The primary work in 8 volumes. Various paginations. Engraved portrait frontispiece in first volume; 6 engraved plates. The secondary work comprising four parts bound together in one volume. Together 9 quarto volumes, uniform later half calf and speckled boards, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt. Volumes 1-5 are first editions, Volumes 6-8 are Second Editions. The Supplemental volume is the First Edition.
The first comprehensive treatise of physiology, with much of the information coming directly from research work done by Haller (1708-1777) himself, mostly conducted at Göttingen. “This massive work, containing structural, physiological and chemical analyses of every part of the body, constituted Haller’s most important contribution to the development of physiology. It included his work on muscle irritability, nutrition, reproduction, the circulatory system, respiration, excretion and secretion, and psychobiology, with all reported theories and experiments supported by copious notes and references. Haller reported several physiological discoveries in this work that were later forgotten, to be rediscovered only many years later; among these were his myogenic theory of the heartbeat and the role of bile in the digestion of fats.”--Norman Library 975. “A vast and well-systematized storehouse of physiological knowledge, replete with citation and an incredible number of accurate references to literature.”--Fulton/Wilson, Selected Readings in the History of Physiology, p. 81. “Haller synthesized the whole physiological knowledge of his time. In the above, probably his greatest work, Haller included some anatomical descriptions which were most valuable. He is said to have written more than 1300 scientific papers.”--Garrison-Morton 588, listing the first edition as Lausanne, Berne, 1757-1766. Blake, p. 195, listing a mixed set identical to ours. Wellcome, III, p. 199. Blocker, p. 177. Heirs of Hippocrates 557. Neu 1823, also listing a mixed set identical to ours. Osler 1148. Reynolds, I, 1812. Waller 4007. Catalogue of the Library of the Royal College of Physicians of London, p. 545. Pybus 882. British Library Catalogue (Readex edition), Vol. 11, p. 540, col. 447, also listing a mixed set identical to ours. Lundsgaard-Fischer, Haller Bibliography, 284. DSB, VI, pp. 61-67. Hirsch, III, pp. 33-35.