Details
BONOMO, Giovan Cosimo (1666-1696) [and Giacinto CESTONI (1637-1718)]. Osservazioni intorno a' pellicelli del corpo umano. Florence: Piero Matini, 1687.
4o (229 x 173 mm). Collation: A10. 10 leaves (A10 blank). One engraved plate showing 15 figures of scabies mites. Woodcut device on title, woodcut initial, typographic headpiece ornament (Single small wormhole through text, engraved plate cropped at bottom.) 17th-century mottled calf (refinished).
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PROOF OF A TRANSMISSIBLE INFECTION BY A MICROPARASITE. A student of Francesco Redi, Bonomo was inspired by his teacher's research disproving the prevailing theory of the spontaneous generation of insects to investigate the etiology of scabies. Aided by the apothecary Giacinto Cestoni, a fellow disciple of Redi who had specialized in the study of the generation of insects, Bonomo demonstrated that scabies is caused by mites, previously thought to be a consequence rather than a cause of the disease. The two scientists' investigation, described in this pamphlet, which is couched in the form of a letter to Redi, was conducted along the lines of the new experimental approach to science that gained legitimacy in Europe during the latter half of the 17th century: "With the aid of a microscope, it was demonstrated that this arachnid reproduces by means of eggs and that it possesses an oral apparatus with which it penetrates the skin. Hence, Bonomo resolved to adopt local therapy aimed at killing the mites, instead of the general therapy that had previously been used. The results thus obtained enabled him to conclude that the mites were the cause of the disease. It followed that scabies is transmitted by the mites from a victim to a healthy person" (DSB). This conclusion was of great import, for it "gave researchers grounds to think in terms of objective, exogenous pathogenic agents as the cause of disease" (Garrison-Morton). RARE.
Garrison-Morton 4012; Heirs of Hippocrates 716; NLM/Krivatsy 1522; Waller 1288; Wellcome II, p. 201; Norman 265.
4o (229 x 173 mm). Collation: A10. 10 leaves (A10 blank). One engraved plate showing 15 figures of scabies mites. Woodcut device on title, woodcut initial, typographic headpiece ornament (Single small wormhole through text, engraved plate cropped at bottom.) 17th-century mottled calf (refinished).
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PROOF OF A TRANSMISSIBLE INFECTION BY A MICROPARASITE. A student of Francesco Redi, Bonomo was inspired by his teacher's research disproving the prevailing theory of the spontaneous generation of insects to investigate the etiology of scabies. Aided by the apothecary Giacinto Cestoni, a fellow disciple of Redi who had specialized in the study of the generation of insects, Bonomo demonstrated that scabies is caused by mites, previously thought to be a consequence rather than a cause of the disease. The two scientists' investigation, described in this pamphlet, which is couched in the form of a letter to Redi, was conducted along the lines of the new experimental approach to science that gained legitimacy in Europe during the latter half of the 17th century: "With the aid of a microscope, it was demonstrated that this arachnid reproduces by means of eggs and that it possesses an oral apparatus with which it penetrates the skin. Hence, Bonomo resolved to adopt local therapy aimed at killing the mites, instead of the general therapy that had previously been used. The results thus obtained enabled him to conclude that the mites were the cause of the disease. It followed that scabies is transmitted by the mites from a victim to a healthy person" (DSB). This conclusion was of great import, for it "gave researchers grounds to think in terms of objective, exogenous pathogenic agents as the cause of disease" (Garrison-Morton). RARE.
Garrison-Morton 4012; Heirs of Hippocrates 716; NLM/Krivatsy 1522; Waller 1288; Wellcome II, p. 201; Norman 265.