A Discovery of the true Cause of the wonderful Multiplication of Corn; with some general Remarks upon the Nature of Trees and Plants.

Bookseller Notes

First edition and a very attractive copy of this scarce early eighteenth-century treatise on corn, by the eminent German philosopher Christian Freiherr von Wolff (1679-1754).Wolff references many continental books on crop husbandry - Spanish, French, and other German authors are all cited - critiquing these for their failure to derive conclusions from nature. He is conscious not to repeat these mistakes himself, and takes pains to emphasise that he has made a close study of corn in the field, beginning in the year 1716. In his chapter 'of blighted corn', he explains how he has taken blackened corn husks and kept them in his bedchamber, ascertaining that the blight is caused by an overabundance of moisture. This scientific method underpins this short treatise, which ends as both a detailed study of the plant in question, and bibliography (albeit critical) of other authors in the field.Wolff's life work spanned almost every scholarly subject of his time, displayed and unfolded according to his demonstrative-deductive, mathematical method, which perhaps represents the peak of Enlightenment rationality in Germany. This is said to be a translation of Erluterung der Entdeckung der wahren Ursach von der wunderbahren Vermehrung des Getredes, but we have found no trace of a German publication either in WorldCat or KVK. In KVK the title is represented in German libraries solely in microforms or electronic versions of the present title.Scarce, with just fifteen copies listed on ESTC.