De iudiciis urinarum tractatus

Beschreibung

VASSÉ, Jean. De iudiciis urinarum tractatus Venice, ex officina erasmiana, Vincentii Valgrisii, 1549. £1500 8vo, pp. 70 (ii), A-D8 E4, lacking E3. Roman letter, some Italic. Printer s device on title page and verso of last. Two different ex libris on t-p: early ms. autograph by the same hand twice, later library stamp. Some light spotting and waterstaining throughout, page edges little worn. In a C19th quarter calf binding, marbled paper over boards, red morocco label with gilt title to spine. This collection of medical opinions and observations on urine draws from the works of several authoritative authors. It is preceded by an introductory letter from a certain Antonius Stupa, Rhetus , to the Italian-Swiss physician Johann Nikolaus Stupanus from Chiavenna. According to Renaissance medicine, which was based on Latin sources, such as Pliny s Natural History, just to mention only one, and Ancient Greek sources, especially Aristotle and, above all, Hippocrates and Galen, the human faculties originated mainly from three organs: brain, heart and liver. The proper or bad functioning of these organs was correctly believed to determine either illness or health. The brain regulates memory and thinking; the heart keeps our blood moving; the liver shows its health condition through urine, according to the writer. This book lists and classifies different types of urine according to their colour, odour, grade of fluidity, temperature and so on, prescribing remedies. Such features were considered to give indications on the state of the four humours in the human body, which balance was held to be crucial to good health. The author Jean Vassé was a physician and dean of the faculty of medicine at the College de France, established by King Francis I, and a professor at the University of Salamanca. He was one of the earliest translators of Galen from the Greek. At the beginning of the present work one can find a reference to Galen s commentary on Hippocrates s Epidemics, which deals also with the quality of urine and argues that one is more likely to be affected by contagion if his urine is in a poor state. This work was first printed in Paris in 1537, then in Lyon in 1544 and 1545, and in Venice in 1549. Llwyd Humphrey translated it into English in 1553 (ESTC S101781). Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1523435878705

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