pdf - Roger Gaskell Rare Books

First edition. Advertised in the Hilary Term Catalogue (January–March) at
2s stitched (I, 129). Also issued as part of Dissertatio epistolicae duae (1673)
together with Dissertatio epistolica de bombyce (1669). An appendix was
published in Malpighi’s Anatome plantarum (1675). Wing M350; not in
ESTC but cf. R9561 and R221786; Norman 1429; Garrison–Morton 469.
‘[Malpighi’s] study of the development of the chicken in the egg went far
beyond the work of Harvey and Fabrici, dealing with the internal structures
to an unprecedented extent: his chief discoveries, illustrated in his four
beautifully detailed plates, were the vascular area embraced by the terminal
sinus, the cardiac tube and its segmentation, the aortic arches, the somites,
the neural folds and neural tube, the cerebral and optic vesicles, the protoliver,
the glands of the prestomach, and the feather follicles. Malpighi established
the paths of subsequent embryological research, making the important
connection between embryogenesis and phylogenesis, and playing a formative
role in the development of preformationist theory, which would pose a strong
challenge to the traditional doctrine of epigenesis.’ (Norman Library.)
‘This and the De ovo incubato [in Anatome plantarum, 1675] placed the study
of embryology on a sound basis, surpassing in accuracy all other contemporary
work on the subject and foreshadowing some of the more important general
lines of research in embryology.’ (Garrison–Morton.)
This was the second of Malpighi’s books published by the Royal Society
which gave the order to print it on 12 June 1672 (Birch, History of the Royal
Society III, p. 51).
It seems clear that this short work was issued separately as it was advertised
on its own in the Term Catalogue. However it was also issued combined with
the earlier Dissertatio epistolica de bombyce, published by the Royal Society in
1669 with a general title page (there are two issues, one as Dissertatio epistolicae
duae, ESTC R221786, the other omitting the word ‘duae’, ESTC R9561).
No doubt this copy and many others in modern bindings have been extracted
from the the combined issue.
133
MAYOW, John (1641–1679)
Tractatus quinque medico­physici. Quorum primus agit de salnitro,
et spiritu nitro­aereo. Secundus de respiratione. Tertius de
respiratione foetus in utero, et ovo. Quartus de motu musculari, et
spiritibus animalibus. ultimus de rhachitide. Studio Joh. Mayow
LL.D. & medici: necnon Coll. Omn. Anim. in univ. Oxon. Soci.
Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1674.
8vo: a–e 4 A–2T 4 ; 2 A–T 4 , 264 leaves, pp. [40] 335 [1]; 152. Woodcut
headpiece and initial to dedication; treatises 2–5 have divisional titles;
treatise 4 starts second register and pagination sequence.
7 engraved plates: portrait frontispiece and 6 plates numbered Tab.
1–6 (bound as throwouts after the text).
175 x 110mm. Light spots and stains to last few leaves and plates,
otherwise a Wne fresh copy.