An anatomical exposition of the structure of the human body
Publisher Information: London: Printed for N. Prevost, 1733.
Winslow, Jacques Benigne (1669-1760). An anatomical exposition of the structure of the human body . . . Translated from the French original, by G. Douglas, M.D. 2 vols. in 1, 4to. [2], [v]-xx, xv, 152, 182, [2]; iv, [6], 210, 145, [11]pp. 4 folding engraved plates after Eustachius. London: Printed for N. Prevost, 1733. 256 x 194 mm. 18th-century tree calf, rebacked preserving original gilt spine with leather label, light rubbing and wear. Fine, clean copy. 18th-century ownership signature on both front endpapers and the front flyleaf.
First Edition in English, Incorporating the First English Translation of Stensen’s Discours sur l’anatomie du cerveau. In our experience the English translation is rarer on the market than the original French edition of 1732.
Winslow’s Anatomical Exposition was the first book on descriptive anatomy to discard physiological details and hypothetical explanations foreign to the subject; it was the most influential general treatise on anatomy between the work of Vesalius and Bichat. Winslow did much to condense and systematize what was known, especially in regard to such matters as the origin and insertion, and nomenclature of the different muscles. The foramen between the greater and lesser sacs of the peritoneum is named for him. In neurology, Winslow designated the ganglion chain “the grand sympathetic nerve,” and the smaller branches, “the lesser sympathetic”—terms which remain in use today.
In the second volume of the 1732 French edition Winslow reprinted Stensen’s famous Discours sur l’anatomie du cerveau (1669), which Winslow took as the model and inspiration for his own work. The English translation of Winslow’s work represents the first edition in English of Stensen’s important text, in which he proved anatomically that the pineal gland was not the seat of the soul; it appears on pp. 56-72 of the second volume. See Garrison-Morton.com 394; 1314. McHenry, Garrison’s History of Neurology, p. 93.
Book Id: 50679Price: $2,750.00