Lecons sur les fonctions et les maladies du système nerveux.
Paris: Lecaplain, 1841. Two volumes in one. 8vo. [iv], 346; [iv], 364 pp. SECOND EDITION. Bound in cloth, title in gilt on spine, spine quite faded; interior lightly spotted, still a very good copy. Item #14124
Second edition of Magendie’s classic work, containing his many discoveries in experimental physiology, a number of which were important to neurophysiology. “He extensively studied the cerebrospinal fluid, which he regarded as a secretion of the pia-arachnoid membrane. Although he reversed the direction of fluid flow, his studies were the first important ones since Cotugno and included a demonstration of the median foramen of the fourth ventricle, which was named for him. Magendie was also the first to experimentally produce decerebrate rigidity, although the credit is usually given to Goltz” (MacHenry).
Magendie (1783-1855) was a prominent French physiologist and pioneer in experimental physiology. He is best known today for his groundbreaking experiments on the nervous system, though these were a celebrated source for controversy between him and Sir Charles Bell, whose results Magendie was accused of plagiarizing. Neuburger declared the elucidation of the Bell-Magendie law of the function of the spinal roots to be the greatest physiological discovery since Harvey’s demonstration of the circulation of the blood. He was also known among his contemporaries for his ruthless practices in vivisection, frequently exciting accusations of inflicting needless torture upon animal subjects, and was a major impetus for antivivisection and vivisection reform movements.
Price: $950.00