Nosographie Philosophique, Ou La MéThode De L'analyse AppliquéE A La MéDecine Tome I Pinel, Philippe

Grand in-8° relié demi-veau de l'époque, dos lisse orné de filets gravés, (4), xxxix, (1), 307 pp. Coiffe inférieure émoussée. Quelques éraflures au dos et sur les plats - coins tassés, un petit trou de ver superficiel au dos sinon bel exemplaire de ce très rare tirage. "Although he is properly considered one of the founders of psychiatry, Pinel's (1745-1826) contemporaries regarded him as a master of internal medicine, a reputation based upon the authoritative classification of diseases that he set out in his 'Nosographie philosophique', published in 1798. Pinel's nosological work should be viewed in the context of the great eighteenth-century concern with classification. Pinel was aware of the difficulties that his predecessors had faced, but he approached his task cheerfully, secure in his belief that a disease was 'an indivisible whole from its commencement to its conclusion, a regular ensemble of characteristic symptoms'. Since these symptoms could be observed and analyzed, a classification of disease was possible. Pinel thus divided diseases into five classes - fevers, phlegmasias, hemorrhages, neuroses, and diseases caused by organic lesions." (D.S.B.). Pierre Chabbert continues in the D.S.B. biography with considerable detail on these great classes and their subdivisions, and notes that ".the 'Nosographie' was a notable success among Pinel's students and disciplines.", but ".it also provoked a number of criticisms." The first issue appeared earlier in 1798 with Maradan as publisher and date 'An VI'. The first edition (a sixth edition appeared in 1818) is a rare book and is not found in the usual medical collections aside from N.L.M. (18th C.), p.353; Blocker Coll., p.313; and Wellcome IV.388 - vol.2 defective. See: Grolier/Medicine 100, no. 54