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Small 4to. [8], 191, [1 blank], 31, [1 blank] pp. Collation: *4 A-Z4 AA4 a-d4. COMPLETE. Woodcut device on title-page, 7- and 5- line historiated initials. Attractive late 18th- or early 19th-century Italian quarter vellum over decorated floral-patterned paper boards (some wear at corners, pastedowns with biopredations just touching endpapers, title-page with three unimportant holes, otherwise the textblock is untouched). Appealing contemporary MS inscription of the author's name and title of the work in MS along top edge of textblock ("MELETTII PHILO"). A crisp copy, with early ownership inscription on title-page: "Francisci Justinio." Accompanied by an export license from the Ministero per i beni e le attivita culturali. First edition of the FIRST DESCRIPTION OF CARDIOVASCULAR CIRCULATION. Meletius' "On the Construction of Man," recently rediscovered and pronounced as "A FORGOTTEN AND NEGLECTED MASTERPIECE" by a "pioneer scientist who still deserves his place amongst the greatest, as the true beacon for the description of blood's circulation" (Source: G. Tsoucalas, T. Mariolis-Sapsakos, and M. Sgantzos, "Meletius the Monk (c. 8th to 9th century AD) and the Blood Circulation" in: European Heart Journal, Volume 38, Issue 9, 1 March 2017, Pages 624 626). Our knowledge of Meletius' discoveries has greatly benefited from the groundbreaking reassessment by Tsoucalas et al. (op.cit.), who acknowledge the fact that the discovery of the blood circulation through the cardiovascular system remains a debated subject. The authors further acknowledge almost universal acceptance that William Harvey discovered the entire path of the blood circulation, and later Marcello Malpighi completed the puzzle discovering the small capillaries. But according to Tsoucalas et al., as early as the 8th or 9th-century Meletius ("the Monk") had already written "the first description of cardiovascular circulation accompanied by the discovery of the microcirculation inside the capillaries." "Inside his work 'On the Construction of Man,' Meletius described the blood's circulation in detail. He had considered that the body humors from the heart, flow through the aorta (the main vein which starts from the heart) towards the liver. He had recognized the liver as the biochemical factory of the human organism, by stating that there, inside the liver's veins, the humors were transformed into blood, due to its heating procedures (blood genesis). From there, through the liver veins, the blood circulated throughout the whole body to be transformed de novo into body humors and sperm, the nutritional elements for the tissues and organs. "Bile and spleen were the first organs to be fed by blood. He then tried to interpret the transportation of blood. In his effort to describe the entrance gate he wrote, by towing force the blood nourishes the human body . This is probably the first mention of the capillaries, a scientific view close to the modern one. Surprisingly he had understood the spleen's role by writing spleen after feeding, gathers blood serous, and by towing force both kidneys soak it, feeding themselves by the last remnants of the blood, and finally they eliminate the serous through urination . "After describing what seems to be the destruction of the red cell series and partly the role of the kidneys, he quoted the most important piece of his work, the blood with the help of the kinetic force circulates the body through the veins to the smaller veins, and with the help of the smallest ones, named trichoide (Greek ?????????: capillaries), it moves towards every molecule, strengthening the vital force to maintain life . The capillaries were now named, and their role was finally fully understood. "In the next segment of his work he wrote, the thick blood, burned after the organs nutrition, uncleaned, is trying to feed itself during breathing. It becomes thinner, cleaner, full of air's substances , partly clarifying the role of the lungs. According to Mele.
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