Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 687

GIOVANNI MARIA LANCISI (1654-1720) De subitaneis mortibus. Typis Jo. Francisci Buagni 1707 [24] 243 [1] pp. 22.5 cm.

Lancisi studied at the Collegio de Sapienza in Rome where, after first studying theology, he graduated in medicine in 1672. He served for a time as a physician at the renowned Santo Spirito Hospital and then taught medical classics for five years at San Salvatore College before being appointed professor of anatomy at the Collegio de Sapienza. He taught anatomy for thirteen years and from then until his death was professor of the theory and practice of medicine. Commissioned by Pope Clement XI, to whom Lancisi was personal physician, this book represents one of the earliest epidemiological studies of non-communicable diseases. The volume deals with the pathogenesis of the unusual number of sudden deaths that occurred in Rome during 1705-1706. Lancisi also made one of the first attempts to etiologically group and classify heart diseases in this book.

Cited references: Cushing L34 (1709 ed.); Garrison-Morton 2731; Osler 3148; Waller 5542 (1708 ed.); Wellcome III, p. 441

Gift of John Martin, M.D.