HORST Jakob De Aureo dente maxillari pueri Silesii.

VD-16, H 5006 & 5015; Poletti, p. 105 ; Weinberger, 68 (only the first portion up to page 156) ; Hirsch-Hübotter, III, 303 ; Waller, 10644 ; Parkinson, 1315 ; see Blake, 2460, and Wellcome, I, 176 (both for the 1596 issue). Not in David.

First edition. The extremely rare 1595 issue.

It is divided into two parts, the first of which is occupied by the story of a child born with a gold tooth. It is followed by the treatise on somnambulism, first published by the same editor in 1593.

The first work recounts the mysterious gold tooth found in a newborn baby (miraculosa in aureo dente, p. 5). However, it took four years to detect one of the most successful frauds in the history of science: for purely commercial reasons, a skilled goldsmith had covered an ordinary tooth with a thin layer of gold leaf. The work is important, however, as it provides a reliable record of gold crowns, which last appeared in Roman times. The second work is an early account of sleepwalking and its causes, first published in 1593.

„Horst hat sich ein unverdientes Andenken in der Geschichte der Medizin durch seine Schrift ‘De aureo dente’ gesichert’ [Horst secured an undeserved place in the history of medicine with his work “De aureo dente”] (Hirsch-Hubotter).

Jacob Horst (1537-1600) studied Latin in his home town of Torgau before enrolling at the University of Wittenberg in 1552 to study philosophy. He continued his education at the University of Frankfurt/Oder, where he studied medicine, graduating in 1562 as a doctor of medicine. After working in his profession, he became a professor of medicine from 1584.

Paper uniformly toned. A fine copy of this very rare book.