Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 189

GIULIO CESARE SCALIGERO (1484-1558) Exotericarum exercitationum liber XV. De subtilitate, ad Hieronymum Cardanum. Apud Andreae Wecheli heredes Claudium Marnium, & Joann. Aubrium 1592 [16] 1129 [91] pp., illus., diagrs. 17.1 cm.

Scaliger claimed to be a descendant of the noble della Scala (Scaliger) family who had once ruled at Verona, and no one came forward to dispute that claim during his lifetime. However, modern scholars have ascertained that his claims were not true. He was born at Padua and received his doctorate in arts there in 1519. It is not known where he studied medicine; but, after 1524 when he came to Agen in France, the details of his life are known with certainty. He married, fathered fifteen children, and became a naturalized citizen. He was an active practitioner, a civic leader, a scholar, and a prolific writer. His reputation as a physician was such that he attracted many students, among whom were Nostradamus and Rabelais (see No. 3). Scaliger was of a disputatious nature and eventually parted with Rabelais over differences in their approach to the theory of medicine. Scaliger first established himself as a literary figure by attacking Erasmus' satire against the Ciceronian stylists in 1531. In Cardano (see No. 246 ff.) Scaliger found another worthy opponent; he likely chose to write the present work to increase his own reputation, display his great erudition, and correct the errors he found in the former's De subtilitate. Although the second edition of Cardano's influential work had appeared at Basel in 1554, it is believed that Scaliger was unaware of it since he based his criticisms on the 1554 Lyons reprint of the first edition of 1550. The present work was first published at Paris in 1557 and Scaliger purposely entitled it The fifteenth book of exoteric exercitations upon subtility to Jerome Cardan to imply that he had written fourteen other books of philosophical exercises. Cardano was not greatly concerned with Scaliger's polemics and did not publish his answer until 1560 at Basel. In spite of the fact that many of Scaliger's observations are ridiculous in light of modern knowledge, the book received wide acclaim from the scholars of his day. It was a popular textbook and was acknowledged by Justus Lipsius, Francis Bacon, Leibnitz, and Kepler.

See Related Record(s): 3 246

Cited references: Cushing S107 (1601 ed.); Durling 4093 (1582 ed.); Wellcome 5806 (Paris ed., 1557)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.