SAUSSURE (Horace Bénédict de).

Lot 290
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600 - 800 EUR
SAUSSURE (Horace Bénédict de).
Observations on the bark of leaves and petals. Geneva, 1762. In-12, marbled paperboard, marbled edges (contemporary binding). Pritzel, n°8049. First edition of this treatise on plant histology, first book published by Saussure. At the age of 22, the author publishes his experimental research on plant anatomy, carried out with the personal microscope of his uncle, the Geneva naturalist Charles Bonnet, who had used it twenty years earlier for his experiments on the parthenogenesis of the aphid and the regeneration of freshwater worms (cf. Marc J. Ratcliff, Genèse d'une découverte: la division des infusoires, 2016, pp. 90-91 and 102-105). [Saussure] introduced the cortical network that envelops these parts, the regular pores through which it is pierced, their communication with the inner substance, their influence on the plant's nutrition and transpiration. It was a beautiful supplement to his uncle's book on leaves, and this small work alone placed Saussure honourably among botanists (Georges Cuvier, Recueil des éloges historiques, 1819, t. I, pp. 410-411). Back cover redone in vellum.
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