Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 851

CLAUDE NICOLAS LECAT (1700-1768) Traité des sens. Chez J. Wetstein 1744 Nouvelle ed. [16] 328 pp., 16 plates (4 fold.). 19.7 cm.

Le Cat, a man of many interests, was one of France's foremost surgeons and researchers. Perhaps better known as a skilled and accomplished lithotomist, Le Cat was also interested in the physiology of the nervous system. He was a contemporary of Haller (see No. 880 ff.) and incorrectly believed, contrary to Haller, that the dura mater and arachnoid were the seat of sensation. It was Haller who first clearly localized the functions of sensation and motion in the brain and determined that sensation and muscular contraction were mediated by the nerves. In keeping with the theories of his day, Le Cat postulated that the nerve force was a fluid which passed through tiny canals within the nerves. Le Cat opposed Haller's doctrine of irritability even though he reported in his essay some of the same results as Haller. Nevertheless Le Cat stated that his clinical experience led him to believe that the brain tissue possesses significant sensitivity which, of course, it does not. The first two editions of the present work were published at Rouen in 1740 and 1742. The publisher of this third edition states in the Avertissement that the other editions were so full of errors that Le Cat felt it necessary to issue a new edition, update the subject matter, and add new illustrations. The book's six sections include an introduction to sensation, touch, taste, smell, hearing, and vision, which constitutes the major portion of the text.

See Related Record(s): 880

Cited references: Wellcome III, p. 468

Gift of John Martin, M.D.