Details
[MARIOTTE, Edm (d. 1684)]. Nouvelle dcouverte touchant la vee. Paris: Frederic Leonard, 1668.
4o (239 x 174 mm). Woodcut device on title, woodcut diagram. (Some pale dampstaining.) Late 17th- or early 18th-century mottled calf, spine calf (minor wear to extremities); cloth folding case.
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE BLIND SPOT IN THE EYE. Mariotte's first work immediately embroiled him in a controversy that lasted until his death over the seat of vision. His experiments to determine what happened to light rays striking the base of the optic nerve led him to the discovery of the blind spot, or defect of vision in the eye, as he called it. As a result he abandoned the traditional view that images in the eye are formed on the retina, and became involved in a dispute over this with his fellow academician, the anatomist Jean Pecquet. A series of experiments carried out before the Academy in August 1669 widened the area of disagreement between the two, as did Perrault's support of Pecquet. Pecquet's letter disputing Mariotte's claim is included in this work. VERY RARE. Garrison-Morton 1481.1; Norman 1439.
[Bound after:]
[PERRAULT, Claude (1613-1688)]. Extrait d'une lettre crite Monsieur de la Chambre, qui contient les observations qui ont est faites sur un grand Poisson dissequ dans la Bibliotheque du Roy, le vingt-quatrime Juin 1667 -Observations qui ont et faites sur un Lion dissequ dans la Bibliotheque du Roy, le ving-huictime Juin 1667. Paris: Frederic Leonard, 1667.
4o. 2 folding engraved plates. Collation: A-C2; D-G2 (drop- titles on A1 and D1, respectively; apparently published without separate title-page). 14 leaves. FIRST EDITION of Perrault's anonymous first publication in comparative anatomy, describing the dissections of a lion and thresher shark from the royal menagerie. VERY RARE. Cole, Comparative Anatomy, pp. 393-425; Norman 1685.
[Bound after:]
[PERRAULT, Claude]. Description anatomique d'un cameleon, du'un castor, d'un dromedaire, d'un ours, et d'une gazelle. Paris: Frederic Leonard, 1669.
4o. 5 folding engraved plates by Sebastien LeClerc (one with tear repaired). FIRST EDITION. Although some of the discoveries which Perrault and his group of anatomists (known as the "Parisians") most prided themselves had been observed earlier, "no such detailed and exact descriptions and illustrations had been published before" (DSB). NLM/Krivatsy 8800; Norman 1686.
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FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE BLIND SPOT IN THE EYE. Mariotte's first work immediately embroiled him in a controversy that lasted until his death over the seat of vision. His experiments to determine what happened to light rays striking the base of the optic nerve led him to the discovery of the blind spot, or defect of vision in the eye, as he called it. As a result he abandoned the traditional view that images in the eye are formed on the retina, and became involved in a dispute over this with his fellow academician, the anatomist Jean Pecquet. A series of experiments carried out before the Academy in August 1669 widened the area of disagreement between the two, as did Perrault's support of Pecquet. Pecquet's letter disputing Mariotte's claim is included in this work. VERY RARE. Garrison-Morton 1481.1; Norman 1439.
[Bound after:]
[PERRAULT, Claude (1613-1688)]. Extrait d'une lettre crite Monsieur de la Chambre, qui contient les observations qui ont est faites sur un grand Poisson dissequ dans la Bibliotheque du Roy, le vingt-quatrime Juin 1667 -Observations qui ont et faites sur un Lion dissequ dans la Bibliotheque du Roy, le ving-huictime Juin 1667. Paris: Frederic Leonard, 1667.
4
[Bound after:]
[PERRAULT, Claude]. Description anatomique d'un cameleon, du'un castor, d'un dromedaire, d'un ours, et d'une gazelle. Paris: Frederic Leonard, 1669.
4