BY: EMMA GRAY,
CATEGORY: MUSEULLANEOUS,
DATE: 01 FEB 2013
This beautifully preserved book is a
scientific examination into unicorns and other horned beasts dating from
1645.
The Bartholin family dominated Danish
medical and anatomical science for three generations. Thomas Bartholin (1616 –
1680), like his father, Caspar, was Professor of Medicine at the University of
Copenhagen.
Thomas Bartholin and his father were both
interested in the unicorn, particularly in the fabled medical properties of its
horn.
This book, De Unicornu Observationes
Novae (New observations on the unicorn), is partially an essay on the
likelihood of the existence of unicorns, drawing on available evidence.
Bartholin includes historical, mythological
and religious sources, as well as an examination of known one-horned animals,
such as the rhinoceros, the narwhal, the rhinoceros beetle and the hawk moth
caterpillar.
Interestingly, Bartholin seems to conclude
that the unicorn may exist – not as a magical creature, but as just another of
the world’s fascinating animals.
Thomas Bartholin’s contributions to medical
publishing includes the first full description of the human lymphatic system
and the description of a condition known as Bartholin–Patau syndrome, a
chromosomal abnormality causing multiple disabilities.
He was also the first to scientifically
describe the method of refrigeration anaesthesia – a process of using intense
cold to anaesthetise a specific are of the body.
The Research Library’s copy of De
Unicornu Observationes Novae is bound in vellum – a smooth, tanned animal
skin (often calf). The illustrations are early copper engravings, with some
woodcut decorative devices. Like most scientific works of the period, the text
is in Latin.
De Unicornu was published in Padua in
Northern Italy. Ours is one of fewer than ten known copies held in
libraries worldwide, making it another one of the many fascinating and
unexpected items held in the Museum's rare book collection.
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