Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 139

GIORGIO VALLA (1447-1500) De simplicium natura liber unus. Per Henricum Sybold [1528] 104 ll. 15.4 cm.

Valla was an Italian mathematician and physician who practiced in Milan and Venice. Later in his career he taught at Padua and occupied the chair of rhetoric at Venice. In addition to Valla's mathematical and scientific achievements, he was an accomplished physician with a variety of medical interests. His published works in medicine include treatises on ophthalmology, the philosophical questions of medicine, the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata (see No. 94), anatomy, public health, and several works on therapeutics. Valla has divided the present work into two parts. In the first part he lists the botanical simples of his day in alphabetical order giving a brief description of the plant and its medical uses. Mineral and metallic remedies are covered in alphabetical sequence in the second part of the book. The printer has also included many marginal notations in the first part which give the plant's name in Greek. In many instances, references to the works of Dioscorides or Pliny are also included. This small work on therapeutics was printed by Henricus Sybold of Strasbourg who was a printer as well as a physician. Books from the press of this early medical printer are uncommon.

See Related Record(s): 94

Cited references: Cushing V7; Durling 4485; Wellcome 6437

Gift of John Martin, M.D.