Descartes René, Principia philosophiae...

Amstelodami: apud Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1644. In-4° (mm 210x158). Pagine [24], 310, [2]. Lievi forellini di tarlo sparsi, in parte restaurati. Legatura coeva in pergamena, titolo in oro al dorso, tagli spruzzati di rosso. Prima edizione del sistema della fisica di Descartes nella quale sviluppa la sua teoria dei vortici; l'ultima e quarta parte contiene la prima teoria scientifica sul magnetismo. Cfr. Guibert 118-9; Krivatsy 3116; Norman 622-623; Tchemerzine II, 787; Willems 1008; PMM: «It is no exageration to say that Descartes was the first of modern philosophers and one of the first modern scientists; in both branches of learning his influence has been vast... The revolution he caused can be most easily found in his reassertion of the principle (lost in the middle ages) that knowledge, if it is to have any value, must be intelligence and not erudition. His application of modern algebraic arithmetic to ancient geometry created the anylitical geometry which was the basis of the post-Euclidian development of that science. His statement of the elementary laws of matter and movement in the physical universe. the theory of vortices, and many other speculations threw light on every branch of science from optics to biology. Not least may be rmarked his discussion of Harvey's discovery of the circulation of blood, the first mention of it by a prominent foreign scholar». (1)