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4to, pp. [xvi], 552, [25], [1 (publisher's advertisement)]; lightly foxed with light toning to edges, occasional paperflaws, small marginal stain to p. 142, slight worming to inner margin of M Q, short closed tear to upper margin of Z4 and outer margin of Dd2, not affecting text; a very good copy, uncut in original blue paper boards, skilfully rebacked to style with plain paper backstrip and printed spine label; boards slightly foxed; contemporary pink Parisian bookseller's ticket ('Théophile Barrois') to front pastedown.First edition of Falconer's pioneering contribution to the late Enlightenment's study of environmental forces on society. A physician and fellow of the Royal Society, William Falconer (1744-1824), trained in medicine in the 1760s at Edinburgh and Leiden. On his return to England, he was appointed physician first at the Chester Infirmary and later at the Bath General Hospital, emerging as a prominent figure in the active scientific circles of Georgian Bath, where his well-heeled spa practice counted the Duke of Portland, Lord Chancellor Thurlowe, William Pitt, and Horatio Nelson among its patients. His scholarly reputation was secured by prolific writings that spanned a wide variety of topics, comprising, inter alia, studies of plague, influenza, and fever, the antiseptic qualities of fixed air or carbon dioxide, and the implications of climate, diet, and lifestyle for health. He was awarded the first Fothergill Gold Medal of the Medical Society of London in 1796 for A Dissertation on the Influence of the Passions upon Disorders of the Body (1788). This was followed in 1805 with a silver medal for the research into the Bath waters and their impact on chronic conditions, notably rheumatism, gout, and sciatica, for which he is most famous. The present work, one of Falconer's best-known texts, investigates the influence of particular moral, physical, and environmental factors on human society. Falconer partly attributes the emergence of England's natural theological tradition, for instance, to the nation's temperate climate. 'In Britain the book was frequently used as a reference work on the progress of human development, and especially on the topic of influence of climate. Following Falconer's death in 1824, the Annual Biography and Obituary described the Remarks as "a very important work [which] displays an almost unlimited extent of learning and research". As late as 1838 the young Charles Darwin could place Falconer's Remarks on his "Books to be Read" list. The work was particularly influential in Germany as a serious contribution to the study of the history of man, following the publication of a translation in Leipzig in 1782 … [Remarks] placed Falconer alongside Montesquieu in France, the literati in Scotland and Floegel, Iselin and Feder in German' (Mills, p. 297).ESTC T60417; Goldsmiths' I 12116; cf. Norman 755.See Mills, 'William Falconer's Remarks on the Influence of Climate (1781) and the study of religion in Enlightenment England', Intellectual History Review, 28:2 (2018), pp. 293 315. Seller Inventory # H6530
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