8vo; 175x120 mm. Sewing binding. Handwritten title on spine. Pp. [1], XXX, 477, 5. 9 folded plates engraved on copper at the end of volume. Sign of humidity in the lower margin of some initial leaves, overall a good uncut specime with wide margins.
Considered the founder of scientific surgery in Germany, Heister developed several surgical instruments, including the mouth retractor, used to prevent the patient from biting during an operation, which is still in use today; in 1718 he was the first doctor to coin the word "tracheotomy". "Lorenzo Heister (1683-1758), primo dei chirurghi tedeschi che abbia avuto vaste cognizioni scientifiche, fu, come lo Scarpa ed altri insigni chirurghi del '700, un eccellente anatomico". Castiglioni, p. 635. Biographie Medicale,V, 131-38: "cet ouvrage fit oublier tous ceux qui avaient paru jusqu'alors".