Jean Fernel's On the hidden causes of things

Though late Renaissance physician Fernel (1497-1558) held Ancient authority, especially Galen, in high reverence, says Forrester, he also believed he had his own contribution to make to the understanding of the first principles of the natural world, and of the human body; therefore, his De abditis rerum causis is one of the richest accounts available of philosophy and medicine and the relationship between them. In his 100-page introduction, he explains how Fernel takes his readers though a re-examination of the Aristotelian theory of forms and souls, and related problems such as procreation and the development of the fetus, in order to develop his essentially original ideas on the nature of total substances. The treatise itself follows, on facing pages of Latin and English. Retired from a medical career, Forrester also translated Fernel's Physiologia in 2003. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).