Francis Glisson was an English physician who published in 1650 the first detailed and authoritative description of rickets. De Rachitide, written in Latin and translated into English the next year as A treatise of the rickets, being a disease common to children, described the signs, symptoms, and anatomical pathology of this disease which we now know is caused by a vitamin D deficiency. Glisson helped form a weekly discussion of science in London that eventually became the Royal Society.
References:
- Francis Glisson (1597-1677) and the “discovery” of rickets by Peter Dunn. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 1998 Mar;78(2):F154-5
- Wikipedia biography
- Francis Glisson and his capsule by R. Milnes Walker
- Francis Glisson by Arthur Rocyn Jones. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1950 Aug;32-B(3):425-8.
- English translation of De Rachitide at U Mich/Open Library (registration required)
- De rachitide sive Morbo puerili, qui vulgò The Rickets dicitur, tractatus. Latin Text.
