John Locke and a case of macrodactyly.

摘要

The figure of macrodactyly presented by Biesecker et al. [2009] in their excellent article struck a chord with us concerning our own research within the history of pediatrics and child health. The medical journals (1675-1679) of the physician/ philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) afford a lens into 17th-century European medical practice-a time of sustained endeavor in ground breaking anatomical enquiry, most notably within the nervous and circulatory systems. In August 1678 in the French Town of Blois, Locke recounts a case, which may well be one of the earliest descriptions of macrodactyly.