francesco Redi (1626-1697)

Osservazioni intorno alle vipere fatte da Francesco Redi Gentiluomo Aretino, Accademico della Crusca, rivedute dall’autore, e da lui scritte in una lettera all’Illustr. Sig. Conte Lorenzo Magalotti Gentiluomo della Camera e ora Cavalier Trattenuto del Serenissimo Granduca di Toscana. Firenze, per Piero Matini all’Insegna del Leone, 1686. Bound with: The same Lettera di Francesco Redi accademico della Crusca sopra alcune opposizioni fatte alle sue osservazioni intorno alle vipere. In Firenze, Per Piero Matini, 1685


§ Two parts in one volume, 4to (250 x 180 ); 66.; 31, [3] pp. (last 2 blanks); signature: π1-2, A-G1-4, H1-3, [H4], leaf H4 title page of the second part; A-D1-4 (D4 blank). Large-size engraved printer’s device on first title page, woodcut head - and tail-pieces and initials; title pages in red and black. Contemporary vellum, gilt frame and gilt fleurons in the corner of both covers. Very fine copy.

Originally published in 1664, these Observations on vipers are to be considered as one of the first work dealing with experimental toxicology..The experiments conducted on specimens of vipera aspis L. arrived from Naples in 1663 to the Ducal Pharmacy (superintended by Redi himself), showed that the poisoning resulted from the inoculation through the bloodstream of the stagnant liquid in the sheaths of the reptile teeth, while the poison was completely harmless if ingested. Moreover the beliefs about the therapeutic virtues traditionally attributed to the viper by-products used for the preparation of theriaca were denied.
In 1669 the French apothecary Moyse Charas (1619 - 1698) published his Nouvelles expériences sur la vipère (Paris, chez l’Auteur et Olivier de Varennes), stating that the stagnant liquid in the sheaths of viper's teeth, in itself harmless, was transformed into a deadly serum by animal spirits altered by the snake's anger. Redi replied in 1670 with the Lettera constituting the second part of the present volume that reaffirmed the validity of the many experiments carried out, from which he proved the lethal effects caused even by the poison extracted from dead vipers. Ref: Brunet IV, 1174-1175; Gamba 819 and 821; Krivatsy 9462; Prandi 4 and 14.