Author: DESCARTES, R.-
Title: Passiones Animae ..., nunc autem in exterorum gratiam Latina civitate donate ab H.D.M. I.V.L. [Henricus des Marets Iuris Utriusque Licentiatus]
Description: Amsteoldami, Apud Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1650. 12mo. W. woodcut printer's mark on title ['ne extra olaeus']. Very good contemp. full vellum., title in ink on spine [*12, **12, ***4, A - K12, L8)]. (LVI, 1 242, XIII (Index), I (blank) pp.). (All edges speckled blue). (Upper free endp. gone; small libr. stamp on title and verso title ('Bibl. Sancta Pauli Ooster...?'& Bibl. Slangenburgensis?' (Very good quality paper.). DSB IV, 55 - 65: 'Finally, he brought physiological psychology within the compass of his system in 'Les Passions de l'ame' in 1649', here in the Elzevier duodecimo reprint of 1650. Written in the small village of Egmond aan den Hoef, completed in 1648, before his final trip abroad to Queen Christina of Sweden: Comp. Heirs of Hippocrates 467 (Latin 1650): 'Cartesian physiology and philosophy had a powerful influence on the thinking of such men as Robert Hooke, Giovanni Borelli, Jan Swammerdam, and Thomas Willis. Descartes' theories helped to explain in understandable mechanistic terms the more puzzling problems of human physiology during a time when scientific research was expanding rapidly. This work, written for Queen Christina of Sweden, was first published in French...It was the last book that Descartes wrote, and in it he discusses psychology, ethics, and the relationship between mind and body.': G&M 4965: 'Descartes believed the soul to be a definite entity, giving rise to thoughts, feelings, and acts of volition. He was one of the first to regard the brain as an an organ integrating the functions of mind and body.': Norman Coll. compare I, 625 (Elzevier) and 626 (the variant issue Paris Henry Le Gras): 'Les Passions de l'ame', which drew heavily on the then - unpublished 'Traité de l'homme', contains the application of Descartes' mechanistic physiology to the relationship between mind and body. Descartes made an essential distinction between the soul as the divinely-endowed seat of consciousness, will and rational thought, and the body as a machine or automaton subject to the laws of physics, and only indirectly controlled by the soul through the nerves. Using this dualistic model, he was able to make the important distinction between voluntary and involuntary actions, ... Descartes located the soul in the pineal gland, which thus served as the locus for interaction between soul and body; he had defined the pineal gland's function in the 'Traité', but 'Les Passions de l'ame' contains his first published account of it. The work also contains the first use of the word "reflex" in connection with the action of the nervous system.': Guibert, 1, pp. 150/151: 'Mais l'Achevé d'imprimer ne figure pas dans cette édition partagée entre Louis Elzevier et Henry Le Gras. On trouve donc des exemplaires au nom de ces 2 librairies.': Norman sale II, 410 and 411, both variants.: Willems, Les Elzevier, ...: Van Otegem, Decsartes bibliography [thesis 2003], vol. .....: Thijssen-Schoute, Nederlands Cartesianisme [1954], paragraph 299 - 301, on Maresius and his son Hendrik Maresius as translator of the FRench 'Passions..'in 1650: Brazier, Hist. of neurophysiology in the 17th and 18th c., pp. 18 - 28: Discussing at some length Descartes' choice of the pineal as the seat of the soul '...because it is single and midline and, since all other organs as well as the limbs are double, it can be the sole receiver, unifier and controller of impressions.': Poynter, The Brain, pp. 115 - 134 (Article by Walther Riese 'Descartes' ideas of brain function'). A very good copy.

Keywords: privé bezit view Neurology Cartesianism Brk