First edition of the Ortus medicinae by Jean Baptiste Helmont (1577-1644), a Belgian mystic and a chemist following in the tradition of Paracelsus (1493-1541), the Swiss German who, next to philosopher, physician, botanist, astrologer and occultist, was seen as the founder of toxicology. With this work, published four years after his death by his son, Helmont establishes his name as one of the founders of biochemistry, and as a significant figure in the history of medicine. Due to the mystical elements in the book it was going against Church dogma, and was therefore published in the Protestant Netherlands, instead of in Catholic Southern Netherlands. It became his most successful work, and was issued with the second enlarged edition of Opuscula medica inaudita (first published in 1644). Both works are dealing with the treatment of disorders like leprosy, epilepsy and paralysis, of fevers, including stonefever, and the different Galenic humors.
Included in the present copy is an account of the plague. Due to his works on digestion and gases Helmont was seen as the founder of pneumatic chemistry and became the most prominent chemist of the first half of the 17th century. Some underscoring throughout; lower part of spine damaged, hinges partly broken, and the corners slightly rubbed. Good copies. Ad 1: Garrison&Morton 665; Heirs of Hippocrates 409; PMM 135; ad2: Dijstelberge, Plague and print, pp. 117-118.