--1741-1817
• University of Pennsylvania--School of Medicine
• Materia medica
• Materia medica--Early works to 1800
• Medical education--United States
• Medical students
• Medicine
• Medicine--Study and teaching

Genres

• Manuscripts, American--18th century
• Codices (bound manuscripts)
• Lecture notes
• Notebooks
• Notes

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 1866: David Greenman notes on Materia Medica lectures delivered by Adam Kuhn at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2020 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• i recto — Title page
• fol. 225r — Index