MICHELE TROJA (1747-1827)

Esperienze intorno alla rigenerazione delle ossa, al callo delle fratture, ed alla forza che la natura impiega in allungar le ossa mentre crescono. ... Napoli, nella stamperia Simoniana, 1779


§ Large 8vo (200 x 175.); XIX, [1], 288 pp., signature a1-10, A-S1-8; VIII engraved folding plates, 1 folding table. Contemporary vellum, blind-tooled arabesque on both centre-boards, labelled title-piece . Some browning at the plates, but very fine copy.

First Italian edition, previously published in Latin in 1775. Michele Troja is widely renowned for his works on the formation of bone callus and on bone nutrition and regeneration. “For this work, which continued that of Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau, he was nominated corresponding member of the Paris Academy and was invited by Diderot to write a number of articles for the supplement of the Encyclopédie.” (Castellani). Back in Naples, he obtained the chair of ophtalmology and published a collection of his lectures on the subject; he also wrote important works in urology also inventin the flexible catheter. “Troja in 1775 wrote in Latinh his work on the bones. Then, in 1779 he reprinted it in Italian, adding two memoirs, one on the regeneration of the bones of quadrupeds; the other on the singular structure of the tibia and cubit in frogs and toads, with some experiences on the regeneration of the entire legs of the same animals. ... “Michele Troja ... a laissé à la posterité un grand nombre d’ouvrages dignes des plus grands maîtres.” (Orloff - Duval).
Ref: De Renzi Storia della medicina in Italia Napoli, 1848, V, pp. 211-214 and passim; Grégoire Orloff, Amaury Duval Mémoire historiques, politiques et littéraires sur le Royaume de Naples Paris, 1821, vol V pp. 40-41; Carlo Castellani, Troja, Michele In: encyclopedia.com