Milestones of Science Books

WILLIS, Thomas.

Opera omnia, nitidius quam unquam hactenus edita, plurimum emendata, indice rerum copiosissimo, ac distinctione characterum exornata. Studio & opera Gerardi Blasii. .

Cologny: Gaspare Storti, 1694.

3rd Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003266

Two parts in one volume. Folio (322 x 218 mm). [16], 586, [18] pp. Half-title, title printed in red and black and with printer's engraved device, engraved portrait of the author by Isabella Piccini and 7 engraved plates, numerous engraved text illustrations, woodcut headpieces and initials, general index. Text in two columns. Bound in early 19th century quarter calf over marbled boards, spine decorated in gilt and with gilt-lettered red label (inner hinge partly broken, boards and extremities lightly rubbed, head of spine and paper over board edges partly chipped). Occasional minor foxing and spotting of text, light waterstaining towards lower corner of first four gatherings, wormtrack to blank bottom margin near gutter of pp. 505-563, short teat to lower edge of p.541/2, a few gatherings with pages partly sticking together at lower gutter (not affecting tex). Provenance: Libreria Cascianelli, Rome (bookseller's ticket on front pastedown). A very good and clean copy. ---- NLM/Krivatsy 13003. RARE THIRD GENEVA EDITION of Thomas Willis' collected works, edited by Gerard Blasius, and the first (and finest) printed in folio format. Pages 181-88 of this edition reprint the text of William Croone's 1664 De ratione motus musculorum (see Garrison-Morton 575). The place of printing has frequently been misinterpreted as being Cologne in Germany, but is in fact the community of Cologny (Coloniae Allobrogum) in canton Geneva, Switzerland.
"In addition to his invaluable work in the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, Willis was the first to distinguish true diabetes mellitus, and showed that the polyuria was not due to any disease of the kidneys. He anticipated the recognition of hormones in the circulation of his suggestion that the phenomena of puberty were due to a ferment distributed through the body from the genitals. He discovered the superficial lymphatics of the lungs, distinguished acute tuberculosis from the chronic fibroid type and gave the first clinical and pathological account of emphysema. The modern treatment of asthma really begins with Willis, who considered it to be of nervous origin . . . Willis was probably the first to report an epidemic of cerebrospinal fever" (Garrison-Morton 10280). - Visit our website to see more images!

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