Harvey, William. *Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium*. London, 1651.

Description

William, Harvey, (1578-1657)
Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium, quibus accedunt quaedam De Partu : de Membranis ac humoribus Uteri & de Conceptione

Amstelaedami, apud Joannem Ravesteynium, 1651, 80 x 137 mm.,  [28] , 388 , [3] pp. de table, full leather binding, worn corners, missing top flyleaf, some leaves bearing faint halos.

A founding monument of modern embryology

Featuring a striking engraved frontispiece — Jupiter enthroned, opening an egg from which the entirety of creation bursts forth — this work alone embodies the scientific revolution it contains.

William Harvey, famous for having uncovered the mystery of blood circulation, presents here his second masterstroke: a complete overhaul of our understanding of life itself.

With the Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium, Harvey breaks two millennia of Aristotelian dogma and puts forward a bold thesis: all life originates from an egg — ex ovo omnia. The egg is no longer a mere receptacle; it becomes the primary generative agent, the starting point of all existence.

Why this work is essential

• First truly new theory of generation since antiquity

• Foundation of the epigenetic principle: the embryo builds up gradually, it is not preformed

• Starting point of the quest for the mammalian ovum, culminating two centuries later in its discovery

Born of a lifetime of observation and experimentation, this treatise is not merely a historical milestone: it is the cornerstone of modern embryology, a copy that combines rarity, iconographic beauty, and exceptional scientific significance.