Translation of Fasc. III of Kaempfer's "Amoenitates". Kaempfer, Engelbert: [Observationes physico-medicae curiosae. English]
Exotic pleasures: Fascicle III, Curious scientific and medical observations; translation with an introduction and commentary by Robert W. Carrubba. (Library of Renaissance humanism). Carbondale and Edwardsville : Southern Illinois University Press, 1996. 22 cm; XIX, 219 S.; 12 ill.; notes, select bibliography, index. $ 50; ISBN 0-8093-1976-4.

Professor Robert W. Carrubba's longtime studies and his series of articles (1979 - 1993, with John Z. Bowers 1970 - 1982) on Kaempfer's medical and other observations within his "Amoenitates" 1712 have now reached something of an climax with this book on review. It is the first time that the complete Fasc. III with its 16 observations has found an English translation! Carrubba's short account of Kaempfer's life and scientific and general reception does not give the latest news, the latest results (p.e. Imamura) might have been included. But with regard to this book this would not seem so necessary, the short biography of Kaempfer and his work giving a good introduction to the not-so-specialized reader. The selected bibliography is a starting point into the vast bibliography on Kaempfer. The rather detailed index follows the good example provided by Kaempfer in 1712. For the English speaking reader Carrubba gives a translation of Kaempfer's original Latin text. In breaking down Kaempfer's often longwinded Latin sentences he offers good reading to the English reader - without loss of accuracy as it seems to me. Kaempfer's four observations on acupuncture, moxa, tea and ambra have existed in English versions since Scheuchzer translated them for his London first edition of the "History of Japan" in 1727 and thus were followed by translations into French, Dutch, German and Japanese. Carrubba's own translations of these four observations seem well adapted to modern English. For those readers who are fluent in German one could add that nine of the 16 observations of Fasc. III are available in the German translation of Kaempfer's dissertation Leiden 1694 by Hans Hüls and Rohtraut Müller-König, published Lemgo 1983. Five others (on asa foetida, perical, cobra, antidotes and kheif) have in parts been translated into German by Karl Meier-Lemgo, published Detmold 1933. Carrubba's commentaries to all the observations are a good compromise: they give the essential information needed, further specialized questions should be followed up in the general bibliography on Kaempfer.With regard to the illustrations in this book I see some problems: scaling them down to half the original size in area seems justified - the clear woodcuts surely allow to do so, the coppers with many details don't suffer much. Adding a plate of Fasc. II is helpful and justified by context. But why were all the illustrations given a grayish background? In the "Amoenitates" of 1712 they have been printed on plain normal - more or less - "white" paper of the time. In my opinion there is neither need nor good reason to "anticisize" the reproduction of the illustrations. At first look Plate 7 (Moxa) seems to be printed upside down (see the "Bogensignatur" Gggg), but thats a technicality - one can find within the printed copies of 1712 two different orientations of coppers on the page: looking into the binding or looking outside. When reproducing an inside looking orientation (like that of the Princeton University copy used) now looking outside, the signature at the lower rim of the page will now appear at the upper rim of the page. But Plate 9 (Darma) has now been reproduced left/right reversed - see signature and the Japanese characters.Another minor point: I find it a bit irritating to publish Kaempfer's Fasc. III within a series devoted to "Renaissance" - to me it seems a rather unlikely place, Kaempfer writing at the turn of the 17th/18th century.

Summary: Robert W. Carrubba gives to the English speaking world a good reading of this part of Kaempfer's work, closing one of the many gaps still open. Printed in a clear type on quality paper and with a reliable binding this book is good value to specialists with regard to Kaempfer and all those interested in medicine and science history.

Lothar Weiss, Detmold and Lemgo, Germany.