Complete record - Heirs of Hippocrates

Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 128

NICCOLO LEONICENO (1428-1524) De epidemia quam Itali morbum gallicum, Galli vero Neapolitanum vocant. [Per Joannem Patavinum & Venturinum de Ruffinellis] 1535 192 ll. 14.9 cm.

Once the venereal origin of syphilis had been established, no country wanted to take responsibility for having developed within its own borders. As a result, each country blamed its neighbor and during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries syphilis was known among Italian physicians a morbus gallicus (the French disease). This small book contains seven works, all but one of which deal with syphilis, which first appeared in Italy late in the fifteenth century and quickly spread throughout Europe. Niccolò Leoniceno's description of syphilis was one of the first to appear, having initially been published in 1497. Juan Almenar, a Spanish physician, published another early description of syphilis in 1502 in which he advocated the use of mercury and a variety of vegetable substances for its treatment. Ulrich von Hutten, a German poet and man of letters, described his personal experiences with syphilis and its treatment with guaiacum in a book that gained wide popularity. Petro Andrea Matioli (see No. 238ff.), an Italian botanist, published a classic commentary on Dioscorides and also wrote this small treatise on syphilis in which he reported extensively on syphilis of the newborn and specified mercury for treating the disease. The book also contains works on syphilis by Lorenz Fries, a Dutch physician, and Angelo Bolognini, and Italian military surgeon. Twenty prescriptions and remedies from Scribonius Largus' popular De compositione medicamentorum (see No. 27) are also included in this work.

See Related Record(s): 238 27 164

Cited references: Cushing L213; Durling 2812; Osler 3231; Wellcome 3780

Gift of John Martin, M.D.

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