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FONTANA, Traité sur le venin de la vipère, 1781
FONTANA, Félix.
Traité sur le venin de la vipère, sur les poisons américains, sur le laurier-cerise et sur quelques autres poisons végétaux.
Paris, Nyon l'ainé, 1781.
Two volumes 4to (270x202 mm), xxviii-328 pages / xi-373 pages and 10 plates. binding : Contemporary quarter sheep, gilt flat spines. Covers worn. Title pages restored.
First french edition.
Fontana relates numerous experiments in which he injects venoms and poisons into animals (rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, etc.). The majority of the work is devoted to a systematic study of viper venom but it also addresses plant poisons, such as Ticunas (probably Curare) reported on poisoned arrows from the Amazon. He is thus one of the first to approach toxicology experimentally.
references: Garrison-Morton [2103 : "In 1781 Fontana issued a greatly expanded 2-volume edition in French, including vegetable poisons, and a section on "American poisons"] Heirs of Hippocrate [997 : "In 1781 Fontana revised and enlarged his original treatise and added other essays, publishing the entire work in French."].
provenance: Sticker from Prize Moreau de la Sarthe in 1829.
Price : 350 €
European VAT number: FR87515091171
© Eric Zink, Antiquarian Bookseller