667

THE NOVISSIMA IDEA DE FEBRIBUS OF

JACOBUS SYLVIUS. ~
By T. P. C. KIRKPATRICK.

N 1686 there was published in Dublin a thin octavo volume with

I the title Novissima Idea de Febribus. The work is in Latin and
the author, Jacobus Sylvius, describes himself as a Doctor of
Medicine of the Medical College of Holland, and a member of the
DUBL~'~ SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE.
The book is of interest as one of the few purely medical books
published in Dublin in the seventeenth century, and also because
it presents a curious problem in bibliography.
Of the author himself we know very little. He tells us that
he was a Hollander, and we know that a man of his name, pro-
bably himself, who came from Dordrecht, entered on the Physic
line at Leyden University on January 18th, 1666-67, at the age
of nineteen years. Although he describes himself as Med. Doct.
Batavo Co~legii Medici, he does not appear to have graduated in
the University of Leyden. The late Dr. R. W. Innes Smith,
author of that admirable work, English-speaking Students of
Medicinv at the University of Lsyd~n, whose recent death all
students of medical history and lovers of good scholarship must
deplore, told me that the name of Jacobus Sylvius does not
appear in the Acta of the Leyden University, which contains the
names, and the titles of their theses, of all those who graduated
at Leyden from 1655 onwards. The entry, under the date
J a n u a r y 18, 1666/7, of " Jacobus Sylvius Dordrechtanus, 19.M.",
which is given in the Album Studio sorum Academia~ Lugduna
BaSawe, appears, as we have said, to record the entry of our
author on the study of medicine in that university at the age of
nineteen years. I have not found recorded anywhere a copy of
the thesis which he may have presented for his doctor's degree.
When Sylvius came to Ireland we do not know, but Gilbert, in
his Histo~:y of Dublin, describes him as one of the original
members of the Dublin Philosophical Society, which was founded
in 1684 by Sir William Petty, William Molyneux and others
" agreeably to the design of the Royal Society in London." To
the Proceedings of that Society, Gilbert tells us, he made one
communication, De Acida Urinoso, but the paper does not appear
to have been referred to in the Transactions of the Royal Society,
where such papers were usually printed.
In the dedication in his book to William Stuart, Viscount
Mountjoy, and to the members of the Dublin Philosophical Society,
Sylvius tells us that his silence in the society for upwards of three
years was due in part to his modesty, and in part to his
ignorance of the English language. It is interesting to notice
Communication to the Bibliographical Society of Ireland.
668 IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

that a man who could speak Latin, Dutch, and possibly French,
but not English, should be seeking medical practice in Dublin
at that time. Although the charter of Charles II, which in 1667
incorporated the Dublin College of Physicians, laid down that
all medical practitioners in Dublin should be licensed by the
College, yet Sylvius does not seem to have been admitted to the
College, nor to have been granted a degree in medicine by the
University of Dublin. The records of admissions, however, to the
College of Physicians, prior to the granting of the charter of
William and Mary in 1692, are so imperfect that one cannot be
quite sure that Sylvius was not licensed to practise by the College.
We know very little more about Sylvius. The reference in
his book to the Supremus ArcMtectus Deus suggests that he was
a Freemason, but membership of the craft at that time would not
give much clue to his creed either in religion or in polities.
From a remark in the opening pages in his book one might
think that he was related to Franciscus de le Bee, or Sylvius
(1614-1672), the great professor of medicine at Leyden. He
says: " Among my own Dutch countrymen there have appeared
also some brilliant lights; I shall not venture to speak of Sylvius,
yet to pass him over in silence would be wrong." Franciscus de
le Bee had a great reputation as a teacher at Leyden, where he
was the first to introduce the method of systematic bedside
instruction of his pupils. Had our author been related to the
great professor, one would have expected him to lay claim to that
distinction more definitely. Jacobus Sylvius is recorded in the
D~blin Grant Book as having died intestate in 1689.
The Novissima Idea, first published in 1686, was, its author tells
us, in reality a part of a much larger work in which he intended
to deal with the whole animal economy as based on mechanical
principles. Such a work, however, he feared would be too long,
and possibly too tedious for his readers, so he had resolved first
to deal, on mechanical principles, with the complicated history
of fevers, more especially as these disorders were then so rife in
Dublin, as indeed they were in most other parts of the world. At
the outset he asks us to remember that medicine is not yet a
perfect art or science, and that its advance to perfection had been
retarded by an assumption, too generally made, that all medical
knowledge was to be found in the works of the ancients. Let us,
he urges, leave the ancients and join in the investigation of nature
with such men as Willis, Boyle, Borelli, Sylvius, Cornelius
Bontekoe and Hydentricus Overkampius. This claim to escape
from authority was not unusual among those who believed that
they had a new and possibly unacceptable doctrine to preach.
His contention is that human well-being depends on a correct
mixture and union of the insensible blood particles, and he
holds that the gentle movement (b/anda cammatio) of all the
particles must be maintained perpetually if the body is to be
healthy. Although he describes this movement as fermentation,
he insists that it is not the same sort of fermentation which we
 THE NOVISSIMA IDEA DE FEBRIBUS 669

observe in beer, in wine, in corn, or in malt, b u t r a t h e r an

effort, or tendency, in the m a n y particles which axe set in motion
by a subtle m a t t e r (Sed nisum, seu conatu*n particularum multi-
farHr~m, materia subti~i commotarum). A n y disturbance of
this motion and mixture of the insensible particles of the blood,.
resulting as it does in an irregularity and a disorderly com-
motion, is, he thinks, the cause of all fevers. There are, he
believes, three causes for such a disturbance: (1) an inordinate
compression of the particles (inordinatam corpo~um compres-
done,n). A similar thing is seen with barley, which will become
corrupt if heaped up in a ship or on a floor unless it is s t i r r e d
regularly several times a d a y ; (2) the loss of the spirit from the
liquid, which leads to an alteration in its viscosity and in its
glutinous state; (3) the t h i r d cause is the choking up of t h e
spirituous particles (ad sp~rituosarum partivularum suffacatio~e,n),
as when the blood coagulates. Each of these conditions causes~
an obstruction to the flow of the blood, and wherever the speed
of the circulation is diminished, there, we rightly suspect, all
fevers take their origin (quaque sunguinis vdax circulatio
dim,i,vuitu~, febres omnes prosapiam suam dueere, non false
suspica*nur).
H e tells us that by the aid of microscopes he had seen infinitely
small animalcula in the human semen, which live, take nourish-
ment, and move about quite like ourselves, and he had no doubt
that there were extended bodies infinitely smaller than these.
Leeuwenhoek had described the spermatozoa in 1674, but Sylvius
does not appear to have been familiar with the red blood corpuscles
described by Malpighi in 1666, and seen later by Leeuwenhoek,
nor do we find in his book any reference to these two great dis-
coverers. B y his insensible blood particles Sylvius seems to mean
something which is, as it were, in solution in the blood, and which
is quite different from the corpuscles.
H a v i n g proved to his satisfaction that fever is something m o r e
than a preternatural heat in the blood (fervor pre,ternaturaIis
in sancjui~e), or a glowing of the blood (iscalesce~tH sanguinis),
or increase in the circulation of the blood, or boiling, o r
effervescence (antcta circulatio eel ebullitio eel effervescentia), he
concludes that for treatment something more is needed than a
chilling or moistening of it (refrigenatianem vel humeetat~one,n).
Heat is not the essence of a fever, but a symptom. I f chilling
juleps and decoctions, phlebotomies, and cathartics were really
the remedies for fevers, why is it, he asks, that hot, even very hot,
drugs are also curative? H e concludes that while venesection
and refrigeration are probably not useful they probably do little
harm. H e agrees with " the most eminent Borelli " that eerie-
section, if it does little good, does little harm (c~arissimo Bo rell~
parum juvare ant parum ~ocere posse), for if it were so useful
as some claim why are not more patients in F r a n c e and Spain
cured, where it is the universal treatment, than in Italy where.
no blood is taken? (ubi nunquam sanguinis emittitur). Why, i f
670 IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

it were hurtful, do not more Italians die of fcver than do French-

men or Spaniards? Neither is the case.
For treatment he strongly urges the use of of camphor, and he
gives several prescriptions for its administration. He attributes
~he beneficial properties of this drug to its having through its
whole essence (ca,mlahora tota sua essentia ostendit), as he has
shown by experiments, that sal votatile oleosum to which the
efficacy of vegetable drugs is due. Early in the next century
Friedrich Hoffmann was to advocate the use of this drug in the
treatment of fever on somewhat similar ~oTounds.
In the Disse~ation an Insensible Transpiration, he says that
by the process he understands the expulsion from the body of
noxious and useless particles (Per transpira~ionem insensibiem,
inte~ligimus particularum noxiarum and inutilium expulsio~em).
This process is essential to the due and proper maintenance of
good health.
It is noticeable that throughout the entire book he refers in
terms of high praise to the views and work of Borelli (1608-1679)
<clarissimus Dorelli), an Italian physician and one of the most
distinguished members of the school of iatromechanists, who was
professor at Pisa and afterwards at Florence.
This work of Sylvius, although perhaps not altogether meriting
the description given of it as the " golden book " (aureum
libeUum) is of considerable interest. The explanation of fever,
founded as it is on faulty physiology and inadequate pathology,
is now of little except historical interest, yet there are in the book
many wise observations, and the work anticipated many of the
views which were put forward in the early part of the next
century by the better known Friedrich Hoffmann (1660-1742).
In 1685 St. George Ashe, a Fellow of Trinity College and
afterwards Provost, made a communication to the Royal Society
.about a young girl from whose skin there grew many horns
(De puella c~i undique cor~ua efflorescebant). In the following
year Sylvius, who had seen this girl, who was a native of
Waterford, at the Philosophical Society, wrote an account of her
to Pierre Bayle, editor of the NauveUes de la Republique des
Lettres, which was published in the J u l y number of that journal,
with a plate giving two pictures of the patient. Sylvius
endeavours to explain the condition by mechanical principles
somewhat similar to those he had used in the explanation of
fevers. He thinks that there was a faulty mixture of the female
egg with the male semen at the time of conception. 2he letter as
published is in French, and it appears t a have been written by
Sylvius in that language. I have not met with any otimr work
by Sylvius.
Five separate editions of the Novissima Idea have been recorded
.as follows :--
(1) Dublin: 1686. Printed by Joseph Ray for William Norman,
Samuel Helsham and Eliphal Dobson, Booksellers. 8vo.
 THE N O V I S S I M A IDEA DE FEBRIB.US 671

(2) Dublin: 1687. (By the same printer and for the same book-
sellers.) 12mo.
(3) 1690. The copy referred to in the Term Catalogue under the
date " February 1690," which is described as " Printed at
Dublin and sold by William Whitwood in Duck Lane." 8vo.
(4) Dublin : 1694. " Sumptibus Zacharim Conzatti." 12too.
(5) Dublinii: 1700. No printer. 12mo.
Numbers 1 and 2 do not present any bibliographical difficulty.
Both were obviously printed in Dublin by the same printer and
for the same booksellers, all of whom are well known by other
works. Number 3 is not recorded, so far as I know, anywhere
except in the Term Catalogue, and I have never seen a copy.
William Whitwood, the publisher, was a London bookseller, and is
referred to by Dunton as " rolling and honest Whitwood." He
published many books between 1666 and the end of the century,
and at different times had at least ten different addresses. It
is possible that the book published by Whitwood was simply a
re-issue with a new title-page of the octavo edition printed by
Ray in 1686, although this does not seem to be likely, in that Ray
in 1687 had printed a copy in duodecimo. As I have never been
able to trace a copy of this edition in any of the libraries I cannot
give any further information about it. Number 4, which we may
call the Conzatti edition of 1694, is of particular interest, and of it
I have examined three copies, one in the National Library of
Ireland, one in the Library of Trinity College, and one in my own
collection.
The copy in Trinity College differs from both the other copies
with regard to the preliminary matter which it contains, although
the text of the work in all three is the same. In my copy, and in
that in the National Library, the dedication on the title page is:
" Perillustri Domino Io: Baptist~e Sylvestrino Celeberrimo
[~harmacopole. '-~
In the copy in Trinity College this dedication is replaced by one
which reads as follows : - -
" Excellentissimo Domino Josepho Gmndi Medic. Phys. in
Veneta Academia Publico Incisore."
The ornament used, the date and the imprint are the same on each
title.
In the copies of the book printed by Ray the preliminary pages
are occupied by the title, a dedication to William Stuart, Viscount
~Iountjoy, and a letter to the reader, both of which are signed by
Sylvius. In the Conzatti issues the title is followed by a dedica-
tion, in the one case to Sylvestrinus, and in the other to Grandi,
each of which is signed by " Io: Bapt: Conzatti," after which
come the dedication to Mountjoy, and the letter to the reader
signed by Sylvius. Both the dedications, to Sylvestrinus and to
Grandi, are alike except for the last twenty-four lines or so,
where alteration is introduced to suit the person addressed.
Although there is this general similarity between the matter in
 672 IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

the preliminary pages of each issue the arrangement of that

matter is quite different.
In the Sylvestrinus issue the title is on the first recto, the verso
of which is blank. The dedication to Sylvestrinus begins on the
second recto and ends on the fourth recto. The dedication to
Stuart begins on the fourth verso and ends on the seventh
recto; the letter to the reader occupies the seventh verso and the
recto and verso of the eighth leaf. The second and third rectos
have the signatures *2 and *3 respectively. In this issue the
dedication to Stuart begins:
" Nobilissimo Domino Domino Guilielmo Stuart, Vice Comiti
de Monjoy;
Rei Tormentariae in Hibernia Praefecto Generali, &c."
In the Trinity College, or Grandi, issue there is a half title
"' N o v i s s i m ~ I d e a de F e b r i b u s " on the first recto, the verso of
which is blank; the title is on the second recto, the verso of which
is blank. On the third recto, signature *3, begins the dedication
to Grandi, which ends on the sixth recto. The lay-out of the
beginning of this dedication is quite different from that in the
Sylvestrinus issue. At the top o f the page is:
ExveUentissime Dami~e
and at the bottom of the page are the first two lines of the dedi-
cation with the catch word:
" Ea est humanae conditionis infe-
licitas, ut, cum,
tot "
On the verso of the sixth leaf begins the dedication to Stuart,
which leaves out altogether the title " Vice Comiti de Monjoy."
The dedication begins:
" Noblissimo Domino Domino
Guilielmo Stuart,
Rei Tormentariae in Hiber-
nia Praefecto Generali, &c."
Unfortunately, all the other preliminary leaves in the Trinity
College copy are missing. The remainder of the preliminary
matter in the Sylvestrinus issue occupies four leaves, so that it is
possible that the preliminary leaves in the Grandi issue should
number twelve, the last one or two of which should be blank.
The fact that the fourth recto has the signature *4 suggests twelve
leaves, but it is not a certain indication; in the Sylvestrinus issue
the last signature is *3. The body of the work in both issues
appears to be identical.
Irish bibliographers have long felt considerable doubts whether
this edition was either printed or published in Dublin. There
has not been found any other record of a printer or publisher in
Dublin of the name of Conzatti, nor has anyone of the name of
 THE N O V I S S I M A IDEA DE FEBRIBUS 673

Johannes Baptista Conzatti been found who might have been

interested in the work. Furthermore, it seemed to be unlikely
that, if the book was re-published in Dublin after the author's
death, it would have been dedicated specially to a foreign apothe-
cary, even though he were " celeberrimus." These doubts were
strengthened when it was discovered that the copy in the Trinity
College Library differed from the other two copies, and that it
was dedicated to Joseph Grandi, a Venetian anatomist. When
trying to come to a conclusion on this point I had a courteous
letter from Mr. V. Scholderer, of the Department of Printed
Books in the British Museum, in which he told me that the
names of Zacharia and Johannes Baptista Conzatti were quite
new to him, and suggesting that the work may have been printed
" abroad, probably in the Low Countries." An enquiry at the
Royal Library of the Hague elicited the information that no
printer of the name of Conzatti was known there. Mr. R. W.
Le Fanu, Librarian of the Royal College of Surgeons, London,
took much trouble to find out something about Conzatti, but
failed to do so in any of the London libraries. The fact that
Grandi was a Venetian suggested Italy, and this idea was
strengthened when my friend the Marquess MacSwiney, who is
so conversant with Italian literature and history, told me that
the name Conzatti suggested to him North Italy. Enquiry from
Lier and Co., of Florence, from whom I have bought old medical
books from time to time, and whose catalogues are often store-
houses of bibliographical information, brought a courteous reply
telling me that after much search they had failed to find any
trace of Conzatti, but suggesting that I should make enquiry at
the Bibliotheca Nazionale of that city. On April 20, 1933, I had
a letter from the Director of that Library, in which he said that
he had no doubt that the book was printed and published in
Italy, and in all probability at Lucca, like another work men-
tioned in Gaetano Melzi's Dizio~ario, di opere ano•ime e
pseudan~me d5 scrittori italiani, Tom. II. p. 451. The book there
mentioned is by Niccolo Ripardieri, or Guido Grandi, and is
entitled Antilunario ..... . Melzi gives the imprint Dublino
(Lucca) apressa Zaccaria Conzati. 1711.
In view of this finding there can, I think, be little doubt that
both the Conzatti issues of the Novissima Idea de Febribus were
published in Italy and not in Dublin.
No satisfactory explanation is forthcoming why an Italian
should have undertaken the reprinting and publication of a book
such as the Novissima Idea. The work is not of any outstanding
merit from a medical point of view, although three editions of
it had appeared in four years. As published by Conzatti, the
book is in Latin, like the former editions, and no new matter was
added to the text. The book was probably well known on the
Continent, for a year after its first publication a long notice of
it had appeared in the A c t a E r u d i t a ~ m , Lipsiensis. In his
dedications Conzatti praises Sylvestrinus and Grandi rather than
674 IRISH JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

the book he is dedicating, although he calls it the go~ien book,

and says " it discusses fever more fully, clearly, and certainly
than was ever done before." Possibly Sylvius had stirred the
patriotism of Conzatti by the flattering references made to his
countryman Borelli; possibly the publication was designed to act
as propaganda for the iatromechanistic doctrine which Sylviua
advocated; or possibly Conzatti and Sylvius may have known
each other as students at Leyden. Even if he were actuated by
any or all of these motives, it is not easy to see why Conzatti
should have published the book in Italy with a Dublin imprint.
There is no trace of any desire on the part of Conzatti to tak~

NOVISSIMA IDEA NOVISSIMA IDEA

DE
DEFEBR1BVS
FEBRIBUS, Er earundem Dogmatica, at
Rarionalis Cura
ET
Earundem Dogmatica, acrationalis Mechanicis rationibu~ fufiqllta
~um differtatione de infenfibiIi.
C U K A, tr anfpir atione Mecbanic d
McchanicisRatlonibus Suffuka. probata
Acccfl]tDkCl'crtat~o [$ U C T 0 2~ 2~
DE MED. DOGT.
I N $ g N S I B I L I TItANSPIRATIONE JACOBO SYLVIO~
Mechat:ir Pmbata.
BATAVO.
A,UCTOKE
t A C O B O S Y L T I O , Med.Dodc.
B A TA VO CollegiiMedici, ncc
non Societatis Dublinienj~s ad Pro-
rnovendara Naturalern Scientiam
Socio.

Dubli*i i , Excudebat yo6 R,,*', pro

Guil. N~rman , S~m. k]e,lhdm ~ ~:
Elipb. Dobfon, Bibliop. *687.
D U B L-1 IN i I (M. DCC.

from the dead Sylvius any of the credit which might have
belonged to the authorship of the book. Unless further informa-
tion is forthcoming the problem, we fear, must remain unsolved.
It seems very likely that the edition of 1700 was also printed
and published in Italy, although there is no mention in it of
Conzatti. The ornament used on the title-page may give a clue
to its provenance, but so far I have not been able to identify it
with any printer. The book does not suggest Dublin printing.
In addition to those already mentioned I must offer my sincere
thanks for much help to Professor E. H. Alton, for his renderings
of the Latin text, and to Professor H. H. Dixon for photo-
graphing the title pages.
 THE N O V I S S I M A IDEA DE FEBRIBUS 675

I. Novissima Idea De Febribus, et Earundem Dogmatica, az

rationalis Cura, Mechanicis Rationibus Suffulta. Accessit Dis-
sertatio De Insensibile Transpiratione Mechanic~ Probata.
Auctore Jacobo Sylvio, Med. Doct. Batavo Collegii Medici, nee
non Societafis Dubliniensis ad Promovendam Naturalem Scientiam
Socio.
Dublinii, Excudebat Jos. Ray, pro Guil. Norman, Sam.
Helsham, & Eliph. Dobson, Bibliop. 1686.
8vo. 11.4, and pp. 152. Sigs. (A V)4.

NOVISSIMA IDEA N OVI$SIMA IDHA

DE F E B R I B VS DE FEBRIB V$
E~ Earuadem Dogtnztic~h
a c rationahs
C V R A , MECHANICIS
Rationibus Sufthlta.
.4 C C ES S 1"1"D I S S E R T A T I O
De Infenflbili Trans162
Mechanic6 Probata.
AVCTOKE tACOBO SYLVIO,
bled.Do&. BAT./IV0 Collegi/Medici,
aecnon Socictatis Dubliaienfi'sa~
Promouendam Naturalem
$cientiam Socio.
P E R I L L W S T R I DOMINO
IO:BAPTISTiE SYLVESTRLNO I O S E P H O
Celeberrimo Pharmacopol~
Et Earundem Dogmatica,
ac rationalis
C V R A, MECHAN[CI$
Rationibus Sutthlta.
A C C E S S I T DISS]~RTATIO,
De Infcafibili Traafpiratione
bleohar~r Probata.
AVCTOI~.E IACOBO SYLVIO,
Meal.Doe%BArAVO Cotlegij M-.dici,
mc aoaSocietatis Dublmien[~sar
Promouendam Naturalean
~imtiam Socio.
EXCELLENTIS$IMO DOMINO
GRANDI
Ifledic. Phyf. ~ ia Veneta Academia
Aaammica Pablico lnci[o~r

D V B L i N I [ , "MDC. x c i v . ~DV~L~NIt, MOC."XCtV."

SampSbus Zach~'i;r Co~atti. samtxib~szachari;~Coraaut.

First recto, title, verso blank; second recto, the dedication to

William Stuart, Viscount Mountjoy, signed by Jacobus Sylvius,
which ends on the third recto, the verso of which is blank. On
the fourth recto is the Le~tori Benevolo S., also signed Jacobus
Sylvius, and on the verso of this leaf is the errata. The
Novissima Idea begins on the fifth recto, which has the signature
B, and ends on page 133, the recto of $3, the verso of which leaf
is blank. The Dissertatio begins on page 135 and ends on page
152, the verso of V4. Neither ornaments nor ornamented initial
letters are used.
(T. C. D., Kirkpatrick and Bodleian.)
676 I R I S H JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

II. Novissima Idea De Febribus, Et Earundem Dogmatica, ae

rationalis Cura, Mechanieis Rationibus Suffulta. Accessit Dis-
sertatio De Insensible Transpiratione Mechanic~ Probata.
Auctore Jaeobo Sylvio, Med. Doet. Batavo CoUegii Medici, nee
non Societatis Dubliniensis ad Promovendam Naturalem Scientiam
Socio.
Dublinnii, Excudebat Jos. Ray, pro Guil. Norman, Sam.
Heisham, & Eliph. Dobson, Bibliop. 1687.
12too. 11. 6, pp. 188 & 11.2 (blanks). Sigs. *6, (A--H) 12.
Title on the first recto, verso blank. Dedication to William
Stuart begins on the second recto, sig. *2, and ends on the verso
of *4. The L~ctori B e ~ v o l o S. is on the recto and verso of *5.
The sixth leaf is blank. The Novissima Idea begins on the seventh
recto, sig. A, " Pag. 1," and ends on page 166, the verso of the
eleventh leaf of sig G. The Dissertatio begins on the next recto,
page 167, and ends on page 188, the verso of the tenth leaf of
aig. H. The eleventh and twelfth leaves of this fold are blank.
There is an ornamental D on the second recto, ornamental N on
page 1, and Q on page 167. There is an ornament, a vase of
flowers, on page 166. The chain lines throughout are horizontal,
and the paper is watermarked.
(Bradshaw, Cambridge (Hib. 8. 687. 5. and Kirkpatrick.)

III. Libri Latini. Feb. 1690.

Novissima Idea de Febribus, etc.
Auctore Jacobo Sylvio, M.D.
Octavo, printed at Dublin; and sold by W. Whitwood in Duck
La~e.
(Term Catalogue. Vol. II. p. 302.)

IVa. b~ovissima Idea De Febribus Et Earundem Dogmatica, ae

rationalis Cura, Mechanicis Rationibus Suffulta. Accessit Dis-
sertatio De Insensibili Transpiratione Mechanic~ Probata.
Auctore Jacobo Sylvio, Med. Doct. Batavo Collegii Medici, nec
non Societatis Dubliniensis ad Promouendam Naturalem Seientiam
Socio.
Perillvstri Domino Io: Baptistae Sylvestrino Celeberrimo
Pharmacopole.
Dublinii, MDC.XCIV. Sumptibus Zachariae Conzatti.
12too. 11.8, pp. 174 & 1 leaf (blank). Sigs. *8, (A--G) 12, It4.
The title is on the first recto the verso of which is blank. On
the second recto begins the dedication " Perillustris Domine,"
which ends on the fourth recto where it is signed " Humil. Ser.
Io : Bapt. Conzatti."
On the verso of this leaf begins the dedication to William
Stuart, which ends on the seventh recto. On the verso of this
leaf begins the " Lectori Benevolo S.," which ends on the verso
of the eighth leaf. The Novissima Idea begins on the next recto,
sig. A, " Pag. 1," and ends on page 154, the verso of leaf G5.
T h e Disse/rtatio begins on the next recto, page 155, and ends on
 THE N O V I S S I M A IDEA DE FEBRIBUS 677

page 174, the verso of H3. The last leaf is blank. There is an
ornamental initial D on the fourth leaf, N on page 1, and Q on
page 155. There is an ornament on the title-page and on page
154. Neither these ornaments nor the initial letters resemble
those used in the edition of 1687. The chain lines are horizontal
throughout.
(National Library, Ireland, and Kirkpatrick.)

IVb. Novissima Idea De Febribus Et Earundem Dogmatiea, ac

rationalis Cura, Mechanicis Rationibus Suffulta. Accessit Dis-
sertatio De Insensibili Transpiratione Mechanic8 Probata.
Auctore Jacobo Sylvio, Med. Doct. Batavo Collegii Medici, nec
non Societatis Dubliniensis ad Promouendam Naturalem Scientiam
Socio.
Excellentissimo Domino Josepho Grandi Medic. Phys. & in
Veneta Academia Anatomica Publico Incisore.
Dublinii, MDC.XCIV. Sumptibus Zachariae Conzatti.
12too. 11.6 (127) pp. 174 & 1 leaf (blank). Sig. "12? (A--G)12,
H4.
Half title No~issima Idea de Febribus on the first recto, the
verso of which is blank. Title on the second recto, the verso of
which is blank. On the third recto, Sig *3, there begins at the
top Excdlentissim~ Domin~, and continued at the foot of the
page
" Ea est Humanae conditionis infe-
licitas, ut, cum,
tot."
This dedication to Grandi is continued to the sixth recto, where
it is signed " Humil. Ser. Io: Bapt. Conzatti." On the verso
of this leaf begins the dedication to Stuart as folloows:
" Nob~lissimo Domino Domino Guilielmo Stuart,
Rei Tormentariae in Hibernia Praefecto Generali, &c."
The page ends with the line :--
" Vestram ascriptus usus sum;
par--' '
All the remainder of the preliminary leaves are missing, but the
text follows page for page the other Conzatti issue.
(T.C.D. 23. x 40.)
V. Novissima Idea De Febribus Et Earundem Dogmatica, ac
Rationalis Cura, Mechanicis rationibus Suffulta. Cure dis-
sertatio de insensible transpiratione Mechanic8 probata.
Auctore Med. Doct. Jacobo Sylvio, Batavo.
Dublinii, M.DCC.
12too. 11. 4, pp. 174 & 1 leaf (blank). Sigs. a4, (A--G)12, H4.

The title is on the first recto, the verso of which is blank. On

the second recto begins the dedication to William Stuart, which
678 IRISH J O U R N A L OF MEDICAL SCIENCE

ends on the third verso. On the fourth recto is the " Lectori
Benevolo," which ends on the verso of this leaf. The Novissima
I d e a begins on the fifth recto, sig. A, " Pag. 1 , " and ends on
page 154 the verso of G5. The Disserta.tio begins on page 155
and ends on page 174, the verso of H3. The last leaf is blank.
There are no ornamental letters used, but there is an ornament
on the title and another on page 154. Neither of these resembles
the ornaments used in the other editions. The chain lines are
vertical in the first and last four leaves and horizontal in the
other leaves. Although the text follows accurately the edition
of 1694, page by page, yet there are differences in the type which
show that the book has been set up afresh.
(Kirkpatrick.)

Re/erences.

Acta Eruditorum Anno MDCLXXXVII publicata. Leipsiae, 1687.

(Mense Junii 1686, p. 305.)
Album Studiosorum Academiae Zugduno Batavae MDLXXV-
MDCCCLXXV. Hagae Comitium apud Martinum Nijhoff.
MDCCCLXXV. (P. 534.)
Dizio~ario Di O.pere Anonime e Pseudonome Di Scrittori Italiano 0
Come che sm arenti Relazione all'Italia. Tom. I, II, III. In
Milano, 1852. (Tom. II, pp. 451.)
Bibliotheca ~criptorum Medicorum veterum et recentiorum. Johannis
Jacobi Mangeti. Tom. I, II. Geneva, 1731. (Tom. II, part II,
p. 349.)
Extrait d'un Lettre de M. Sylvius Medicin & Membre de l'Academie de
Dublin, ~crit ~ l'Auteur de cet Nouvelles Touchant un fills qui a
plusieurs cornes en divers endroits du corps. Nouvelles de la Repub-
lique des Lettres, July, 1686. (Tome VII, Article VI (pp. 790-795 &
Plate.)
The Term Catalogues, 1668-1709 A.D. In Three Volumes. Edited
Professor Edward Arber, F.S.A. London, 1905. (Vol. II, p. 302.)

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

Candidates appointed on recommedation of the Local Appointments
Commissioners : -
Dr. Myles Shelly to be M.O., Bonmahon Dispensary District.
Dr. Brian Keary to be M.O., Inishbofin Dispensary District.
Dr. John O'Donovan to be M.O., Ballymartle Dispensary District.
Dr. John O'Connell to be M.O., Carrickmacross Dispensary District,
Fever Hospital and Cottage Hospital.
Dr. William Bradley to be Coroner for South Louth and Drogheda.
Dr. Rose MacLaverty to be M.O., Dublin Union Workhouse.