No. 95862813

Daniel Duncan - Explication nouvelle et mechanique des actions animales - 1678
No. 95862813

Daniel Duncan - Explication nouvelle et mechanique des actions animales - 1678
Very rare first edition of the first work by Daniel Duncan (Montauban 1649 - London 1735), a French physician of Scottish origin. It notably contains the results of the dissections on the brain carried out by the author, who here gives the first description of the "Cavum Septi Pellucidi", also called "Duncan's Ventricle".
Daniel Duncan drew inspiration from the writings of Thomas Willis (1621-1675) to propose a mechanistic neurophysiology of motor skills and perceptions, more elaborate than that of René Descartes (1596-1650) although still based on the concept of “animal spirits” running through the nervous system in the form of “undulations”. Denying the role that Descartes attributes to the pineal gland as the seat of the soul, denying any activity to the cerebral ventricles, Duncan assigns the most elaborate cerebral activity to the “grooved bodies”, that is to say to the central gray nuclei, and to the “ashen substance”, the cortex.
These concepts make Duncan a precursor of our current neurophysiology, without neglecting his attempt to determine the cerebral locations of memory and imagination.
A fine copy in period binding, brown calf, decorated spine, gilt-iron fleurons, red speckled edges.
Condition: Binding well preserved, small missing fragment on headcap, slight rubbing. Fresh and clean interior, tear without loss on pages 407 to 410. Very good condition.
Daniel Duncan
New and mechanical explanation of animal actions. Where the functions of the soul are treated. With an easy method for demonstrating exactly all the parts of the brain, without cutting its own substance. And a discourse on its formation.
Paris, At Jean D'Houry's, 1678
in-12 (16 x 9.5 cm); 8ff. 447-(2) pp.
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