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Tractatus de formatione foetus

René Descartes · 1672

A 1672 Latin edition of Descartes's treatise on the formation of the fetus, published posthumously.

This posthumous edition of his embryology treatise shows the continued circulation of Descartes's medical ideas after his death.

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Title page of Renati Des-Cartes Tractatus de formatione foetus, printed in Lugd. Batav. & Amstelod. by Danielem, Abrahamum & Adrianum a Gaesbeeck, 1672. Includes an engraved emblem of a wreath with a central scene and a Latin motto, and a library stamp reading Mediolanensis Bibliotheca Universitas Studiorum.
René Descartes, Tractatus de formatione foetus, 1672 edition. Lugd. Batav. & Amstelod.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed Latin edition, titled Renati Des-Cartes Tractatus de formatione foetus, published in 1672 in Leiden and Amsterdam by the Gaesbeeck printers. It is a posthumous edition of a medical treatise written by Descartes.

Why it matters

This book shows how Descartes's scientific writings, including his ideas about embryology and the human body, continued to be printed and read across Europe after his death. The library stamp on the title page shows it later passed into an academic library's collection.

Look closer

  • Why would publishers keep printing Descartes's medical writings decades after he died?
  • What does the decorated title page and emblem suggest about how printed books were valued at the time?
  • What does the library stamp tell us about how this book was used and preserved over the centuries?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rene Descartes on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Title page of a book reading 'Renati Des-Cartes Principia Philosophiae', with a Latin subtitle, an engraving of a winged figure and a robed figure beside a armillary sphere with banner 'Indefessus Agendo', an oval library stamp, and imprint 'Amstelodami, Ex Typographia Blaviana, MDCLXXXV'.Book

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