Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 792

GIOVANNI BATTISTA MORGAGNI (1682-1771) De sedibus, et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis libri quinque. Ex typographia Remondiniana 1761 Vol. I: xcvi, 298 pp., front. (port.); Vol. II: 452 pp. 36.2 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 789

Between his Adversaria anatomica of 1719 and De sedibus, et causis morborum of 1761, Morgagni had not published any major works. But the latter, published when he was seventy-nine years of age, had been years in preparation, and constitutes a foundation of modern pathological anatomy. Vast in scope, it is one of the most fundamentally important works in the history of medicine. In it he reports in precise and exhaustive detail his findings in nearly seven hundred autopsy dissections, introducing and insisting on the concept that diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease must be based on an exact understanding of the pathologic changes in the anatomic structures. It put the final rout to the old humoral pathology. Morgagni's contribution to the understanding of disease may well rank with the contributions of Vesalius in anatomy and Harvey in physiology.

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 2276; Osler 1178; Waller 6672

Gift of John Martin, M.D.