Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Sales catalogue 520: Maggs Bros. Source: Wellcome Collection.
20/710 page 12
![1476 A.D. [7a] DIODORUS SICULUS. _ Bibliothecae historicae libri VI. (Translated by Poggius}—Corneli Taciti Germania. Roman Letter, 36 lines to a page. First page of text decorated with illuminated initial in gold and colours, and Coat-of-Arms of the original owner. Folio. Boards, leather back. | Venice, Andreas de Paltasichts, 31 January, 1476-7. £52 Ios Hain 6189. Pellechet 4267. Proctor 4421. British Museum Cat. Incun., Vol. V, E25 LL: 3 Complete with the blank leaf (F.3). Wirst book printed at this press, of which the total recorded output is five books. Second Edition of Diodorus. Our principal authorities for the state of Egyptian medicine during the fifth century B.C. are Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus.’? (Garrison). Compare also Neuburger-Playfair I, p. 23, 29, 30. 1478 A.D. [7B] LACTANTIUS. Opera omnia. Printed in Roman Letters with the Greek quotations in Greek Letrers, 37 long lines to a full page. Capital spaces, some with guide-letters. Initials painted in red and blue, and text rubricated. Folio. Half bound (stained). Venice, Johannes de Colonia, and Johann Manthen, 27th August, 1478. £36 Hain *9814. Proctor 4832. No copy in the Bodleian Library. British Museum Catalogue, Vol. V, p. 2388. ‘| ONLY FOUR COPIES IN U.S.A. (ACCORDING TO CENSUS). ‘* A fruitful field offered itself to the Fathers in the teleological view of the human body. Lactantius (died c. 325) in his work, De opificio dei has treated the subject in comprehensive fashion in its anatomical, physiological and psychological bearings. In his description of the internal organs of reproduction and in particular of their bilateral position, Lactantius instances the findings in animal cadavers. The two theories upon the origin of semen: ex medullis, ex omni corpore, are held to be uncertain. Male embryos spring from the right side, female from the left. Development begins, not with the heart, but with the head, as may be seen from observation of embryos of birds. Determination of sex depends upon the predominance of male or female seed, but it is not always a matter of: indifference whether conception occurs in the right (male) or left (female) half of the uterus; thereby is explained the origin of male individuals with feminine characteristics and vice-versa. In his psychology Lactantius takes notice of the different theories, and whilst leaning to the assumption that the site of reason is in the head, maintains a sceptical attitude on the subject.”’ (Meinirger-Playfair).](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31647327_0020.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
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