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4 volumes. 8°, uncut and largely unopened, in original printed wrappers (some detached but present), spines chipping; atlas (folio-size) in publisher's quarter cloth with printed boards. xxxii, 728 pp.; (2 ll.), 584 pp.; (2 ll.), 595 pp., (16) ll. advertisements [dated 1880]; 36 pp., 45 engraved plates [partially hand-colored]. *** FIRST EDITION. A pioneering work in biochemistry, in which Robin sought to advance his belief that the future of biological research lay in chemical, not cellular, analysis. Written in collaboration with a chemist, F. Verdeil, the Traité is a vast compendium of information on various chemical compounds found in human and animal tissue. The accompanying atlas volume depicts some 1,200 crystalline forms of these compounds as they appear under the microscope. "Despite its display of useful information, [the Traité] showed that research oriented in this direction led at that time to a dead end and that, given the contemporary state of chemical knowledge, the superiority of a morphological approach was undeniable" (DSB XI, 492).Robin (1821-1885) studied medicine at the Faculté de Médécine, Paris and assumed the chair in natural history there in 1849. He was instrumental in creating the Société de Biologie and promoting biological research in France. A prolific author, Robin's influence waned with his reluctance to accept later advances in cellular biology, such as the discoveries of Pasteur and Virchow.*** Waller 8054. Dictionary of Scientific Biography XI, 491-92. See Hirsch, Bibliographical Lexicon (1887) V, 49-50. Seller Inventory # 23466
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