CANGIAMILA, Francesco Emanuello Embriologia Sacra. Overo dell' uffizio de' sacerdoti, medici, e superiori, circa l' eterna salute de' bambini racchiusi nell' utero... Palermo, Francesco Valenza, 1745
4to (205 x 146 mm), pp xxxii 326 [2], with double-page engraved plate; a fine copy in contemporary vellum. £1000
First edition, an obstetrics manual for the use of priests and doctors concerning the theological implications of the embryo in utero. The work considers such questions as the justification of abortion, death in utero, Caesarean section, baptism of fetuses, etc. There is much discussion concerning the point at which the soul informs the embryo, i.e. at what point the fetus becomes a person. The plate illustrates the development of the embryo from egg to term.
Blake p. 77; NUC: MnU NNNAM
£1000
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