Stephenson, John; Medical Zoology, And Mineralogy, 1838

Stephenson, (1790-1864) was an English physician, pharmacist and naturalist. He wrote works on the medical properties of plants, animal and minerals. His work Medical Zoology was originally published in 1836 and in 1838. The 1838 edition had two more colored plates. Some copies of the 1838 edition may have been issued with a frontispiece and 45 plates but we have never located such a copy. Everyone we have located had 46 plates within the text. Medical Zoology is a relatively unknown colored mineralogy. The text describes and illustrates various animals and minerals recognized in the medical science of the nineteenth century. Included are descriptions of many vemonous creatures and minerals from which medical preparations were derived. The illustrations that accompany the text appear to be original and not copied from some other work. The plates are identical in both the first and second editions. Only a few are signed C. Spratt del, printed G.E. Madeley, Nov. 1, 1831. The subjects covered on the first 30 plates include venomous animals, fish, insects, snakes, scorpions, fish, squids, centipeds, spiders, etc. Plates 31 to 45 render mineralogical subjects including gold, silver, bismuth, copper, chalcopyrite, malachite, azurite, sphalerite, smithsonite, galena, minium, cerussite, pyromorphite, pyrite, magnetite, pharmacosiderite, mercury, cinnabar, sulphur, amber, barite, calcite, etc.