J. B. G. Barbier - Traité élémentaire de matière médicale - 1819-1820

Fascinating three-volume set of this rigorous and didactic synthesis of pharmacological and therapeutic knowledge from the early 19th century, intended for medical students and practitioners.

The work is rooted in the Galenic tradition while incorporating advances in organic chemistry and medical botany, offering a systematic classification of substances based on their origin (vegetal, animal, mineral), their physiological properties (stimulant, narcotic, astringent, etc.), and their clinical uses.

Volume I presents the general principles of medical materia, notions of toxicology, pharmaceutical preparations, and galenic forms.
Volume II details plant substances, with particular attention to medicinal species, their identification, cultivation, and extraction.
Volume III covers animal and mineral substances, medicinal waters, acids, alkalis, salts, and new chemical compounds, while discussing their mode of action, dosage, and side effects.

Barbier adopts a clear and precise style, blending clinical observation, references to medical authorities (Hippocrates, Sydenham, Cullen), and experimental data, in an effort to reconcile tradition and modernity.

This treatise, both encyclopedic and practical, reflects the hygienist and rationalist concerns of its time, while paving the way for the pharmacological reforms of the 19th century.

J. B. G. Barbier - Elementary Treatise of Medical Matter - 1819/1820 - Volumes I, II, and III - Méquignon-Marvis
1852 Pages

Good condition of the bindings, works in their brown half calf leather of edition, marbled boards, signs of wear, lower spine of volume 3 missing, wear on corners and edges, marbled edges, smooth ornated spine, gilded titles and volume numbers.

Good interior condition, some foxing, small vignette on the title page, marbled endpapers.

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