Manuscript Diploma of Doctor of Medicine for Wilhelmus Noortwyk, Leiden University, May 31, 1735

Wilhelmus Noortwyk. [Diploma of Doctor of Medicine for Wilhelmus Noortwyk]. Leiden University, May 31, 1735. Manuscript on vellum, 65 x 30 cm, complete with large red lacquer seal (held in an iron container), attached to the document with a silk ribbon. Signed by the University's Secretary Jacob Wittichius, the doctors Herman Boerhaave, Bernard Siegfried Albinus and A. van Royen. Further with the signature of J.O. Westenberg, rector of Leiden University. Folded thrice. Waterstained along the two vertical folds, leaving the text still legible. Overall in good condition.

The original manuscript diploma of Doctor of Medicine for Wilhelmus Noortwyk (ca. 1713-1777), important Leiden anatomist. Signed by three leading physicians of the 18th century: Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738), Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697-1770), and Adrianus van Royen (1704-1779).

Wilhelmus Noortwyk (ca. 1713-1777) matriculated at Leiden University on November 19, 1729, aged 18. He graduated M.D. on May 31, 1735, with a dissertation titled De natura humana, published in Leiden by Gerard Potvliet. A student of anatomist Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697-1770), renowned for his impressive preparations, Noortwyk "apparently was the first to inject the uterine vessels of a young woman who had died near term" (Longo & Reynolds).

Cf. Lindeboom, Dutch Medical Biography, cc. 1437-1438; Longo & Reynolds, Wombs with a View, p. 124.