ZAPATA, Giovanni Battista.

by Giovanni Battista Zapata

£1,950 · Offered by Sokol Books

.A good copy of the fourth edition of this popular and most interesting book of medical secrets, in Italian. Giovanni Battista Zapata (b.1520) was a physician and surgeon of Spanish origins who practised in Italy. First published in Rome in 1577 and edited by Zapata s pupil, Giuseppe Scienza, Li maravigliosi segreti deals with the treatment of a great number of ailments, and explains the preparation of the necessary remedies ; it contains a good deal of chemistry as applied to pharmacy. This makes it valuable for the history of the science, for here we get the processes employed 300 years ago for preparing certain well-known compounds, uncomplicated by any theoretical views about elements or transmutation (Ferguson). The work opens with a detailed index, head to foot, of loci discussed in the chapters, such as epilepsy can be treated with the quintessence of rosemary (used pulverised or in vapours for many other conditions) or St Anthony s fire healed with Aesculapius s water (also used to treat syphilis and the plague), as well as references to specific remedies, many invented by Zapata, e.g., our universal syrup , our remedy , our ointment , etc., mostly made from rosemary, apples, vitriol or antimony. Among hundreds of recipes are also a few surgical secrets, such as the healing of eyes by cutting the arteries on the forehead. Those easy remedies were devised to be accessible to non-professionals as well; the first chapter begins with an appeal to the popular reader: I bel

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.