Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 317

ANDREA CESALPINO (1519-1603) Praxis universae artis medicae. Sumptibus Roberti Meietti 1606 [16] 715 pp. 15 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 316

Cesalpino is traditionally believed to have been born in Arezzo, only a short distance from Florence. Some historians believe that he was a native of Lombardy and was not born until 1525. He studied botany at Pisa under Ghini, who was director of public gardens in Italy. Cesalpino soon added a medical degree to his achievements and later became professor of medicine at Pisa. He also became director of Pisa's botanical garden in 1856 after Ghini's death. Many authorities believe him to be the greatest botanist of the century and his name is commemorated in the name of a genus of plants--Cesalpinia. Cesalpino was called to the chair of medicine at Rome in 1592 by Pope Clement VIII who wanted him for his personal physician. This work was first published at Rome in 1602 as Artis medicae pars prima, de morbis universalibus and contains a discussion of his ideas on the flow of blood from the arteries to the veins in the peripheral circulation. The book is also a complete manual of medical practice and covers a wide range of diseases with extensive information on drugs.

Cited references: Cushing C154; Wellcome 1186

Gift of John Martin, M.D.