‘Those first forgotten particles’

Abstract

Chapter 5. ‘Those first forgotten particles: Diatribae duae medico-philosophicae (1659–1687)’ provides a detailed bibliography, using the system described in chapter 4, of sixteen copies of Willis’s first published book in which are included three treatises: 1. De fermentatione; 2. De febribus; and 3. De urinis. The treatises on fermentation and fevers were translated and published in Dutch, together with the short work on scurvy (first published in 1667); and, alone amongst Willis’s writings, the treatise on urines was translated and published in French. These descriptions are preceded by a narrative highlighting the main bibliographic issues that characterize the various editions, states, and issues of these copies. Of these, some are already known but others newly identified. {117 words}