NUCK, Anton.

Lugduni Batavorum [Leiden]: Apud Jordanum Luchtmans, .1691

Small 8vo, 8 leaves (including the engraved title), 152 pages, 14 leaves, and 9 folding engraved plates. Engraved title reinforced in the gutter, tear (7cm.) in the last plate, otherwise a very good copy. Later vellum, bookplate of Herbert McLean Evans.

FIRST EDITION. Anton Nuck (1650–1692), professor of anatomy at Leiden, was distinguished for his investigations of the glands and lymphatics. In this book he first described the lymphatic network of the ovary. On pages 130 et seq. he describes the inguinal canal, called after him the “canal of Nuck”. The volume also contains (pp. 68–69) Nuck’s experiment by which he recognised the homology of the mammalian ovary with that of oviparous animals. Professor Needham calls this “very important, as one of the earliest instances of experimental procedure. He ligatured the uterine horns after copulation in a dog, and observed pregnancy afterwards, implantation having taken place above the ligature. His conclusion was that the embryo was derived from the ovary and not from the sperm…” G&M 1213. Speert, Obstetric and gynecologic milestones, pp. 95–101. Hagelin, The womans booke, pp. 76–77 (1722 edition). Needham, History of embryology, p. 144. This first edition is rare; it also appeared with a date of 1692, one year later.

Unsure of some of these terms? Click here to download a copy of Carter & Barker, ABC for Book Collectors (2006), which has full explanations.