J. V. Scheid et Marci Mappi Disputatio de duobus ossiculis in cerebro humano mulieris, 1687. Scheid's name appears as the author in the heading line, but on turning to the original edition I find pro disputatione proposita, præside J. V. Scheid, respondente Marco Mappo, and in the dedication signed by Mappus it is stated by him to be his first specimen of his medical studies.
In another instance of the same kind, Joh. Saltzmann et E. C. Honold de Verme naribus excusso, the heading line has Saltzmann as the author, while in the original edition the dedication to the magistracy of his native town is signed by Honold, as dedicating to them primitias hasce academicas, and at the end are several letters and sets of congratulatory verses on his performance. How in a bibliographical sense can Scheid or Saltzmann be the authors of these theses? The information they may have contributed as teachers does not constitute them authors. Cases of the same kind occur in Richteri Opuscula Medica, studio J. C. G. Ackermann, 1780; in Trilleri Opuscula, and in J. G. Roedereri Opuscula Medica, in which latter are included dissertations which are said to be totæ ab illo factæ, which yet on their titles have quam publico eruditorum examini submittit—Dietz, Winiker, Hirschfeld, Stein, Schael, Chüden, Zeis, and some with the word auctor prefixed to the proponent, and without the name of Roederer on the title at all, which yet are said in the table of contents to be illo non plane auctore sed suasore et moderatore enatæ.
There is a series of thirteen Disputationes de recta ratione Purgandi, a Melchiore Sebizio, 1621, which are printed as by Sebizius, but in each of the disputations the dedication is signed by the respondent, and the respondents speak of the theses as the firstfruits of their studies.
There are, indeed, so many of these dissertations in which the construction of the title is the same whether a præses is mentioned or not, and with the word auctor sometimes following the name of the defendant, sometimes that of the respondent, that there can be little doubt that one of the latter must be considered the author, in all cases where auctor does not follow the name of the præses.
When a collection of theses or dissertations is published under the name of a præses as his opera, such as in the case of Sebizius, Richter, Roederer, and others, it is merely in a secondary sense from his having contributed opinions and corrections to them; and may there not also, in this publication of sets of theses under the name of the præses as his works, be some little display of bibliopolic art, as insuring a better sale if the name of an important professor of the place be attached to them than with those of yet obscure students bringing forth their first displays of knowledge before the academic world?
And though I feel great objections to their being considered as authors bibliographically speaking, yet with regard to Linnæus, Thunberg, and some other Swedish authors, they really seem to have had so very much to do with the composition of the theses, at the disputations on which they sat as presidents, that I feel great difficulty in comprehending them in the previous category.
From these collections of dissertations it seems impossible to form any bibliographical conclusions as a basis for certainty of arrangement, but I will add from the previous statements a few suggestions which may tend towards that end:—
That the proponent is always the author of a dissertation.
That the defendant is always the author of a dissertation when it occurs with another name as respondent.
That the term defendant is, when alone, synonymous with respondent.
That when the respondent's name occurs with a præses only, the respondent is the author except words are attached to the president's name affirming him to be the proponent, defendant, or author, or there is evidence in the preface or dedication that he claims the authorship.
That the respondent when he is the author is frequently described as auctor respondens.
That the opponent is never the author of a thesis.
That dissertatio, disputatio, thesis, etc., are generally used synonymously, the same construction of words as to the authorship following each.
And that when a collection of theses or dissertations is published under the name of a præses as his "opera" it is merely in a secondary literary sense, viz., his having contributed opinions and corrections to the theses, or as being their editor.
That the adoption of an asterisk in catalogues to denote an academical dissertation or thesis relieves us of the necessity of repeating a large amount of redundant wording to each title. It has been used successfully in the library of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, and by Dr. Billings in his most valuable Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, United States.
Headings other than Author Headings.
Reports of trials are frequently difficult to catalogue, and some persons who are anxious to find an author for a book have considered the reporter as such. This I consider a hopeless mistake, for the name of the reporter is little likely to be retained in the memory of the searcher, who is sure to remember the subject of the trial. Mr. Cutter's remark upon this point is very just. He says: "It may be doubted ... whether a stenographic reporter is entitled to be considered an author any more than a type-setter."