This book focuses on a medical dissertation, published in Leiden in 1708, in which the Silesian student Adam Christian Thebesius described his discovery of the “vasa cordis minima”, small veins originating in the coronary veins and opening into the cavities of the heart. Somewhat earlier, in 1706, Raymond Vieussens had already described these vessels, but with less precision and he was concerned with their physiological function rather than with their anatomical structure. Until the mid-nineteenth century their existence was contested because often they could not be made visible in wax preparations. Nowadays, the function of these “Thebesian veins” is still a matter of dispute, although they are generally considered to be of minor importance. The book contains a biography of Thebesius, an edition of both the dissertations of Thebesius and Vieussens with a German translation, a survey of the notions of the heart vessels before the eighteenth century, a description of the reception of Thebesius' discovery and a table which records the main results of 400 publications on these vessels published since 1708. Mettenleiter's text is saturated with scores of biographical and general medico-historical notes and is enlarged by various appendices containing source material on Thebesius, selected English translations and several excerpts of texts mentioned. It is the author's declared aim to compile and present all the material necessary to enable a discussion of the history of the discovery and of the function of the vasa cordis minima. His book is thus an interesting attempt to write history which is of immediate interest to modern research. The bibliographical records seem to be only of little help for medical scientists who are concerned with numerous methodological and technical details. But they might provide a good take-off point for a case study in the theory and sociology of modern science. As such, a study could focus on a well-defined and controversial research topic which is studied by scientists from various disciplines (physiology, heart surgery, embryology, etc.) which might furnish some new insights into the methods and cultures of medical research—and thus be of interest to the scientists themselves. Mettenleiter's book could therefore be a first small step towards a study of modern science. Unfortunately, it is also only a small step towards a historical study in its own right. The author confines himself to a description of the notions of various authors from the epic of Gilgamesh to the present time, enriched by the enumeration of countless “facts”. He thus reveals a positivistic conception of history which is, for example, visible in his characterization of Vieussens who, as a physiologist, was subject to the errors of his time but who nevertheless was a pioneering anatomist (p. 204). Such seeming contradictions should have encouraged the author to ask the questions which are at the core of modern historical research: how are discoveries integrated into the concepts of their time, why are they accepted or rejected, and which mechanisms within the scientific and other communities control these developments? Whoever would like to study the discovery of the Thebesian veins in such a manner will have to go back to the sources and Mettenleiter's book will be of only limited help. The first section of the book is devoted to the biography of Thebesius who is portrayed as a representative Silesian physician of his time. We do not, however, know much more about him than about many physicians of the period and therefore have only some general information about his family, studies and medical career; we get to know his few medical publications and poems, but we hear almost nothing about his patients, his professional contacts and his daily life and work as a physician. It has to be noted that this book is the dissertation of a medical student and therefore should be judged as such and be welcomed as a solid and reliable work that has, despite its shortcomings, a value as a collection and description of material pertaining to a minor discovery in the history of medicine.