Nieuw licht op Hendrik van Deventer (1651-1724) (review)

The medical practitioner Hendrik van Deventer is known as an "obstetrician," whose Nieuw ligt voor vroed-meesters en vroed-vrouwen of 1701 was one of the most important and most-translated works on childbirth of his period (being translated into English in 1716 as The Art of Midwifery Improv'd). The book contains information on the use of birthing-stools, and an illustration of one that is often reproduced. But Van Deventer did many other things as well, also practicing as a goldsmith, surgeon, orthopedic practitioner, chemist, doctor, natural philosopher, and theologian. He took an M.D. at the University of Groningen (in 1694), which at the time allowed for the examination and thesis to be in the vernacular rather than Latin. His subsequent attempt to join the Collegium Medicum in The Hague, with the backing of the city council, was a test case for whether the learned doctors would accept an innovative medical craftsman in their midst (they would not).

This compact treatise by M. J. van Lieburg is a tribute to the multiple, fascinating activities of Van Deventer. Van Lieburg's main effort is to set the record straight. He has undertaken an enormous research effort, correcting many errors in previous accounts of Van Deventer and adding much new information. He has, for example, discovered several neglected manuscripts and (with the help of John Pickstone and Dorothy Clayton) a previously forgotten copy of Van Deventer's doctoral thesis in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. He has also brought his outstanding knowledge of the medicine and religion of the time to bear—giving exact information about Van Deventer's participation in the Labadist sect (an important pietistic religious group), for example. Van Lieburg is not only clear about the religious views and practices of the Labadists, but points out how they encouraged work in pathological anatomy. He also has much of importance to say about Van Deventer's chemical medical practice. Drawing heavily on the views of the English chemist George Starkey, Van Deventer developed several new pills which he sold to the public (including an opium-based pill for the reduction of pain in childbirth), the profits of which became the main support for the Labadist community—a prototype for others, such as the Pietist community of German Halle of the eighteenth century, who used pharmaceutical sales to support their work.

Yet despite the range of Van Deventer's activities that can be documented and the number of his writings that allow us to probe his thinking, we are not given a narrative biography but a summary of research findings. The work begins with a summary of previous work on Van Deventer and where it went wrong. This is followed by Van Deventer's life course from birth, to apprenticeship, to places of residence, and so on until his death; a critical bibliography of his printed works; the authorship of the laudatory poems introducing the books; the introductory remarks to his works by others, and his own dedications; the translators, commentators, printers, and others involved with the production of the books; an account of his unprinted manuscripts, with long quotations from them; some more personal comments by Van Lieburg on Van Deventer's inner life, religion, chemistry, medical service, and influence; and two appendices: a genealogical account, and a full bibliography. The book therefore lays out the known facts in a clear and conclusive fashion in closely printed, tight prose and extensive footnotes (although there is, surprisingly, no index to help find specific information).

As Van Lieburg remarks, to present a wider account of Van Deventer's world in a similar exacting manner would require much more research. It would also require a greater willingness to move imaginatively beyond the documents in an attempt to report...