first edition Printed paper covers
1860 · Paris
by Serres, Etienne Renaud Augustin
Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1860. First edition.
1860 LANDMARK FRENCH TREATISE ON COMPARATIVE TERATOLOGY WITH 25 LARGE LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES.
23x28x8 cm original printed paper covers, paper wrappers. [1], i-xv, 942 pp, errata, 25 large folding lithographic plates as liste in text. Wear to spine edges, binding tight, text and plates unmarked, bright and clean. Very good in custom clamshell box covered in brown linen, black leather gilt title label to spine. DESCRIBED IN S. J. GOULD Ontogeny & Phylogeny: "If different parts of the fetus can develop at different rates, then "monstrosities" will arise when certain parts lag behind and retain, at birth, the character of some lower animal. And if, as Serres believed, development is regulated by a formative force of some kind, then a local arrest indicates a local deficiency of force; it might, in principle, be curable. "If the formative force of man or the higher vertebrates is arrested in its impulse, it reproduces the organic arrangements of lower animals …. These cases of pathologic anatomy are only a prolonged embryogeny" (Serres, 1830, pp. 48-49). ... Serres (1860, pp. 534-549) dissected a seriously deformed fetus that lacked a head (Fig. 3). Since clams are the highest acephalous invertebrates, Serres sought other points of resemblance with mollusks in attempting to identify the stage of arrest for this monstrosity. He noted that its placenta was too small for adequate respiration and identified some pockets and sinuses on the back, shoulder, and arms as organs of accessory cutaneous respiration; these were filled with liquid and surrounded by arteries and veins. Thus, recapitulation served as a useful hypothesis to direct inquiry: the lack of a head suggested a position within the Mollusca; this aictated a search for cutaneous respiration.'' (The Mollusca, as presently defined, rely very little upon their mantle for respiration; Serres had in mind the brachiopod Lingula and the tunicates. Both are placed in different phyla today.) Serres also applies his theory of developmental arrests to less undescended testicles of many men to the permanent state of fishes (1860, p. 493). … Serres waxes so enthusiastic about his theory of teratology that at several points he reverses his perspective and identifies living invertebrates as human malformations: "In effect, invertebrates are often only living monstrosities, if we compare them to perfect vertebrates" (p. 368)."
ETIENNE RENAUD AUGUSTIN SERRES (1786-1868) was trained in Paris and received his medical degree in 1810. From 1808 to 1822 he worked at the Hôtel-Dieu. In 1820 he was awarded the prize for physiological research by the Académie des Sciences and the following year gained a special prize for his two-volume work on the comparative anatomy of the brains of vertebrate animals. In 1822, he was appointed chief medical officer at the Hôpital de la Pitié. He was elected to the Académie de médecine in 1822 and to the Académie des Sciences in 1828. In 1839, he preceded Flourens as professor of comparative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes and two years later became president of the Académie des sciences. Serres studied the comparative anatomy of a number of vertebrate organs. He noted that many organs start from a number of isolated centers, which eventually unite to form a single adult organ. In his general approach to the nature of life and the harmony between the organs he was clearly influenced by Cuvier, who mentioned Serres's work with admiration. Serres's theoretical position was more closely akin to that of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Serres believed that there was only one underlying animal type and that in the course of their development, the organs of the higher animals repeated the form of the equivalent organs in lower organisms.". (DSB XII pp. 315/316). (Inventory #: 1631)
1860 LANDMARK FRENCH TREATISE ON COMPARATIVE TERATOLOGY WITH 25 LARGE LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES.
23x28x8 cm original printed paper covers, paper wrappers. [1], i-xv, 942 pp, errata, 25 large folding lithographic plates as liste in text. Wear to spine edges, binding tight, text and plates unmarked, bright and clean. Very good in custom clamshell box covered in brown linen, black leather gilt title label to spine. DESCRIBED IN S. J. GOULD Ontogeny & Phylogeny: "If different parts of the fetus can develop at different rates, then "monstrosities" will arise when certain parts lag behind and retain, at birth, the character of some lower animal. And if, as Serres believed, development is regulated by a formative force of some kind, then a local arrest indicates a local deficiency of force; it might, in principle, be curable. "If the formative force of man or the higher vertebrates is arrested in its impulse, it reproduces the organic arrangements of lower animals …. These cases of pathologic anatomy are only a prolonged embryogeny" (Serres, 1830, pp. 48-49). ... Serres (1860, pp. 534-549) dissected a seriously deformed fetus that lacked a head (Fig. 3). Since clams are the highest acephalous invertebrates, Serres sought other points of resemblance with mollusks in attempting to identify the stage of arrest for this monstrosity. He noted that its placenta was too small for adequate respiration and identified some pockets and sinuses on the back, shoulder, and arms as organs of accessory cutaneous respiration; these were filled with liquid and surrounded by arteries and veins. Thus, recapitulation served as a useful hypothesis to direct inquiry: the lack of a head suggested a position within the Mollusca; this aictated a search for cutaneous respiration.'' (The Mollusca, as presently defined, rely very little upon their mantle for respiration; Serres had in mind the brachiopod Lingula and the tunicates. Both are placed in different phyla today.) Serres also applies his theory of developmental arrests to less undescended testicles of many men to the permanent state of fishes (1860, p. 493). … Serres waxes so enthusiastic about his theory of teratology that at several points he reverses his perspective and identifies living invertebrates as human malformations: "In effect, invertebrates are often only living monstrosities, if we compare them to perfect vertebrates" (p. 368)."
ETIENNE RENAUD AUGUSTIN SERRES (1786-1868) was trained in Paris and received his medical degree in 1810. From 1808 to 1822 he worked at the Hôtel-Dieu. In 1820 he was awarded the prize for physiological research by the Académie des Sciences and the following year gained a special prize for his two-volume work on the comparative anatomy of the brains of vertebrate animals. In 1822, he was appointed chief medical officer at the Hôpital de la Pitié. He was elected to the Académie de médecine in 1822 and to the Académie des Sciences in 1828. In 1839, he preceded Flourens as professor of comparative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes and two years later became president of the Académie des sciences. Serres studied the comparative anatomy of a number of vertebrate organs. He noted that many organs start from a number of isolated centers, which eventually unite to form a single adult organ. In his general approach to the nature of life and the harmony between the organs he was clearly influenced by Cuvier, who mentioned Serres's work with admiration. Serres's theoretical position was more closely akin to that of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Serres believed that there was only one underlying animal type and that in the course of their development, the organs of the higher animals repeated the form of the equivalent organs in lower organisms.". (DSB XII pp. 315/316). (Inventory #: 1631)
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