COLONNA, Egidio, Archbishop

Commentaria in octo libros phisicorum Aristotelis

      229 numbered leaves. Two columns, Gothic type. Folio, attractive antique vellum-backed wooden boards (55 mm. blank portion at head of first leaf renewed, occasional light staining). [Venice: A. de Torresano de Asola, 26 Sept. 1502].pEarly edition (1st ed.: Padua,1493) of this rare commentary on Aristotle's Physics by Colonna (d. 1316), also known as Giles of Rome. A disciple of Thomas Aquinas while a student in Paris, Colonna was the first Augustinian appointed to teach in the University of Paris and his deep learning earned for him the title of Doctor fundatissimus. In 1295 he was appointed Archbishop of Bourges by Pope Boniface VIII. "Although mainly a philosopher and theologian, Giles frequently dealt with problems relating to natural philosophy, notable in his commentaries on Aristotle. Moreover, he did so in a style distinctive enough to place him in the first rank of those thinkers who have made a positive contribution to the scientific thought of their time (see Maier, Die Vorlaufer Galileis, p. 2). It is chiefly in his commentary on the Physics, written around 1277, that he considered scientific problems... "Among Giles's theses that have attracted the attention of more recent historians of science are those relating to quantity, which led him to admit the existence of natural minima below which concrete material substance cannot exist and which thus imply an atomistic theory of matter. The study of movement induced him to investigate the nature of a vacuum, to which he attributed a kind of suction force, observable with the aid of the clepsydra, the cupping glass, or the siphon...His observations on the accelerated motion of falling bodies have similarly been noted."!D.S.B., V, p. 402. Very good copy. Sarton, Vol. II, Pt. II, pp. 922-26.. First Edition. Hard cover.