The Book of Love

📒 Mantegazza (1831-1910) was an Italian neurologist, physiologist and anthropologist noted for his experimental investigation into the effects of coca leaves on the human psyche. In addition to his non-fiction works he was also the author of fiction. After practising as a doctor in the Argentine Republic and Paraguay he returned to Italy and was appointed surgeon at Milan Hospital, and professor of general pathology at Pavia. In 1870 he was nominated professor of anthropology at the Instituto di Studi Superiori, Florence where he founded the first Museum of Anthroplogy and Ethnology in Italy, and later the Italian Anthropological Society. From 1865-76 he was deputy for Monza in the Parliament of Italy and was later elected to the Italian Senate. A staunch liberal he defended the ideas of Darwinism in anthropology. This work, literally translated as The Physiology of Love, was first published in the original Italian in 1896 and appeared in this English translation in 1917.