The Reynolds-Finley Historical Library has recently acquired John Dix Fisher’s Description of the distinct, confluent, and inoculated small pox, varioloid disease, cow pox, and chicken pox (1835). Fisher’s notable book intended to distinguish smallpox from other diseases exhibiting skin eruptions through detailed illustrations. The American physician graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1825 and then spent two years in the hospitals of Paris, where he employed a French artist to illustrate eruptive diseases at the bed-side of patients during an epidemic of smallpox. The original plates and unsold copies were later destroyed in a fire, increasing the rarity and significance of the book. For more information on this and related works in the Reynolds-Finley Historical Library, contact us.