| Item Description: | Title in red and black; date is written using the apostrophus method.
Antonello Privitera (Bibliopathos) description: 2 volumes bound together in folio, contemporary stiff vellum. 2 folding maps and 10 full page engraved plates. The copperplates depict the cardiovascular system, the maps relate to the Pontine marshes near Rome. The modern co-inventory of stamping out first edition of Lancisi's collected works including "De Bovilla Peste" (rinderpest). Rare first edition of Lancisi’s complete works containing his treatise on cardiac arrest and the other main treatise on blood circulation and aneurysm; and other studies on human and animal epidemics (malaria, horse sickness, and rinderpest), on bile, on digestive polyps, a synopsis of anatomy, a treatise of physiognomy, an history of pathology, a botanical study on mushrooms and an historical essay on Pliny’s villa. Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654-1720) was a physician [...] who made an important contribution to veterinary medicine when rinderpest (cattle plague) affected Europe in the XVIIIth century. His times, his life and career and his main contributions to medicine are described. the main features of the great epidemic of rinderpest which started in 1711 are presented. His book De bovilla peste, published in 1715, illustrates the characteristics of cattle plague and, above all, the control measures is discussed. Of the control measures, the most relevant were the introduction of stamping out, with special instructions for the killing and burial of affected animals, the prohibition of animal movements, the adoption of special hygienic and political measures. The relationships between cattle plague and poverty and famine are described, together with the actions taken to deal with them. Lancisi points out the relationship between politics and history on the one hand and cattle plague on the other. He may be considered the modern co-inventor (along with Bates) of stamping out.” (SOURCE: A. Mantovani & R. Zanetti, “Giovanni Maria Lancisi: De bovilla peste and stamping out” in: Hist Med Vet. 1993;18[4]:97-110). Lancisi also undertook important research on malaria, he pointed out that the fevers afflicting Rome and the surrounding countryside were closely related to the presence of swamps, which encouraged the multiplying of mosquitoes. By a brilliant intuition, Lancisi attributed the spread of the disease to these insects, and strongly advocated the draining of the swamps —unfortunately without success. |
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