Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1098

PAOLO MASCAGNI (1752-1815) Prodrome d'un ouvrage sur le système des vaisseaux lymphatiques. Chez Vincent Pazzini Carli & fils 1784 vii [1] 52 pp., 4 fold. plates. 25.8 cm.

Mascagni, educated at Siena, was successively professor of anatomy at Siena, Pisa, and Florence. While professor of anatomy at Siena, he presented this work in competition for a prize offered by the Paris Academy of Sciences on the subject of the lymphatic system. The results of Mascagni's research were late in arriving at the Academy but he was nevertheless awarded a special prize for his work. When the Academy announced a new prize competition for 1789, Mascagni published his treatise in French in order to protect the priority of his discoveries. Here Mascagni presents his past studies on the complexities of the lymphatic system and the results of his observations dating back to 1777. Of particular interest are his simple and ingenious injection techniques using mercury. Although the title page indicates that there are twenty-four plates in the book, only four plates are included. All four were used again in his larger and much more extensive work on the lymphatics published in 1787 (see No. 1099). This work was first translated into English by John Martin, M.D. of Clarinda, Iowa in 1986.

See Related Record(s): 1099

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, p. 315; Cushing M170

Gift of John Martin, M.D.