Treasures of the P.I. Nixon

Early ophthalmology text turns 500 this year

June 8, 2012

The PI Nixon Medical Historical Library is celebrating the 500th birthday of one of its treasures, an edition of Symphorien Champier’s Speculum Galeni.  The book includes one of the first treatises on ophthalmology ever printed. Symphorien Champier (1472-1539) was an early French humanist and physician to Charles VIII, Louis XII, and the Duke of Lorraine.  […]


John Bell, Scottish Anatomist and Surgeon

April 3, 2012

John Bell was born on the 12th of May 1762 to humble beginnings.  He was the second of four boys, his father, Rev. William Bell, was a man of considerable courage, and John’s mother was well educated and quite a talented artist.  And so we fast forward to 1779. It was in 1779 at the […]


Image of leg amputation by Charles Bell - Belldigital.lib.uiowa.edu

The Compassionate Surgeon: A Tribute to Sir Charles Bell

March 29, 2012

Sir Charles Bell was Scottish and grew up in Edinburgh during the 18th century. He was a part of the famous Bell surgeons of Scotland. His older brother  John Bell was a surgeon and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of the city of Edinburgh. John is best known for founding the […]



Albrecht Dürer’s Human Proportions

March 27, 2012

Albrecht Dürer, one of the greatest known artists of the Northern European Renaissance, is best known for his beautiful engravings and religious paintings.  Dürer was ahead of his time with his landscape paintings, which were the first of their kind, and the unique self-portraits that he started when he was only 13-years-old. He was born […]


UTHSCSA Yearbooks Collection

April 21, 2010

We are missing the following  yearbooks: 1974-1976, 1978-1980, 1983-1984, 1986-1990, 1993-1994, 2000-2002 If you have a copy, please consider donating to the University Archives.   If you have questions regarding this post, contact Mellisa DeThorne @ 567-2470 or  e-mail dethorne@uthscsa.edu. 


A History of the Texas Medical Association 1853-1953

December 22, 2009

By: P.I. Nixon A History of the Texas Medical Association 1853-1953 was written by Dr. PI Nixon. “The combination of a competent, busy physician and a trained, excellent historian is infrequent. No one in Texas except Dr. Nixon had both the knowledge and the ability to write “the larger story””. -Merton Minter


The Medical Story of Early Texas, 1946

December 3, 2009

Dr. Pat Ireland Nixon’s second book, The Medical Story of Early Texas, was published in 1946 with funds provided by John and Jamie Bennett.


A Century of Medicine, 1936

November 24, 2009

Due to the efforts of Dr. Pat Ireland Nixon, the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library has in its collection a growing assortment of unique medical books. First accumulated for the Bexar County Medical Society Library, these rare and old books were donated to the University of Texas Health Science Center in 1970. Among the records are books […]