Corals in various stages of development, 1725.

Engraving by Matthys Pool taken from Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili's (1658-1730) 'Histoire Physique de la Mer', (Physical History of the Sea), the first oceonography book ever written, published Amsterdam in 1725. Marsili was a scientist and patron of the arts, who travelled throughout Europe. In 1722-23 he met Newton, Halley, Sloane, and the physician Herman Boehaave (1668-1738) who helped him publish this book and also wrote a preface for it.