City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

Herman Boerhaave (Dutch: [ˈɦɛrmɑn ˈbuːrˌɦaːvə], 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738) was a Dutch botanist, Christian humanist and physician of European fame. He is regarded as the founder of clinical teaching and of the modern academic hospital and is sometimes referred to as "the father of physiology," along with his pupil Albrecht von Haller. He is best known for demonstrating the relation of symptoms to lesions and, in addition, he was the first to isolate the chemical urea from urine. His motto was Simplex sigillum veri; Simplicity is the sign of truth.