SPALLANZANI, Lazzaro.

Opuscules de Physique, Animale et Végétale...

traduits de l'Italien, et augmentés d'une Introduction dans laquelle on fait connoître les découvertes microscopiques dans les trois Règnes de la Nature...par Jean Senebier...On y a joint plusieurs Lettres rélatives à ces Opuscules écrites...par Mr. Charles Bonnet & par d'autres Naturalistes célébres. Six folding engraved plates. 2 p.l., cxxiv, 255, [6] pp.; 1 p.l., 405, [3] pp. Two vols. 8vo, cont. sheep (corners & heads of spines a bit worn), spines nicely gilt, green & brown vellum lettering pieces on spines. Geneva: B. Chirol, 1777. First edition in French (1st ed., in Italian: 1776) of one of Spallanzani's most important works, containing "five reports that displayed unexcelled experimental skill, remarkable powers of observation and lucid literary talent."­D.S.B., XII, p. 557­(& see pp. 557-58 for a full discussion of this book's contents). The first volume contains Spallanzani's refutation of Needham's theories on spontaneous generation. The main treatise in the second volume confirmed and extended Leeuwenhoek's observations on spermatozoa and refuted Buffon's concepts of their nature and origin. The translation into French by Senebier is known for its accuracy. A fine, pretty, and fresh copy, with the contemporary inscription on each title: "Donné par le Trad: Charles Bonnet." Garrison-Morton 102­(1st ed.)­"Later confutation of the theory of spontaneous generation. Spallanzani's conclusions were similar to those expressed by Pasteur nearly a century later." Prandi, Spallanzani, p. 80­"Bella edizione, non comune."

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