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 The first dictionary in the Dorland's line,
the American Pocket Medical Dictionary, edited by W.A.
Newman Dorland, AM, MD, was first published in 1898 and was a
small volume just over 500 pages long. It was followed two years
later by the American Illustrated Medical Dictionary. Both
sprang from the fertile mind of Ryland W. Green, the illustrious
longtime editor-in-chief at the W.B. Saunders Company, who
remained intimately involved in their writing until he died in
1949 while at work on the 22nd edition of the big dictionary.
Dr. Dorland died in 1956, at which time the dictionaries were
retitled to incorporate his name, which was how they had
generally come to be known. Over the years, the list of
consultants and contributors to the Dorland's dictionaries has
included a large number of the most eminent names in medicine.
The dictionaries themselves have grown in size to nearly 1000
pages for the 28th edition of Dorland's Pocket and nearly
2200 for the 32nd edition of Dorland's Illustrated (from
770 in the first edition).
The information contained in the dictionaries has, of
course, changed considerably since the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. No longer are dosages for drugs given (especially not
in drams!). Nor does the new 32nd edition contain an entry for
Keeley cure ("a proprietary method of treatment for the alcohol
and opium habits by means of gold chlorid"-and yes, "chlorid" was
the correct spelling at the time). The first edition contains no
entry for the just developing specialty "immunology." Moreover,
as the content has changed, so has the means of keeping it,
moving from the time-honored card files to a full-fledged
electronic content management system that allows us to update
huge amounts of material across multiple print and electronic
products with a minimum of effort.
Through all of these changes, the unifying force has been the
focus on the users of the Dorland's references. Accuracy,
authoritativeness, and usefulness have always been the aim of the
creators and editors. Above all, the Dorland's products are
created solely to be useful tools, and the experience of the user
is the final standard by which they are judged.
Dorland's online and print products continue to carry forward the
tradition of excellence established more than a century ago. The
32nd Edition of Dorland�s Illustrated Medical Dictionary,
published in 2012, includes nearly 124,000 entries, which is by
far the largest number to be found in a single-volume medical
dictionary. The entries in that edition are enhanced by more than
1,500 illustrations�nearly all in full color. Approximately 500
of the illustrations were updated in this edition. The content of
the 32nd edition has provided the foundation for the current
version of the Dorland�s Dictionary.
The Dorland�s team remains indebted and grateful to the past and
current writers, editors, and consultants whose work in writing
and reviewing the content over the years continues to make
Dorland�s one of the most valuable medical references available.
We also remain grateful to the many users who provide insight,
corrections, criticism, and suggestions, as well as their esteem
and support. Their ongoing interest helps maintain Dorland's
stature as the most comprehensive and authoritative medical
dictionary available.
William Alexander Newman Dorland, MD
 Doctor Dorland was born in Hilton Head, SC,
in 1864, the son of Dr. William Matthews Dorland and Sarah A.
Thorne. He received his MD in 1886 from the Medical School at the
University of Pennsylvania, where he held his first academic
position, Instructor of Obstetrics. In 1910, he moved to Chicago,
where he was Professor of Obstetrics at Loyola University and
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Post-Graduate
Medical College of Chicago. Following his retirement in 1951, he
moved to Tampa, FL, where he resided until his death in 1956.
In 1900, while he was Associate Professor at the Polyclinic
Hospital in Philadelphia, he was invited to participate in the
compilation of the first edition of what was then the American
Illustrated Medical Dictionary, which title the book bore until
the 23rd edition, the first following his death, when it was
retitled Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary in
acknowledgment of the fact that over the years it had become
familiar to students and practitioners alike as Dorland's.
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