Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 312

LEONARDO FIORAVANTI (1517-1588) Del compendio de' secreti rationali . . . libri cinque. Appresso Marc' Antonio Bonibelli 1597 [22] 187 [1] ll., port. 14.7 cm.

Fioravanti, a celebrated physician and alchemist of Bologna, was primarily a compiler of the opinions, techniques, "recipes," etc., of other physicians, and many of his works deal with the "secrets" and "mysteries" of medicine, alchemy, and the more esoteric and occult philosophies of his time. Still, enough of his medical and surgical work is of sufficient interest and importance to warrant his mention in the history of these subjects. In the cloudy picture, the question whether Vesalius, Berengario, Fallopius, and others may have performed human vivisection, the name of Fioravanti stands out sharply, since he calmly allowed that he had performed living dissection on a Saracen--his infidelity apparently being sufficient justification. The present work is probably the sixth edition of a highly regarded handbook of medicine which contains five books devoted to various aspects of medicine, surgery, alchemy, and cosmetics. First published in 1564, this popular book remained in publication until the mid-seventeenth century.

Cited references: Durling 1559 (1564 ed.); Wellcome 2293 (1566 ed.)