ORTUS MEDICINAE ID EST INITIA PHYSICAE INAUDITA
PROGRESSUS MEDICINAE NOVUS IN MORBORUM ULTIONEM AD VITAM LONGAM
AUTHORE IOANNE BAPTISTA VAN HELMONT
EDENTE AUTHORIS FILIO FRANCISCO MERCURIO VAN HELMONT
AMSTERODAMI
APUD LUDOVICUM ELZEVIRUM
MDCLII
OPUSCULA MEDICA INAUDITA
DE LITHIASI, DE FEBRIBUS, DE HUMORIBVUS GALENI, DE PESTE
EDITIO TERTIA MULTO EMENDATIOR
AMSTELODAMI
APUD LUDOVICUM ELZEVIRIUM
MDCLII
Contents: (19)+894+(48). In 8 (8.3 x 6.3 in; 210 x 160 mm) Weight Kg. 1,162. 2 vols. Loss in the upper edge of title page.
Condition of contents: Good conditions. Occasional foxings. One frontspice with portrait of Jan Baptiste Van Helmont (1580-1644) and his son Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont (1618-1699). An additional figurated frontspice of Van Helmont “Opera Omnia” edition of Francofurti, apud Hier. Christ. Paulli with different allegorical symbols. Vertical folding and worn edges.
Antique manuscript in the verso of title page with many referings to Paracelso and amulets. Some losses of text in the upper edge.
Condition of binding: Leather cover in fair conditions ligtly worn in the edges.
Edition of 1652 of “Ortus medicinae” the masterwork of the chemistry physiologist and physics Jan Baptiste Van Helmont (1580-1644) in which he elaborated his first ideas and studies about digestion.
Van Helmont worked next to Paracelso and he is sometimes considered the establisher of "pneumatics chemistry
Van Helmont published virtually nothing during his lifetime until the collection of medical treatises, the "Opuscula medica", published in the year of his death and again with the "Ortus medicinae". Pagel (pp.13-14) points out that the "Ortus medicinae" was not a compilation of miscellaneous manuscripts arranged by his son, Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont (1618-1699), but was conceived as whole by Van Helmont himself. The second volume, with indipendent title page, consists of Van Helmont's four Opuscula Medica (De Lithiasi, De Febribus, De Humoribus Galeni and De Peste).A significant book in the history of medicine, with this second edition considered the best of the two editions as it includes the third edition of Van Helmont's Opuscula Medica and a new index.