Descripción

THE FIRST SUBSTIATIAL MONOGRAPH ON FARTING
8vo (158x99 mm). 215, [5], [4 blank] pp. Collation: A-O8. Printer's device on title page and at the end. Colophon on l. O6v. Contemporary limp vellum (spine discoloured, front inner hinge split). A few occassional underlignings in text, contemporary manuscript note on the back pasetdown. Slightly uniformly browned. A very good, genuine copy.
First edition of the first substiatial monograph on flatulence written by the Belgian physician Jean Feyens. In his treatise, Feyens describes the causes of flatulence in the human body, such as certain foods and climates, and examines the organs and locations through which gas emerges. He also suggests a variety of remedies for flatulence, providing recipes for syrups, electuaries, decoctions and ointments made with ingredients such as horseradish, spearmint, ginger, bay berries, rosemary, juniper, liquorice, fennel, rhubarb, chamomile, cumin, aloe and laurel. The treatise was reprinted in 1589, 1592, 1643, and 1644, and was translated into Dutch (1668), English (1668 and 1676), and German (1759).
“The author dedicates this treatise to Charles Rym, or Rymius, advisor to the Privy Council, in a letter dated Antwerp, February 1, 1581. In his writing, Fienus draws on his extensive experience and focuses on practical solutions rather than speculative theories; according to him, Hippocrates wrote more learnedly than usefully on the subject that is the subject of his commentary. As this subject had been completely neglected until that time, Feyens' book shines with its originality and deserves to be read, although it is regrettable that the author strongly adheres to the scholastic ideas of the time. He attempts to prove that flatulence is not caused by animal spirits or natural spirits, but by disease, just as atmospheric winds are caused by clouds and vapors. His treatment method consists of a regular lifestyle and the use of carminatives such as anise, fennel, and coriander. He discusses the treatment of each disease caused by winds at length” (Biographie Nationale publiée par l'Académie Royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, Bruxelles, 1880-1883, VII, cols. 45-47).
Jean Feyens (Fienus in Latin) was a musician and physician born in the diocese of Antwerp, as indicated by the title of his only work, and was probably originally from Turnhout. Having been raised among the choirboys of the cathedral in Bois-le-Duc, Feyens acquired extensive musical knowledge. However, as a career in music did not suit his tastes, he devoted himself to the study of medicine. He obtained a doctorate and settled in Antwerp, where he practised his profession successfully and was appointed city's resident physician. When the city was besieged by the Duke of Parma, Feyens withdrew to Dordrecht, where he died in 1585.
J.F. Foppens, Bibliotheca belgica, Bruxelles, 1739, II, 638; Belgica Typographica (1541-1600), 1140; Bibliotheca Medica Neerlandica, I, 261; Durling, 1528; USTC, 401914; Bibliotheca Scatologica, 94 (“Jean Fyens, en latin Fienus, musicien avant d'être médecin, n'a pu se défaire de ses premières préoccupations; il s'est encore occupé de l'air dans cette seconde partie de sa vie”).