Rangakusha (Japanese scholars of Dutch learning) studied and translated numerous imported Dutch medical books in the late Edo period, but they have received less credit than they are due. It has been commonly supposed that they absorbed only practical knowledge, and were not acquainted with the scientific methodology or physiological ideas behind that knowledge. A closer look at some surviving medical manuscripts, however, reveals the opposite. This article focuses on the transmission of Western embryologi-cal ideas and their methodological background to Edo-period Japan, in particular the translation by Tsuboi Shindō of Malpighi’s observations of fertilized eggs. These observations were cited in the Dutch translation of van Swieten’s Commentary on the Aphorisms of Herman Boerhaave, a theoretical medical treatise that was imported to Japan at that time and translated by Tsuboi. This article is composed of two sections. The first sec-tion situates Malpighi’s observations of fertilized eggs within the European medical context of that time and clarifies Tsuboi’s background knowledge. In the second section I have analyzed Tsuboi’s translation of Malpighi’s observations and provided commentaries on the intellectual background of these passages.Keywords: RANGAKU, TRANSLATION, HISTORY OF MEDICINE, HISTORY OF EMBRYOLOGY, MECHANISTIC THEORY, BOERHAAVE, VAN SWIETEN, MALPIGHI, TSUBOI SHINDŌ
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