Apresentação  

The bibliographic collection of CDI-Library of FMUL includes a vast and precious set of old books (from the 15th to 19th centuries), among the most important of this kind in our country. These come from extinct old monastery libraries and from private collections, including that of Simão José Fernandes (1793-1845).

In this study, some of those treasures will be highlighted, to continue the dissemination of this unique and invaluable heritage that we all share.



RAUCH, François Antoine, 1762-1837

Harmonie hydro-végétale et météorologique : ou recherches sur les moyens de recréer avec nos forêts la force des températures et la régularité des saisons par des plantations raisonnées / par F.A. Rauch. - Paris : chez les frères Levrault, An X de la République [1802]. - vol. 2 ; 20 cm. –

Catalogue of the CDI-Library of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. RES. 1569 A





The work Harmonie hydro-végétale et météorologique : by François Antoine Rauch (1762-1837) is one of the first works on what could be labelled as spatial planning policy, written as a genuine ecological manifesto. It belongs to the private collection of Simão José Fernandes.



In France, during the revolutionary period (in the footnotes of the publication it reads "An X de la Republique," i.e., in 1802 in the revolution calendar), as in all of Western Europe, the search for arable land had been driving mankind for centuries to clear large swaths of forest and to use natural resources in a predominantly disorganised manner.

This reality drew the attention of French geographer François Antoine Rauch, who was one of the first authors expressing concerns with the planned and balanced use of soils and natural resources, which we would currently classify as "ecological." If it is true that these concerns have been on the agenda for many decades already, these first emerged in the early 19th century.

The edition that forms part of the CDI-Library of FMUL is much rarer than the 1818 revised edition. However, both had little projection in their times. It seems that the revival of interest is credited to Roger Heim, who mentioned this work in his study L'Angloisse de l'an 2000 (1973).



André Rodrigues

CDI-Library of FMUL

andresilva@medicina.ulisboa.pt