On the Generation of Animals
by William Harvey · Exercitationes de Generatione Animalium
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1651
- Language
- Latin
- Length
- Long · 400 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendDisputations Touching the Generation of Animals, translated by Gweneth WhitteridgeBlackwell, 1981The only full modern scholarly translation; the Great Books volume uses the older Willis version.
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Harvey's last major work, published in London in 1651, records decades of dissection of hens' eggs at every stage of incubation and of deer from the royal parks in the breeding season. He describes the development of the chick day by day, argues against Aristotle and Galen that the embryo forms gradually by epigenesis rather than existing preformed, denies that the male semen contributes matter, and proposes on the title page that all animals come from an egg. The book includes discussions of the uterus, conception and the parts of the egg, and a long treatise on parturition.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns On the Generation of Animals are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
