Small 4to. [24], 325 pp., [47, index], [2] / pages 73-258, [2, index], 8 engraved plates, title printed in red and black, contemporary soiled vellum, spine title ink,speckled outer edges, copy in very good condition, Lugduni Batavoru, Leiden, new edition, 1745.

Synopsis

Prosperi Alpini was an Italian physician and botanist. He spent three years in Egypt studying botany and hygiene as a companion to the Venetian Consul Giorgio Emo in 1581. This work is considered among the most important works on the history of Egyptian medicine and “one of the earliest European studies of non-western medicine. Alpini’s work dealt primarily with contemporary (i.e. Arabic) practices observed during his sojourn in Egypt. These included moxibustion- the production of counter-irritation by placing burning or heated material on the skin – which Alpini introduced into European medicine … Alpini also mentioned coffee for the first time in this work” (Norman).
Jacobus Bontius or Jacques de Bondt (1592-1631) was a Dutch doctor and botanist. He travelled to Persia and Indonesia to study the botany of the two countries. He died on the island of Java, and he was the first to study cholera on the island of Batavia in 1631 before the disease was known in Europe. His work was “probably the first to regard tropical medicine as an independent branch of medical science. He spent the last four years of his life in the Dutch East Indies, and his book incorporates the experience he gained there. It is the first Dutch work on tropical medicine and includes the first modern descriptions of beri-beri and cholera” .
Caillet 230. Krivatsy 236. Wellcome II, 36. Hirsch/Hübotter I, 101 & 627. Hunt 161 (note). Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 32. Osler 1796. Waller 12509. Cf. Garrison/Morton 6468. Norman 39 (1591 first edition); Heirs 384 (1646 edition) and 463 (1642 edition)