PAVLOV, Ivan Petrovitch.

Лекціи о работѣ главныхъ пищеварительныхъ железъ (Lektsii o rabote glavnykh pishchevaritelʹnykh zhelez) [Lectures on the Function of the Chief Digestive Glands].

St. Petersburg: I. N. Kushnereff & Ko. 1897. / Hardcover.

First edition of Pavlov’s landmark lectures on the work of the principal digestive glands, the classic statement of the experimental physiology of digestion for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904. In these lectures Pavlov presents the results of more than a decade of pioneering research using his revolutionary “chronic” experimental method, which allowed precise, long-term observation and quantitative collection of salivary, gastric, and pancreatic secretions in conscious, healthy dogs living under near-normal conditions. His detailed account of “psychic secretion”—the anticipatory flow of digestive juices triggered by the sight, smell, or even the mere expectation of food—forms the crucial bridge from classical gastrointestinal physiology to his later formulation of the conditioned reflex and the modern experimental study of learning and behaviour.

Provenance: Early ownership inscription on the front free endpaper: “Влад. Святникова 1902” (Vlad. Svyatnikova, 1902), acquired only five years after publication; the contemporary Russian half morocco binding was almost certainly executed for the owner at the time of acquisition.

By the early 1890s Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936) had already established himself as one of Russia’s foremost physiologists. Frustrated by the artificial results obtained from traditional acute vivisection experiments performed on anaesthetised animals, he developed an entirely new approach: the surgical creation of permanent fistulas that brought the opening of a salivary gland, the stomach (the famous “Pavlov pouch”), or the pancreatic duct to the surface while leaving the animal otherwise intact and healthy. This “chronic” preparation was revolutionary because it permitted the study of normal digestive processes in conscious, behaving animals over periods of months or even years, with unprecedented accuracy in measuring the quantity, quality, timing, and nervous regulation of secretion.

The present volume collects the lectures Pavlov delivered at the Military-Medical Academy and the Institute of Experimental Medicine in St. Petersburg between 1894 and 1897. With extraordinary clarity and supported by hundreds of meticulously tabulated experiments, he systematically examines the innervation and regulation of each major digestive gland. He demonstrates the three phases of gastric secretion (cephalic, gastric, and intestinal), the role of the vagus nerve, and the exquisite sensitivity of the glands to different foods and stimuli. The lectures are richly illustrated with anatomical diagrams and graphic curves plotting secretion over time in response to meat, bread, milk, and other foods.

Perhaps the most revolutionary observation in the book is Pavlov’s documentation of “psychic” or cephalic secretion: dogs would begin to salivate or secrete gastric juice not only when food was placed in the mouth, but at the mere sight or smell of food, or even at the sound of the laboratory assistant’s footsteps at feeding time. Pavlov initially termed this phenomenon “psychic secretion,” recognising it as a higher nervous response linking the external environment with internal physiological processes. These observations would later evolve into the famous conditioned reflex experiments that defined the second half of his career.

The book’s publication in Russian in 1897 was followed by a German edition in 1900 and the influential English translation (The Work of the Digestive Glands) in 1902. Its impact was immediate and profound. It transformed the understanding of gastrointestinal physiology and established Pavlov as the leading figure in experimental medicine. In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize — the first Russian and the first physiologist to receive it — “in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, by which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged.” The chronic fistula method became a cornerstone of experimental physiology for decades, and the concept of the conditioned reflex, born directly from the “psychic secretion” described here, revolutionised psychology and neuroscience in the twentieth century.

Garrison-Morton 1022 (“Pavlov made perhaps the greatest contribution to our knowledge of the physiology of digestion”); Grolier Medicine 82; Heirs of Hippocrates 1930; the English translation of 1902 is Haskell F. Norman 1665; Dibner Heralds of Science 135 (German edition).

An outstanding and attractive copy of one of the most influential scientific books of the modern era — the work that established Ivan Pavlov as one of the giants of twentieth-century science.

8vo (184 × 130 mm). [4], 223, [1] pp. With numerous tables and woodcut illustrations and diagrams in the text (including secretion curves and anatomical figures). Contemporary Russian half morocco over marbled boards, spine gilt-lettered and ruled with raised bands, marbled edges (spine extremities lightly rubbed with small chip at head, corners slightly worn, but binding firm and attractive; text clean with only occasional light foxing). A genuine, well-preserved copy in a pleasing contemporary binding.

Item #6618

Price: $18,500.00