Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 351

LEONARDO BOTALLO (1530-1590) De curatione per sanguinis missionem. De incidendae venae, cutis scarificandae, & amplicandarum [sic] modo. Apud Joan. Huguetan 1580 [10] 212 [4] pp., illus. 16.3 cm.

Botallo, a native of Asti in northwestern Italy, studied medicine under Gabriel Fallopius (see No. 331 ff.) and Vittore Trincavelli (1496-1548) and graduated from Pavia. He achieved great repute as an anatomist and has long been known for his description of the ductus arteriosus or duct of Botallo. Exactly how his name became associated with the duct is not known, though it was not by the discovery of the duct because its existence was known in Galen's time. In his treatise on gunshot wounds, he advocated a milder treatment than currently in vogue and gave one of the first descriptions of hay fever in his De catarrho commentarius, 1564. This small work on bloodletting is primarily an instruction manual and also discusses the therapeutic results that can be expected. Botallo, like many of his contemporaries, was an enthusiastic advocate of frequent and copious bloodletting. The two illustrations in this work are of instruments used in scarification preparatory to actual bloodletting.

See Related Record(s): 331

Cited references: Cushing B525 (1577 ed.); Durling 651; Waller 1332 (1577 ed.); Wellcome 1001 (1577 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.