Italy
447 entries published in Italy. 42 publication places.
1628
#2011
Methodus facile parandi iucunda tuta et nova medicamenta & eius applicatio aduersus chimicos.
Page 170 includes the first definite description of a blood transfusion, notably published in the same year as Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood in De motu cordis. Digital facsimile from Google Books …
1628
#1821.1
Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, seu, Plantarum animalium mineralium Mexicanorum historia.
This summary of Hemández’s very extensive manuscript account of the natural history of Mexico (see No. 1820.1) was edited by N.A. de Recchi, and published at the expense of Prince Federico Cesi (1585-1630), with notes…
1630
#259
Persio tradotto.
The first book to contain illustrations of natural objects as seen through the microscope— specifically an engraving of the exterior surface of bees. The work includes the Latin text of the Satyrae VI of Aulus Persius…
1632
#2273
De recondita abscessuum natura.
The first textbook of surgical pathology. It treats of all kinds of swelling under the term “abscess” and describes neoplasms of the genital organs and sarcoma of bones. Tumors of the breast are classified into four g…
1632
#6795
Quaestio iatrophilologica.
Learned bibliophile Gabriel Naudé eventually became Mazarin’s librarian and built up for his master a famous collection of books. He wrote an important medical dictionary. Four further parts of the above, with varying…
1632
#12780
Nuoua, et vtilissima prattica di tutto quello ch'al diligète barbiero s'appartiene: E particolarmente del cauar sangue ....
An extensively llustrated manual published specifically for barber surgeons, published in the vernacular, and instructing them in the art of bloodletting and phlebotomy, embalming dead bodies, curing headaches, and va…
1641
#5074
De febribus libri IV.
Sennert gave the first scientific description of scarlet fever. He was the first to mention the scarlatinal desquamation, the early arthritis, and post-scarlatinal edema, but made no mention of sore throat.
1641
#9417
Syntagma anatomicum, publicis dissectionibus, in auditorum usum, diligenter aptatum.
Vesling provided an early discussion of the human lymphatic system. He was one of the first physicians to describe the brain's circle of Willis. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.
1642
#534.53
Monstrorum historia cum Paralipomenis historiae omnium animalium Bartholomaeus Ambrosinus… volumen composuit.
Aldrovandi assembled a large collection of specimens and notes on monsters which were published posthumously by Ambrosini, who added a number of personally observed cases. Those included the first detailed description…
1642
#7179
Geneanthropeiae sive de hominis generatione decateuchon. Ubi ex ordine quaecunique ad humanae generationis liturgiam, ejusdemque principia, organa, tempus, usum, modum, occasionem voluptatem, aliasque omnes affectiones, quae in aphrodisiis accidere quoquomodo solent, ac possunt dedita opera plene methodice, & iucunde pertractantur.
An encyclopedic work on sexuality and physical love in all its aspects, practical and credulous, including the widest variety of possible positions, the anatomy and physiology of the sexual organs and varous aspects o…
1642
#7879
Figura ductus cuiusdam cum multiplicibus suis ramulis noviter in pancreate in diversis corporibus humanis observati.
Wirsung, assistant to the celebrated German anatomist Johann Vesling, discovered the excretory duct of the pancreas named for him in 1642. To announce his discovery, Wirsung chose the extremely unusual method of publi…
1644
#259.1
l’Occhio della mosca In his: Opusculi…
![ODIERNA, Giovanni Battista [Hodierna] (1597 – 1660)](/media/portraits/9538)
The first microscopical section in biology is discussed and illustrated in Odierna’s study of the fly’s eye, which is also the first description of the faceted eye of an arthropod.
1644
#11858
Theatro d’Arcani del medico Lodovico Locatelli da Bergamo; nel quale si tratta dell’arte chimica, et suoi arcani, con gli afforismi d’Ippocrate commentati da Paracelso, et l’espositione d’alcune cifre, et caratteri oscuri de filosofi.
‘It is apparent that by the 1640’s Paracelsian medicine had gained momentum in Italy and that iatrochemical theories were being adopted by a number of Italian physicians. […] In 1644 there appeared the first Italian t…
1645
#1542
Nova auris internae delineatio.
An article which announces the discovery of the long process of the malleus. Folius “accurately discussed the general configuration of the middle ear, described the round and oval windows, delineated the three ossicle…
1648
#7557
Musaeum metallicum in libros IIII distributum Bartholomaeus Ambrosinus ... labore, et studio composuit cum indice copiosissimo.
Digital facsimile from the University of Bologna at this link.
1652
#3050
Iatrologismorum seu medicinalium observationum pentecostae quinque utilibus praeceptis.
Panaroli described hemolytic jaundice of the newborn.
1654
#151
Anthropometria.
Elsholtz was the first physician to study anthropometry and human proportion.
1656
#7620
Cortex Peruviae redivivus, profligator febrium, assertus ab impugnationibus Melippi Protimi ...
The first book on Peruvian bark or cinchona (chinchona) in the treatment of malaria.
1656
#8861
Note overo memorie del museo di Lodovico Moscardo....Nel primo si disorre delle cose antiche, le quali in detto museo si trouano. Nel secondo delle petre, minerali, e terre. Nel terzo de corali, conchiglie, animali, frutti, & altre cose in quello contenute.
Moscardo's museum contained natural history specimens, archeological remains, and ethnographic objects. Around 1642 Moscardo acquired a portion of the collection of Francesco Calceolari and added it to his museum. Dig…
1657
#8855
Bibliotheca botanica, seu herbarijstarum scriptorum promota synodia...Ia. Antonio Bumaldo [i.e. O. Montalbani], Collectore.
The first general bibliography of botany books, including herbals. The author, a prolific writer, often wrote under the pseudonym of Antonio Bumaldo.
1658
#2528.1
Scrutinium physico-medicum contagiosae luis, quae pestis dicitur.
Kircher, a Jesuit scholar and polymath, not specifically trained in medicine, was probably the first to employ the microscope in investigating the cause of disease. He mentioned that the blood of plague patients was f…
1661
#760
De pulmonibus observations anatomicae.
Discovery of the capillary circulation. Malpighi demonstrated that the pulmonary tissues are vesicular in nature and showed that the trachea ends in bronchial filaments. His De pulmonibus includes his demonstration of…
1662
#1229
Exercitatio anatomica de structura et usu renum.
Classic description of the gross anatomy of the kidney. Bellini discovered the renal excretory ducts (“Bellini’s ducts”) and advanced a physical theory of the secretion of the urine. A translation of an extract from t…
1663
#1826
Anastasis corticis Peruviae, seu chinae defensio
A defence of the virtues of Jesuit's bark or Peruvian bark (cinchona, chinchona), the most celebrated specific remedy for malaria. It was obtained from the bark of several species of the genus Cinchona, of the Rubiace…
1664
#2102
Osservazioni intorno alle vipere.
The first methodical work on snake-poison. Redi demonstrated for the first time that, for the poison to produce its effect, it must be injected under the skin.
1664
#5572
Observationum medico-chirurgicarum rariorum sylloge.
Pietro de Marchetti was Professor of Surgery at Padua. His book contains many valuable observations in surgery.\\
1664
#13919
Musaeum Septalianum Manfredi Septalae.
"... description of the museum formed by Lodovico Settala, a physician of Milan, and his son, Manfredo, a Canon of the Cathedral. It describes their collections of both artifical and natural curiosities, including pla…
1666
#1230
De viscerum structura exercitatio anatomica.
Includes (pp. 71-100) his essay, De renibus, in which he described the uriniferous tubules and the “Malpighian bodies”. The great detail and clarity of Malpighi’s description was unsurpassed until Bowman (No. 1231). T…
1667
#577
Elementorum myologiae specimen.
In this work Stensen, in collaboration with the mathematician Vincenzio Viviani (1622-1703), a pupil of Galileo, developed a geometrical description of muscular contraction, and attempted to show theoretically that mu…
1667
#9644
De vi percussionis liber.
Building on the theory of mechanics as formulated by Aristotle and Galileo, and countering objections expressed by Stephani degli Angeli among others, Borelli presented a completely mechanical account of the action of…
1668
#97
Esperienze intorno alla generazione degl’insetti.
In the first scientific study of spontanteous generation Redi’s experiments dealt the first real blow to the ancient doctrine. In these experiments Redi made use of what we now term “controls”. English translation, 1909.
1669
#13548
Il tabacco opera ... Nella quale si tratta dell'origine, historia, coltura, preparatione, qualità natura, virtà & uso in fumo, in polvere, in foglia, in lambitivo, et in medicina della pianta volgarmente detta tabacco, si discorre degl'vtili ch'arreca moderatamente preso, de i danni ch'apporta smoderatamente usato, e qual sia il vero e legitimo modo di prenderlo: trattato naturale, medico, morale & curioso.
Discusses the origin, history, cultivation, preparation, nature and virtues of tobacco, whether used for smoking, snuffing, chewing, etc. or for medicinal purposes (Waring). "The custom of smoking, its role in divinat…
1671
#294.1
Esperienze intorno a diverse cose naturali…
Includes the first scientific study of an electric fish. While the torpedo’s peculiar properties had provoked scientific speculation since at least the time of Aristotle, Redi was the first to perform an actual dissec…
1672
#384
Anatomia chirurgica.
First book devoted entirely to surgical anatomy.
1677
#5122
De postrema Melitensi lue praxis historica.
This work, recording the epidemic of plague in Malta in 1675-76, was the first medical work published by a Maltese.
1677
#7572
Museo Cospiano: annesso a quello del famoso Vlisse Aldrovandi e donato alla sua patria dall' illustrissimo signor Ferdinando Cospi ..., fra' gli Accademici Gelati il Fedele, e principe al presente de' medesimi.
As the title indicates, the Cospi collection incorporated the earlier museum of Ulisse Aldrovandi, and Legati's catalogue is sometimes regarded as forming a 14th or supplementary volume to Aldrovandi's encyclopedic Op…
1680 –1681
#3669.3
De motu animalium. 2 pts.
Borelli originated the neurogenic theory of the heart’s action and first suggested that the circulation resembled a simple hydraulic system. He was the first to insist that the heart beat was a simple muscular contrac…
1680
#3761
Esperienze del Dottor Giuseppe Zambeccari intorno a diverse viscere tagliate a diversi animali viventi.
Proof that the spleen is not essential to life. For a translation and notes on the book, see Bull. Hist. Med., 1941, 9, 144-76, 311-31 (S. Jarcho).
1681
#13752
Recreatione dell'occhio e della mente nell'osservation ' delle chiocciole, proposta a curiosi delle opere dell natura.
The first treatise devoted entirely to molluscs, and the first practical guide for shell collectors. "Bonanni's work is significant for his careful attempts to precisely describe shell morphology. Unfortunately, due t…
1683
#4162
De urinis et pulsibus de missione sanguinis de febribus de morbis capitis, et pectoris.
Bellini began to develop his hydraulic iatromechanics in this work, in which he considered the blood as a physical fluid with simple mechanical and mathematicizable properties. He realized the value of the urine as an…
1684
#2448.1
Osservazioni … intomo agli animali viventi che si trovano negli animali viventi.
Redi was among the first of the parasitologists. He demonstrated the reproductive organs of Ascaris lumbricoides and also ascaris eggs. The results of his experiments appear in the above work, which also records his s…
1687
#2529.1
Osservazioni intorno a’ pellicelli del corpo umano.
First clinical and experimental proof of infection by a microparasite. Bonomo observed Sarcoptes scabiei, the scabies mite. This gave researchers grounds to think in terms of objective, exogenous pathogenic agents as …
1689
#12782
Anatome ossium novis inventis illustrata.
Gagliardi, a papal physician, fiirst described the lamellar structure of the bones. He also carried out some tests and comparative research between human and calf bones, and probably first described a case of bone tub…
1691
#386
Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del disegno ricercata non solo su gl’ossi, e muscoli del corpo humano.
Contains 56 copper-plates, excellent anatomically and artistically, with commentary by Giovanni Maria Lancisi. This is one of the finest of all books on anatomy for artists. English translation with plates re-engraved…
1691
#264
Observationes circa viventia, quae in rebus non viventibus reperiuntur. Cum micrographia curiosa siue Rerum minutissimarum obseruationibus, quæ ope microscopij recognitæ ad viuum exprimuntur. His accesserunt aliquot animalium testaceorum icones non antea in lucem editae. Omnia curiosorum naturæ exploratorum vtilitati & iucunditati expressa & oblata.
Illustrates several early microscopes, including the famous microscopes of the Bolognese Joseph Campani. Contradicting Redi, Bonanni tried to show that spontaneous generation was possible in animals "without blood and…
1694
#10455
Raguaglio historico del contaggio occorso nella provincia di Bari negli anni 1690, 1691 e 1692.
Arrieta published two very early disease maps in this work showing locations of plague in the province of Bari, Italy, and his employment of troops to isolate those areas. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive a…
1696
#6703
Theatron in quo maximorum Christiani orbis pontifcum archiatros…spectandos exhibet.
The first book on the lives of papal physicians.
1700
#2121
De morbis artificum diatriba.
Ramazzini's study of the diseases of workers, De morbis artificium diatriba, was the first comprehensive and systematic treatise on occupational medicine; it was also the foundation work in ergonomics. It deals with p…
1704
#1546
De aure humana tractatus.
Valsalva, a pupil of Malpighi and teacher of Morgagni, is best remembered for his work upon the ear, in which he described and depicted its most minute muscles and nerves. He divided the ear into “external”, “middle”,…
1705
#1380
Dissertatio epistolaris ad Lucam Schroeckium de glandulis conglobatis durae meningis humanae.
Includes a description and illustration of the Pacchionian bodies of the arachnoid tissue under the dura, producing by pressure slight depressions (“Pacchionian depressions”). See also Pacchioni’s De durae meningis fa…