Herman Boerhaave

[4] After the death of his father, however, he was offered a scholarship and he entered the University of Leiden, where he took his master's degree in philosophy in 1690, with a dissertation titled De distinctione mentis a corpore (On the Difference of the Mind from the Body).He earned his medical doctorate from the University of Harderwijk (present-day Gelderland) in 1693, with a dissertation titled De utilitate explorandorum in aegris excrementorum ut signorum (The Utility of Examining Signs of Disease in the Excrement of the Sick).In 1701 he was appointed lecturer on the institutes of medicine at Leiden; in his inaugural discourse, De commendando Hippocratis studio, he recommended to his pupils that great physician as their model.In 1714, when he was appointed rector of the university, he succeeded Govert Bidloo in the chair of practical medicine, and in this capacity he introduced the modern system of clinical instruction.[8] Every founding member of the Edinburgh Medical School had studied at Leyden and attended Boerhaave's lectures on chemistry including John Rutherford and Francis Home.Notoriously, in 1724 he described the case of Baron Jan van Wassenaer, a Dutch admiral who died of this condition following a gluttonous feast and subsequent regurgitation.He was strongly influenced by the mechanistic theories of René Descartes, and those of the 17th-century astronomer and mathematician Giovanni Borelli, who described animal movements in terms of mechanical motion.His insights aroused great interest among other critical medical thinkers, not least in Friedrich Hoffmann, who strongly advocated the importance of physico-mechanical principles for the preservation or indeed the restoration of health.In place of a servile dependence upon teachings handed down from antiquity, Boerhaave understood the importance of establishing definitive findings through his own investigation, and by the direct application of his own methods of testing.
Oud Poelgeest Castle, Herman Boerhaave's home in Oegstgeest , near Leiden. This was the site of his outdoor botanical garden that was renowned during his lifetime and rivalled Hortus Cliffortianus , the garden of his friend and sponsor to Linnaeus . He travelled back and forth to his friend's garden and to the Leiden University by trekschuit .
Bronze statue made by J.Stracke (1817–1891)
Aphorismi de cognoscendis et curandis morbis , 1728
VoorhoutDutch RepublicLeidenUniversity of LeidenUniversity of HarderwijkMedicineThesesBurchard de VolderGerard van SwietenAuthor abbrev. (botany)botanistchemistChristian humanistphysicianSantorio SantorioAlbrecht von HallerHippocratesOud PoelgeestOegstgeestHortus CliffortianusLinnaeustrekschuitProtestantpastordivinitymaster's degreephilosophyEpicurusThomas HobbesBaruch Spinozamedical doctorateGelderlandHippocratisbotanybotanic garden of LeidenAldermanGovert BidlooFrench Academy of SciencesRoyal SocietyPeter the GreatVoltaireCarl LinnaeusBoerhaviaBoerhaave MuseumAsteroid8175 BoerhaaveguilderLeiden University Medical CentreEdinburgh Medical SchoolJohn RutherfordFrancis HomeBoerhaave syndromeIsaac NewtonmechanisticRené DescartesGiovanni BorelliontologicalesotericFriedrich HoffmannAristotleiatrochemistryUniversity and State Library Düsseldorfauthor abbreviationcitingbotanical nameInternational Plant Names IndexUnderwood, E. AshworthAnnals of ScienceWikisourceEncyclopædia BritannicaSamuel JohnsonWayback MachineProject GutenbergInternet ArchiveMathematics Genealogy Project