MAYOW John Tractatus quinque medico-physici. Quorum primus agit de sal-nitro, et spiritu nitro-aereo. Secundus de respiratione. Tertius de respiratione foetus in utero, et ovo. Quartus de motu musculari, et spiritibus animalibus. Ultimus de rhachitide.

Garrison-Morton, 578 ; Fulton, 108 ; Waller, 6392 ; Wellcome, IV, p. 93 ; NLM, 7653 (without the portrait).

First edition, rare.

Important work by John Mayow (1643-1679), one of the great classics of British medicine.

“Mayow was the first to locate the seat of animal heat in the muscles ; he discovered the double articulation of the ribs with the spine and came near to discovering oxygen in his suggestion that the object of breathing was to abstract from the air a definite group of live-living “particles”. He was the first to make the definite suggestion that it is only a special fraction of the air that is of use in respiration. His Tractatus, embodying all his brilliant conclusions, is one of the best English medical classics” (Garrison-Morton).

The fine plates (including 2 folding) depict anatomical details, experiments, etc.