First Lessons in Human Physiology: To Which are Added Brief Rules of Health.For the Use of Schools

16mo. 152, [4] pages. A small book measuring 6 1/8 inches tall by 4 3/4 inches wide. Hardcover bound in red quarter leather with dark brown cloth covered boards. The binding is worn and bumped. The leather spine shows heavy rubbing about the edges with some splitting for the top 2 1/2 inches of the rear hinge. Corners bumped and abraded. There is also some pale spotting (damp spots) on the boards. Inner hinges secure. Text is foxed. Early pencil notations on the front endpaper and flyleaf. INSCRIBED on the front pastedown: "J. Griscom Sr. / My own copy". (The "Sr." appears to have been written later); while also in pencil, it has a sharper point). There are other early pencil inscriptions on the endpapers. The first and second front flyleaves bear the signature of "S. D. Griscom" (which we believe is Susan D. Griscom, 1805-1857, the author's sister). On the front flyleaf is another pencil inscription which is mostly illegible but in part reads, "Steal not this book." and may be signed "S. J. Young". The "S. J. Young" signature is also on the rear pastedown, upside-down. Illustrated with a number of woodcut text engravings and drawings. The J. Griscom, Sr. inscription is likely the author's FATHER. Dr. John Griscom (1774-1852) was a doctor and a professor of Chemistry at Columbia University in New York. The Griscoms were a Quaker family and John Griscom was both a doctor and an evangelical Quaker who focused on reform. His efforts were towards the reform of penitentiaries and anti-poverty efforts in New York (while his son, the author of this book, was a reformer of New York sanitary conditions). The author is Dr. John Hoskins Griscom (1809-1874) was a physician at the New York Dispensary (1834) and at the College of Pharmacy in New York (1836-1838). He was at the New York Hospital (1843-1870) and was City Inspector and head of the New York Health Department in 1842. His main work was on sanitary conditions, especially among the poor. His 1845 report "The Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of New York" identified problems and set the standard for hygiene and healthy living conditions throughout the United States. His work helped pass the Metropolitan Health Act of 1866 which established the Board of Health for New York City.…