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PURKINJE, Jan Evangelista (1787-1869) and Gabriel Gustav VALENTIN (1810-1883). De phaenomeno generali et fundamentali motus vibratorii continui in membranis cum externis tum internis animalium plurimorum et superiorum et inferiorum ordinum obvii. Commentatio physiologica. Breslau: Leopold Freund for Aug. Schulz, 1835.
4o (257 x 216 mm). Errata page at end. Interleaved throughout. (Minor foxing at beginning and end.) Contemporary pastepaper boards, gilt lettered paper spine label (joints and extremities rubbed). Provenance: Gabriel Gustav Valentin, co-author (signature and inkstamps on title, long note concerning reviews and translations of the paper on front free endpaper, manuscript additions on interleaves, very occasional marginal corrections).
FIRST EDITION, CO-AUTHOR'S WORKING COPY. "In 1832 Purkyne acquired a 'great, modern' achromatic microscope made by S. Plssl, one of the best instruments at that time. This was the beginning of a new period in his research (1832-1845), a patient and systematic investigation of structure as the material basis of life phenomena" (DSB). Many of Purkijne's "systematic and detailed studies" were carried out with the help of his students, including the brilliant young medical researcher Gabriel Gustav Valentin. The present study evolved from Valentin's own discoveries: "In the spring of 1834, while conducting reserach designed to detect eggs in vertebrates, Valentin discovered the ciliated epithelium in the oviduct of rabbits; and with Purkinje he investigated its distribution in various classes of vertebrates. They also demonstrated the influence of chemical substances on the ciliary movement and ascertained that the movement is independent of the nervous system. The importance of this research was recognized in Valentin's election to membership in the Leopoldinisch-Karolinische Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher" (DSB). The paper, which was translated into English during the same year, contributed to Valentin's reputation as an "outstanding microscopist" (ibid.), and to his appointment the following year as professor of physiology amd zootonomy at the University of Bern (noteworthy as the first appointment of a Jewish professor at a German-language university). Garrison-Morton 602; Kruta, p. 90; Norman 1766.
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FIRST EDITION, CO-AUTHOR'S WORKING COPY. "In 1832 Purkyne acquired a 'great, modern' achromatic microscope made by S. Plssl, one of the best instruments at that time. This was the beginning of a new period in his research (1832-1845), a patient and systematic investigation of structure as the material basis of life phenomena" (DSB). Many of Purkijne's "systematic and detailed studies" were carried out with the help of his students, including the brilliant young medical researcher Gabriel Gustav Valentin. The present study evolved from Valentin's own discoveries: "In the spring of 1834, while conducting reserach designed to detect eggs in vertebrates, Valentin discovered the ciliated epithelium in the oviduct of rabbits; and with Purkinje he investigated its distribution in various classes of vertebrates. They also demonstrated the influence of chemical substances on the ciliary movement and ascertained that the movement is independent of the nervous system. The importance of this research was recognized in Valentin's election to membership in the Leopoldinisch-Karolinische Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher" (DSB). The paper, which was translated into English during the same year, contributed to Valentin's reputation as an "outstanding microscopist" (ibid.), and to his appointment the following year as professor of physiology amd zootonomy at the University of Bern (noteworthy as the first appointment of a Jewish professor at a German-language university). Garrison-Morton 602; Kruta, p. 90; Norman 1766.