1733 MEDICAL TREATISE by ANTONIO VALLISNERI antique ILLUSTRATED 3 folio volumes

VALLISNERI, ANTONIO

Opere fisico-mediche.

Venice: Sebastiano Coleti, 1733


 First edition.


Three volumes, original vellum with gilt ribbed spine and marbled edges


[1], i-lxxxii, 1-469; [iv], 1-551; [iv], 1-676 pp.

96 engraved plates

Bindings worn at extremities.

Some intermittent spotting throughout and a few marginal tears and wormholes, not affecting the text or plates.

The bifolium containing leaves T3 and T4 of the first volume is loose.

Spines are damaged.

Overall a bright and clean set.

A set of Vallisneri's complete works, enticingly illustrated.
Antonio Vallisneri was a naturalist and medical scientist, known today for applying Galileo's experimental methods to medicine. His research on medical matters abutted his taxonomic, geological, and entomological learning. Vallisneri was especially interested in parasitic insects and is considered the founder of parasitology. This set of Vallisneri's complete works, which published much manuscript material for the first time alongside an extensive biography of the author, is richly illustrated with specimens from all areas of the author's research.

Size 9 3/4 by 14 1/4  in.

Text in Latin

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Antonio Vallisneri FRS ( 1661 –  1730), also rendered as Antonio Vallisnieri, was an Italian medical scientist, physician and naturalist.
He played a significant role in the early history of both biology and anatomy.
Vallisneri is regarded as one of the fathers of modern geology and his work was highly valued by Charles Lyell.

Vallisneri belonged to the Galilean school of experimental scientists and was deeply influenced by rationalist thinkers such as Leibniz and Conti. He is known for being one of the first researchers in medicine to have proposed abandoning the Aristotelian theories for an experimental approach based on the scientific principles suggested by Galileo Galilei. Vallisneri stated that scientific knowledge is best acquired through experience and reasoning. This principle was followed in his anatomical dissections and carefully drawn descriptions of insects. For this reason, his medical career was at the centre of heated controversy, as many of his contemporaries could not abandon prevailing medieval theories, even in the face of glaring experimental evidence.

Vallisneri was keenly interested in the natural sciences, and over his lifetime collected numerous specimens of animals, minerals and other natural objects. Particularly notable are his contributions to geology. In his treatise De' Corpi Marini (1721), Vallisneri challenged the popular theory that the Universal Deluge was the origin of all known fossil specimens.
He summarised the main diluvial theories and rejected them. He proposed a theory involving multiple localised floods and emergences to explain fossil distribution, and restricted the direct action of God to the biblical deluge.
Vallisneri's geological theories deeply influenced Anton Moro, the father of plutonism.

Vallisneri had a very clear and precise style of writing.
In 1709, he joined Francesco Scipione Maffei and Apostolo Zeno in editing a literary journal, Giornale de' Letterati d'Italia. As editor of the medical and naturalistic sections of this journal, he endeavoured to promote Galilean experimental legacy in Italy and all over Europe. Vallisneri's contribution to the use of language makes him one of the most admired science writers, in the tradition of Galilei, Francesco Redi and Lorenzo Magalotti. Vallisneri also followed Galilei's tracks in electing Italian as the language of choice for writing his treatises. This was a courageous choice in the scientific community of the time, which still used Latin as the “language of knowledge.”
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