A notice of the life and writings of Valescus de Tarenta / by Frederick P. Henry.

  • Henry, Frederick Porteus, 1844-1919.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A notice of the life and writings of Valescus de Tarenta / by Frederick P. Henry. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The marks of the bookworm are visible in the Tractatus, but not in the Philonium. According to Blades, the ravages of this animal have been greatly restricted during the last century, a fact which he attributed to the diminished production of edible books. Its devastations are illustrated by a plate in the work entitled “Ene- mies of Books/’ by the author just quoted, which represents two leaves of a Caxton almost completely destroyed by the worm. It is not to be wondered at that it has been anathematized by scholars, whose mildest epithets have been “bestia audax” and “pestis char- tarum.” Blades ends his chapter on the bookworm with the fol- lowing reference to a statement in Ringwalt’s “Encyclopedia of Printing” (1881): “There is now, he says, evidently regarding it as a great curiosity, “in a private library in Philadelphia a book per- forated by this insect.” “O lucky Philadelphians!” exclaims Blades, “who can boast of possessing the oldest library in the States, but must ask leave of a private collector if they wish to see the one worm-hole in the city.” This reproach is no longer merited. In the magnificent collection of Incunabula (compris- ing 501 titles) presented by Mr. Widener to the Free Library of Philadelphia the bibliophile will find frequent opportunities to vex his righteous soul over the irreparable damage inflicted by this pestis chartarum. As we advance in life and, as it pleases us to believe, in wisdom we live more and more in the memory of past events, the outlines of which are gilded by the declining sun. We insensibly become laadatores temporis acti, and are partial judges of events in which we ourselves have taken part. There can be, however, no illusion concerning the work done by our medical forefathers— “The dead but sceptered monarchs, who still rule Our spirits from their urns.” If I have succeeded in inspiring you with additional interest in the work of the fathers, and especially in that of the pious old Por- tuguese, Valescus de Tarenta, my task will not have been in vain. BIBLIOGRAPHY. (1) Eloy: Dictionnaire historique de la Medecine, 1778, Vol. IV. (2) Astruc: Memoires pour servir a l’histoire de la faculte de Medecine de Montpellier. (3) Castellanus: Vitae Illustrium Medicorum. (4) Vanderlinden: De Scriptis Medicis. (5) Pelissier: Oration in Astruc. (6) Ephemerides Medicales de Montpellier, Vol. V. (7) 1 homas, Eugene: Essai historique et descriptif sur Mont- pellier, 1836. (8) Plain: Repertorium Bibliographicum. (9) Dodonaeus: Medicinalium Observationum Exempla Rara, T521 [I5^i (?)]. This book bears date of 1521 on the title page, 1584 at the close of the dedication, and 1581 at the close of the preface, or “Lectori Salutem.”