Relazione d’una nuova generazione d’uomini scoperta dal capitano Radoteur presso il fiume Marannon, ossia delle Amazzoni, da lui scritta a un suo amico, e trasportata dal Franzese in Italiano. Radoteur, Capitano (Gaspare Giuseppe Maria di Po). Published by Francesco Locatelli, Bergamo 1770. 8vo up to 9½” tall., 42pp., final blank leaf. Very light foxing.
Account of a new generation of men discovered by Captain Radoteur (Doubter or, Dotard) near the Marannon River, or the Amazons, written by him to a friend, and translated from French into Italian 1770. “…an imaginary account that describes how a French captain named Radoteur made an expedition, with permission from the Portuguese authorities in Paris, to the Amazon, where he discovered a tribe of four-legged men”. Oraes, Rubens Borba de. Bibliographia Brasiliana.
A satirical response to Pietro Moscat’s famous academic speech given at the University of Pavia, 1770. “Discorso delle corporee differenze essenziali che passano tra la struttura dei bruti e la umana”. Discourse on the essential corporeal differences which exist between the structure of brutes and the human. Moscati argues that there are no innate or divine anatomical differences and upright posture is the only true physical distinction; humans are structured for erect posture, while brutes (animals) are primarily quadrupedal. Contrary to the idea of an improving evolution, Moscati considered the upright posture an unnatural forcing of physics and biology and the cause of countless physical ailments for humans, appearing as a degeneration of the state of nature. Treccani Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia, Biographical Dictionary of Italians: Volume 77, 2012, Paola Zocchi.
