BELLINI, Lorenzo.

Pistorii [Pistoia]: Ex Nova Offiicina Stephani Gatti, .1695

4to, pp. (xx), 215, (1), 2 leaves (contents and errata), 3 folding plates each with several woodcut figures. Half-title. Some minor browning or foxing but a very good copy. Original paper boards, spine torn and worn at head, upper inner hinge a little loose.

FIRST EDITION. Bellini was the first Italian to systematically apply mechanical theories to medicine, particularly in his researches on the kidneys and the urinary system. However, he did not fully develop his iatromechanical ideas until the present work, which he published after encouragement from Archibald Pitcairne, the Scottish follower of Newton. Through Pitcairne’s influence his theories enjoyed an international reputation in the circles of Boerhaave, Mead, and others in the early eighteenth century. In this book, dedicated to Pitcairne, Bellini covered problems ranging from the hydraulics of intra- and extrauterine circulation to the mechanics of the villi. About half of the book is devoted to the movement of the heart, with other essays on the movement of bile, and on bloodletting.

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