important work on food, was John Philip de Lignamine, who had been
professor of medicine at Perugia, where his lectures attracted a large
following. His book, which appeared at Rome after his office of Papal
Physician secured him the leisure for its completion, is "On Every
Kind of Food and Drink Useful and Harmful For Man with a Consideration
of Their Prime Qualities" (_De Unoquoque Cibo, et Potu Utili Homini,
et Novivo, Eorumque Primis Qualitatibus_). [Footnote 52]
[Footnote 52: Lignamine interested himself in the new art of printing
and was the publisher of a well-known series of finely printed
_incunabula_.]
One of the important medical scientists of the end of the fifteenth
century was Benedict of Nursia, whose book _De Conservatione
Sanitatis_ is really an important contribution to medical botany. He
is placed in the list of Papal Physicians by Mandosius, whose
authority is usually unquestioned. Giacobilli is his authority. Marini
in his comments on Mandosius' work declares that Benedict was not a
Papal Physician but the ducal physician at Milan, and tells the story
of his exile from his native country Nursia. He was so distinguished
for his medical learning that he became almost at once one of the most
prominent of the physicians in Milan. There is no doubt, however, that
Benedict dedicated his book, {440} which is now looked upon as basic
in the history of medical botany, to Sixtus IV, and the suggestion
that he was a Papal Physician seems to have come from the fact that
though remaining in the service of the Duke of Milan he was summoned
in consultation to see this Pope during an illness.
Innocent VIII (1484-92).--Petrus Leonius, one of the physicians of
Innocent VIII, finds a place among Paul Jovius' "Eulogies of Learned
Men" and is the author of a commentary on medicine and mathematics and
a treatise, _De Urinis_. He had been a professor of medicine at
several of the important Italian universities and was very well known
throughout Italy. He was summoned to treat Lorenzo de Medici and the
early death of that illustrious Florentine gave occasion for a good
deal of opprobrium for his physician, though the most careful
investigation has shown that there was no reason for criticism of him.
The fact that Petrus Leonius had been called as the consultant in
Lorenzo's case shows how thoroughly he was appreciated. One of his
biographers suggests of him that he was "a learned rather than a lucky
physician." Physicians will probably appreciate that distinction,
better than others.
Alexander VI (1492-1503).--The first of the Papal Physicians of Pope
Alexander VI (Alexander de Espinosa) was like that Pontiff himself of
a family of Castilian origin though long enough in Italy to have
become thoroughly Italianized and even to have received the Roman
citizenship. He is mentioned in terms of praise by Baldus Baldi in his
work on "The Oriental Opobalsam." Mandosius speaks of him as "a man of
great erudition endowed with high intelligence and with a great zeal
for promoting the health of humanity."
Gaspar Torella, also a Spaniard, was another of the physicians of Pope
Alexander VI, and wrote a series of books on the venereal diseases
which attracted so much attention in Italy about this time, and which
are supposed to have been imported from America, though there is no
doubt now of their existence in Europe and in Asia long before. He
also wrote a book on "Portents, Prodigies and Prophecies" and another
"On Diet or the Preservation of Health" in the form of a dialogue on
eating and drinking which became rather popular. Torella was made a
bishop under Pope Julius II and his volume on diet is dedicated to
that Pope.
Another of the Papal Physicians of the end of the fifteenth century
was Petrus Pintor, a Spaniard from Valencia, who was "the beloved
friend and physician" of Pope Alexander VI. He wrote a {441}
"Compilation of the Opinions of All the Doctors on the Prevention and
Cure of the Pestilence" (under the word pestilence was included at
that time any form of epidemic) which was published at Rome in 1499
and was very well known by his contemporaries.
Julius II (1503-13).--One of the Papal Physicians of Pope Julius II
was Horatio Lancillotti, of whom it is declared that his whole delight
was in books. "Constantly he was occupied with the thought of helping
his patients and he practised medicine with liberality and good will,
kindly caring for the infirmities of the poor and of friends so that
he rendered himself worthy of every praise." He is spoken of as a man
of sublime intellect who gave himself to medicine with his whole
heart, but whose prudence, wisdom and conduct gave him a reputation
even beyond that which he enjoyed as a physician. His son was made a
Cardinal by Gregory XIII and other sons of his reached distinction.
Another of the physicians of Pope Julius II was Scipio Lancillotti,
the brother of Horatio just mentioned. It is related of him that once
when the Pope was severely ailing and on the fourth day of his illness
was overcome by so deep a coma that for some hours he was considered
dead, Scipio Lancillotti administered some medicine, and not only
brought the Pontiff back to consciousness, but freed him from danger
of death and restored him sufficiently to take up his work again.
Another of the physicians of Julius II was Joannes Bodier, whose tomb
in the Church of Saint Sebastian on the _Via Appia_ outside the Porta
Capena is well known. He was a scholarly ecclesiastic who because of
his intellectual and religious distinction was made the Abbot of the
Monastery of San Sebastiano by the Pope.
One hears much of Jewish physicians in attendance on the Popes, but
the records do not bear out the generally received opinion that there
were many of them. Occasionally there is mention of one and usually he
is some distinguished medical scientist well known in his time whose
services were asked also for the Pope. Evidently even the Christian
intolerance toward the Jews at this time was not sufficient to prevent
such relations on the part of the Popes. Indeed the tradition of the
frequency of Jewish physicians to Popes is probably due to the
reaction produced by the surprise of finding that there were any
Jewish physicians in attendance at the Papal Court. One of those who
attended Pope Julius II was Samuel Sarfadi or Sarfati, a Spanish Rabbi
who was looked upon as a leader of his people in Rome. It was he who
as their {442} representative greeted Pope Julius during the
procession when the Pontiff took possession of the city and in
accordance with the ancient usage presented him with a copy of the Old
Testament. Julius' reply was in the formula of the Roman Ordo
commending the Law but condemning the religious practice that did not
go beyond the Old Testament, which had reached completion in the New.
The Pope and the rabbi continued on terms of intimate friendship and
as Papal Physician he was able to protect his people and secure them
in the rights that were more freely granted them at Rome than
elsewhere in Europe.
Pius III.--One of the Papal Physicians of Pius III was Antonius
Petrutius, Doctor of Philosophy and of Medicine, of whom Mandosius in
his Lives of the Papal Physicians says that "he was the most excellent
physician of his time."
Leo X (1513-21).--One of the physicians of Pope Leo X who served also
in the conclave after his death was Dioscorides da Velletri, to whom
we owe a series of monographs on medicine that are of special
interest. He wrote on diet, _De Ordine Cibandi;_ on diagnosis, _De
Cognitione Naturae Aegritudinis_ (literally on the recognition of the
nature of disease), and on stone in the kidney, _De Lapide Renum._
Another of the physicians of Pope Leo X was Bartholomeo of Pisa. He is
mentioned by Carolus Cartharius in the _Athenaeo Romano_ as a
physician of great skill. He was professor in the Roman Archigymnasium
and is the author of an Epitome of the Theory and Practice of Medicine
issued at Florence early in the sixteenth century. This epitome is
said to have been of special service because it contained in brief a
great deal of information gathered from books and illustrated by
Bartholomeo's own experience.
Still another of the physicians of Pope Leo X was Bernardinus
Speronius, a Paduan by birth and a professor of high esteem in the
University of Padua. Angelus Portenarius in his work _Della Felicita
di Padova_ says of him that he was a physician of such great skill and
reputation that Pope Leo selected him for his physician while he was
lecturing at Padua, and Bernardinus felt himself highly honored by the
selection and accepted the post.
The fourth of the physicians of Pope Leo X was Jerome Sessa, Doctor of
Philosophy and Medicine, who was afterwards the particular friend and
physician of Pope Paul IV. He is the author of a treatise on medical
matters, _De Re Medica_, and was singularly respected for his kindness
to the poor, and for the {443} self-sacrifice with which he gave
himself to the more difficult duties of his profession.
The fifth physician of Pope Leo X was Clementius Clementinus, noted in
distinction from many of his colleagues as a Doctor of Arts and
Medicine instead of the usual combination with philosophy. Van der
Linden declares that "he was second to none in the opinion of Rome and
the whole of Italy in his knowledge of medicine though he was at the
same time a very celebrated astronomer." He had been professor of
philosophy and mathematics at Padua. He is the author of a work on The
Precepts of Medicine published by Jacob Mazzocchium at Rome, 1512. He
also wrote a work on astronomy, and a monograph on fevers.
Adrian VI (1522-23), the distinguished Belgian scholar elected to the
Papacy to succeed Leo X, had the honor of having dedicated to him a
monograph, _De Pestilentia_, written by the well-known Bartholomeo
Montagnana, who is one of the great Renaissance physicians of Italy.
The almost equally famous John Battista Elisio dedicated to him his
work _De Praesagiis Sapientum,_ On the Prognosis of the Wise. Some of
Adrian's physicians were among the most widely known members of the
medical profession at this time. To one of them, Giovanni Antracino,
John De Vigo dedicated his treatise _De Morbo Gallico_ in words of the
highest praise. Latin dedications lend themselves to flattery, but
with even all due discount for this, Vigo's expressions show how much
Antracino must have been appreciated at the time. He praises him for
"his singular wisdom, marvellous perspicacity, rightness of judgment
and serious purpose," and recalls that in many consultations where
they had been present together Antracino had excelled not only in
medical theory, but in medical practice.
Another of the physicians of Pope Adrian VI was Francesco Fusconi,
whose name is sometimes wrongly given as Frasconi. Amato Lusitano
calls him "a most famous physician," and Marsilio Cagnati in his work
_De Aeris Romani Salubritate_ notes that Francesco was the first to
recognize that starving a fever and especially the malarial fevers of
the neighborhood of Rome, though it had been the custom for a long
time for physicians to advise it, did much more harm than good. He
insisted that the ailing should be more richly nourished and that
above all they should be fed on chopped meats which would make it
easier for them to ingest such quantities as would be good for them.
Cagnati says that many Roman physicians followed this teaching and
saved much {444} suffering and many lives. Fusconi is the physician
whom Benvenuto Cellini praises for having saved his life. The famous
sculptor was taken with a very severe fever and the "first physicians"
of Rome were called to see him, among them Master Francesco (Fusconi)
Da Norcia, who was a very old man, but of great reputation. The fever
increased to such a degree that the professors held the disease for
desperate, but not Norcia. He took charge of the case and by the most
careful treatment succeeded in freeing Benvenuto from an illness which
did not seem as though it could possibly come to an end without fatal
issue.
Clement VII (1523-34), who was of the Medici family, had a number of
physicians and on one occasion when ill no less than eight were in
attendance on him. This gave occasion to the satiric poet Berni to
declare in verse that when the Pope after his recovery went to make
his thanksgiving to Our Lady he might indeed have felt that it was a
miraculous event to have been saved from the hands of eight physicians
all at once. At least three of these physicians of Pope Clement are
famous in the history of medicine; that is to say, they wrote books
frequently referred to by their medical colleagues. One of these,
Andrea Cibo, or Andreas Cibbo, was also physician to Pope Paul III and
will be mentioned under his name. Cibo had been a professor at the
University of Perugia before being made Papal Physician. One of his
contemporaries refers to him as "the secure health of the sick."
Another of Clement's physicians was Andrea Turini, who had been a
professor at Pisa. He seems afterwards to have been royal physician to
Louis XII, King of France. There are two books of his, _De Embrochia_
and _De Curatione Pleuritidis_ published at Lyons in 1537, in which
Andrea gives himself the titles of physician and counsellor of the
Pope and the King. Andrea was something of a wit and is quoted in the
_Facetiae_ of Domenichi. After a visit to Pisa he declared that "Pisa
was a maritime city without fish, having a handsome Cathedral without
a sacristy, a leaning tower which did not fall, a well without any
buckets, and a university without professors."
Ludovico Augeni, another of the physicians of Pope Clement VII, taught
for a while at Perugia and is said to have written a book on the use
of wines in health and disease, but he is famous principally as the
father of Orazio Augeni, professor at the Sapienza at Rome, who
dedicated to his father his commentary on the nine books of Rhazes. A
nephew of his, Sabastiano, issued a volume, _De Catarrho_, which he
dedicated to Paul IV.
{445}
One of the most famous of the Papal Physicians, though he is known
much more for his work in history and literature than in medicine, is
Paulus Jovius, another of the physicians to Clement VII. His
"Histories of Illustrious Men" and his "Eulogies of Men Distinguished
in Letters and in War," as well as his other writings, are well-known
sources of historical material. He is besides the author of a series
of volumes on natural history that are not so widely known, but
deserve a place in the history of science. They include a book on
Roman fishes and another on marine fishes and shellfish as well as
descriptions of Lake Como, of England, Scotland and Ireland and the
Orkney Islands that have a niche of their own in natural history. He
had been the intimate friend of Pope Leo X, Pope Adrian VI made him a
canon of the Cathedral of Como and he was one of the close associates
and a domestic prelate of Clement VII, who assigned him apartments in
the Vatican. Jovius made a magnificent collection of memorials of the
illustrious men whose lives he wrote, and we owe to him the
preservation of many historical materials that would otherwise almost
inevitably have been lost.
Still another of the physicians of Clement VII was Matteo Corti, of
whom Aller declares that "he was as great in speech as with the
scalpel, read the Greek authors and taught his colleagues to prefer
them to the Arabs and recalled Galen into the schools." He was
summoned from Venice to be physician to Pope Clement because of "the
great reputation for knowledge of disease and skill in the treatment
of patients that he had gained." He is noted for having modified the
habits of the Romans by advising them to take less food in the middle
of the day and to take a better meal at night. This putting back of
the principal meal gradually spread in the cities of the world until
the present custom of evening dinner became established. He wrote a
series of books, but his constant insistence was on the avoidance of
disease by careful attention to diet and mode of living rather than by
the cure of it. He made it his special boast that many of those who
followed his directions were either not ill for years or else were
afflicted with but minor ailments. After the death of Pope Clement he
was professor of medicine in Bologna and then the physician of Cosimo
de Medici in Florence and at the end of his life held a professor's
chair in medicine at Pisa. Ghilinus in his work The Theatre of
Literary Men (_Teatro d'Uomini Letterati_) talks of Matteo Corti (in
Latin, Matthaeus Curtius), as "a very celebrated doctor of medicine
who as a professor was the peer of all and the superior {446} of most
of his colleagues and who revived with benefit to his students and
their patients the true manner of treating illness according to
Hippocrates and Galen." He was looked upon as one of the distinguished
physicians of his time. He wrote concerning the manner of dining and
supping, (_De Prandio et Coena_), a commentary on Mondino's anatomy
and a book On Venesection and another On Dosage.
Paul III (1534-49).--One of the distinguished consultant physicians of
the mid-sixteenth century was Antonio Musa Brasavola (sometimes
written Brasovola), whose years run with the century. His studies were
made with the famous Leonicenus at Ferrara. He became the physician in
ordinary and personal friend of Hercules II, Duke of Este, and
accompanied him to France when the Duke espoused the daughter of Louis
XII. He was at various times the physician to four Popes and was
called in consultation to Henry VIII of England and Francis I of
France. He devoted himself particularly to medical botany and
pharmacology and was one of the first to hold a professorship in these
subjects. He was well known for his life-saving practice of
tracheotomy and he restored _paracentesis thoracis_ as a standard
remedy. He introduced the use of _radix chinae_, a kind of smilax
related to sarsaparilla, and put _lignum guiaci_ into the pharmacology
of the day. He wrote a series of monographs on botanical subjects
which have given him an enduring place in the history of that time. A
distinguished group of men were near the Popes in Rome at this time
with whom Brasavola was in close relations. They included Eustachius
the great anatomist, Columbus, discoverer of the circulation in the
lungs, Caesalpinus and Fallopius, who was a professor at the
University of Bologna, that city being at this time in the Papal
States.
One of the great Renaissance physicians and surgeons well known in our
histories of medicine for an important contribution to the treatment
of gunshot wounds, is Alfonso Ferri, a Neapolitan, who, after some
years of professorship in surgery in Naples, became the physician of
Pope Paul III. His book, which is founded on his "experience at home
and at war," went through a number of editions at Rome, at Antwerp and
Frankfurt and other places, and he was evidently widely read and
considered an important authority. He invented some instruments for
the removal of bullets and has many practical hints with regard to the
treatment of gunshot wounds. He was the professor of surgery at the
Sapienza, {447} Rome, and has written a volume on the carunculae, or
hard multiplex tumors, which arise at the vesical neck.
Silvius Zeffiri, another of the physicians of Pope Paul III, is the
author of a volume on "Putrefaction or The Best Method of Protracting
Life," which was published at Rome in 1536. Zeffiri seems to have
anticipated the modern popular notion of the putrefactive conditions
in the human system as one of the most important factors in shortening
life, and he discusses various means of preventing them.
[Illustration: Ferri's Instruments:--20 a, hollow probe or canula with
screw; b, canula with rounded end alone; c, screw; 21, 22, Alphonsinum
or grasping instrument for the removal of foreign bodies; 23, curved
needle.]
Another of the physicians of Pope Paul III was Andreas Cibbo, Doctor
of Arts and Medicine, of whom Caesar Crispoltus in his work on
distinguished Perugians called _Perugia Augusta_ (Book III, P. 335)
tells that having lectured for many years on medicine at the
University of Perugia and practised his profession with great
reputation, Andreas was called to Rome by Clement VII as Papal
Physician, and also occupied that post under Pope Paul III. He
accompanied Pope Paul on a journey to Nice on the occasion {448} when
the Emperor Charles V and King Francis I of France met, and he was
chosen by special honor to assist at the banquet given these
sovereigns.
[Illustration: Maggi's Bullet Extractors and Needles:--10, 11, 12,
shot borer (canula with screw); 11, screw alone; 12, canula alone; 13,
protective tube for the introduction of boring instrument; 14, 15,
lance needles; 16, 17, fistula scalpels.]
Another of the physicians of Pope Paul III was Jacobus Bonacossus, of
whom Mandosius says that "he was famous for his wide knowledge not
only in science, but on all culture subjects, as well as for his
magnanimity, his affability of manners and his careful attention in
his professional work to the poor as well as to the rich." He came of
a distinguished family of Ferrara and is given an important place in
the list of "Illustrious Men of the City of Ferrara" published by
Augustin Superbo.
Another of the physicians of Pope Paul III was Joannes {449}
Franciscus Emanuelis, also called Manovelli. He is mentioned in the
volume of Statutes of the College of Physicians of Florence and was
looked upon by his contemporaries, according to Baldo Baldi, as a very
learned man whose knowledge was only surpassed by his cultivation of
the social virtues. He was a professor at Florence when he was
summoned to Rome to become Papal Physician.
[Illustration: Maggi's Instruments for Gunshot Wounds:--6 a, b, c,
separable bullet forceps; 7, bullet spatula; 8, 9, anserine bullet
forceps, separable and with a screw-crushing arrangement.]
A very distinguished man who also occupied the post of physician to
Pope Paul III was Thomas Cadimustus, a Belgian, who, after securing
the doctorate in medicine and philosophy with distinction at Louvain,
came to Rome and soon secured a place among the {450} teachers there
and attained a reputation for great learning and successful care of
his patients. He became Secretary Apostolic as well as physician to
the Pope, and evidently enjoyed the close friendship of the Pontiff.
[Illustration: Some Instruments of Maggi:--1, surgical hook; 2, double
hook for the extraction of bullets; 3, concave toothed forceps; 4,
straight-toothed forceps; 5, crow-beak forceps.]
Another of the physicians of Pope Paul III was Tiberius Palella,
famous for his knowledge of medicine and with a special reputation for
information with regard to plants. He is known for his many
friendships with men of learning and left behind {451} him the
reputation, according to Mandosius, of being "a physician of the
highest integrity interested above all in the health of the poor as
well as the rich, without envy for others and a constant diligent
seeker of the right."
Another of the physicians of Pope Paul III who as the great friend of
the Jesuits might possibly be expected by those who misunderstand that
Order to be opposed to Science, but proves to have been a great patron
and friend of a whole series of the most prominent scientists of the
time, was Joannes Aquilinus, or John of Aquila, a noted Neapolitan
physician, who, after acquiring a great reputation in Naples, was
called to the Professorship of Medicine at Pisa when that University
was at the climax of its development. There he achieved so great a
reputation that his contemporaries referred to him as a "second
AEsculapius." Lacuna, who published a famous edition of Galen in 1548
which went through a series of editions, dedicated one portion of the
edition to Aquilinus out of deference to his "love for good
literature."