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568, [5] pp. Engraved title-page. (12mo) 5x3, period calf, rebacked with remnants of original spine laid down. The presumed first of three Amsterdam Editions published the same year as the London first edition.

"After the publication of De motu cordis, Harvey turned his attention to the study of generation. Even if Harvey had not discovered the circulation of the blood, his remarkable work on embryology would have placed him in the front ranks of biological scientists. Without benefit of the compound microscope, his work was necessarily limited; nevertheless, nothing comparable had been done since Aristotle. He disbelieved the previously-held doctrine of 'preformation' of the fetus, maintaining instead that it proceeds from the ovum by gradual building up of its parts. Always slow to publicize his findings, Harvey was only after some years persuaded by his friend, Sir George Ent, to put them into print." (Heirs of Hippocrates). Heirs of Hippocrates 436; Osler 712; Waller 4119; Wellcome III, 220; See Garrison Morton 467.