Medicina nei Secoli: Journal of History of Medicine and Medical Humanities

Giorgio Valla and the sources of De expetendis et fugiendis rebus opus

Berenice Cavarra, Marco Cilione — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Il progetto culturale che Giorgio Valla realizza nella sua enciclopedia De expetendis et fugiendis rebus opus ¹ (Venezia, 1501), esprime al meglio criteri e metodi di una visione interdisciplinare e sperimentale del sapere ² . L'obiettivo di raccogliere in un disegno unitario e coerente il sapere filosofico-letterario e scientifico e di organizzarlo attorno alla natura dell'uomo ( disciplinae extra nos et in nobis ) ³ è in perfetta sintonia sia con lo spirito dell'Umanesimo maturo sia con il percorso intellettuale delle menti più raffinate del tempo. In effetti, il confronto con l'attività di ricerca e interpretazione che Poliziano, Leoniceno e Barbaro condussero sulle fonti greche e latine, pur nella sua ancora limitata esplorazione critica, rivela non poche linee di convergenza. Una per tutte è quella che incrocia le curiosità tecniche e scientifiche di Poliziano.

Galen in Giorgio Valla’s encyclopedia

Anna Maria Ieraci Bio — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Galen plays an important role for Giorgio Valla, who owned Galen's manuscripts and translated his works. If Hippocrates is for Valla the auctoritas medica par excellence, Galen interpres of Hippocrates is the medical author to draw on, also integrated with Arabic authors. In De expetendis et fugiendis rebus, Galen is the main source for the medical part of the encyclopedia, but more often he is mediated by Byzantine authors; Valla works on treatises which we now know to be pseudo-galenic and which were widely used since they were easy. In Giorgio Valla's encyclopedia Galen is, therefore, more a Byzantine and a medieval Galen. This is a little-known document of the history of Galenism in Humanism.

The Theophilus of Giorgio Valla (De expetendis et fugiendis rebus, Book XLVIII, Chapters 4-7)

Franco Giorgianni — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Giorgio Valla (1447-1500) was notoriously one of the most significant figures of late Humanism in recovering and spreading the ancient Greek and Byzantine scientific and medical tradition to Western culture. In this regard he was the author of an encyclopaedic work entitled De expetendis et fugiendis rebus, made up of several chapters devoted to the discussion of different arts and disciplines, among which there emerges a section called De medicina.

The focus of this paper is the medical section of Book XLVIII (corresponding to Book 3 of the treatise De corporis commodis et incommodis), introduced by the opusculum De urinae significatione ex Hippocrate, Paulo Aegineta ac Theophilo, and particularly the study of chapters 4-7 dealing with uroscopic matters according to the work of the Byzantine physician Theophilus Protospatharius titled De urinis. The paper aims not only to illustrate the modes and characteristic of Valla’s translation, but also to examine whether and to what extent Theophilus’ work was the unique source of this section of Valla’s encyclopaedia. In this regard, a detailed comparison between the Valla’s Latin translation and the codex Mutinensis α.U.9.4 (gr. 61), owned by the Italian humanist, shows that the text of Mut., as demonstrated in other studies on the sources of De expt., was the model of Valla’s translation of the 4 above-mentioned uroscopic chapters. The study also shows how the materia medica that Valla draws on through the ms. Mut. is varied and complex, and does not only consist of Theophilus’ (moreover incomplete) text of De urinis, but also draws on Byzantine uroscopic excerpta from different sources: first the so-called De urinis carmen attributed to Nicephorus Blemmydes (in a version that shows points of contact with the textual tradition of the ps.-Galenic De signis ex urinis), and finally, what has all the appearance of being a fragment of the ps.-Galenic treatise De urinis (Vol. 19 ed. K.) present in a very patched-up version. The article concludes with a specimen of a short Greek-Latin lexicon by Valla, taking into account the aforementioned chapters.

Exploring the medical excerpta and opuscula in the Greek manuscript collection of the Estense Library and their connections with Giorgio Valla’s œuvre – Part 1: MUT. GR. 61, ff. 31r-33r; MUT. GR. 213, 239r-242r.

Sandro Passavanti — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The catalogue of the Greek codices preserved at the Biblioteca Estense in Modena (compiled in 1896 by V. Puntoni, eventually revised by E. Mioni in 1965) records within Mut. gr. 61 (ff. 31-33) and Mut. gr. 213 (ff. 224-242) some unspecified excerpta and opuscula medica: excerpts of works on medical topics, taken from various authors and gathered in an apparently disorganised manner. The study of these folios has shed more light on their content, revealing well-known texts alongside with composite writings still difficult to identify, conspicuous reworkings from other authors, and uncollected witnesses of treatises attested elsewhere.

In this paper, I will give the first overview of two unedited anonymous writings – a fragment on the phases of diseases (Περὶ καιρῶν, Mut. gr. 61, ff. 31^r, 1 -31^v, 2) and a short treatise on bloodletting (Περὶ φλεβοτομίας, Mut. 213, ff.239^v-242^r) – along with an overall examination of the texts contained in Mut. gr. 61, ff. 31^v, 2 – 33^r, 7 (a selection of Hippocrates’ Aphorisms from the indirect tradition, interpolated with texts allegedly from Galen and Theophilus). The inquiry will pave the way to the investigation of possible links between these writings and Giorgio Valla’s scientific production.

Exploring the medical excerpta et opuscula in the Greek manuscript collection of the Estense Library and their connections with Giorgio Valla’s œuvre – Part 2: MUT. GR. 213, ff. 235v-237r

Tamara Martì Casado — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Following up on the scope of the previous paper, this study will focus on two medical texts contained in Mut. gr. 213, ff 235^V-237^rmostly through the lens of their textual transmission. My analysis has identified in the first text (f. 235^v) a brief twofold compilation based on Aetius of Amida’s Libri Medicinales on the prognosis of favourable and unfavourable signis in diseases (a. Περὶ προγνοστικῶν σημείων ὑγείας τε καὶ ζωῆς τῶν ἀρρώστων, b. Σημεία θανάτου), while the second text offers a new witness of the short anonymous treatise De constitutione mundi et hominis (Περὶ τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου) already edited in 1841 by J. L. Ideler (partly) and in 2006 J. Jouanna, used by Valla as a source in his encyclopedia De expetendis et fugiendis rebus opus (1501).

Giorgio Valla and Andronikos Kallistos: a Reappraisal

Luigi Orlandi — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper draws on insights from recent studies about the relationship between Giorgio Valla and the Byzantine scholar Andronikos Kallistos, whose Greek manuscripts ended up largely in Valla’s Venetian collection. A few clarifications on the context of the sale of Andronikos’ books will be briefly outlined. In addition, light will be shed on the highly problematic nature of an alleged master-pupil relationship between Kallistos and Valla, and a different outcome will be envisaged.

The Latin tradition of Galen’s Capacities of Simple Drugs and Capacities of Foods from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance

Stefania Fortuna — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Galen’s Capacities of Simple Drugs and Capacities of Foods were both known by Latin authors in Late Antiquity, as Gargilius Martialis shows, and the Capacities of Simple Drugs seem to have got a Latin translation at that time or a little later. They were not included in the Alexandrian Canon of Galen’s sixteen works, and in the Middle Ages it is not surprising that they were entirely translated into Latin from Greek rather late: the Capacities of Foods by William of Moerbecke in Viterbo in 1277, the Capacities of Simple Drugs by Nicholas of Reggio in Naples in the early fourteenth century. Before, the first five or six books of the Capacities of Simple Drugs were partly translated into Latin from Arabic by Gerard of Cremona: the translation of the sixth book, which is incomplete, is transmitted anonymously in few manuscripts, and has been attributed to Gerard based on the style. The Capacities of Foods have no Latin translation from Arabic, but there is a Latin translation of what seems to be a compendium of this work, which was done by Accursius of Pistoia in 1200, in Bologna, and is transmitted under the title of De dissolutione continua. These medieval Latin translations were replaced by new ones in the 1530s, the translation of the Capacities of Simple Drugs by Thodore Gerard of Ghent, and those of the Capacities of Foods by Joachim Martins of Ghent and by Martin Grégoire of Tours. In this article I shall present the Latin translations of both Galen’s Capacities of Simple Drugs and Capacities of Foods from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance, and reconstruct some aspects of their reception.

A Mid-19th Century Tool for Hypnosis

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The authors examine a hypnosis instrument marketed in the 1860s by prominent Parisian instrument maker, Joseph Frédéric Benoît Charrière (1803-1876). This instrument holds significant historical value and warrants preservation for museological purposes. Serving as a tangible proof of the hypnotic “setting”, it represents a critical link between late mesmerism and early development of modern hypnosis.

Preserving such artifacts is crucial for understanding the evolution of hypnotic practices and the broader historical context of medical instrumentation. Charrière’s contributions to surgical tools are well-documented, and this instrument exemplifies the intersection of his work with the burgeoning field of hypnotism. The instrument not only illustrates the technological advancements of the period, but also reflects the shifting paradigms in therapeutic practices from mesmerism to modern hypnosis. As such, it is an invaluable piece for both historical and educational displays, offering insights into the practical applications and theoretical underpinnings of hypnosis in the nineteenth century

Theon, on the Composition of Purgative Medicines An Unedited Text from Laur. Plut. 75.3

Elias Valiakos — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Among the treatises in the codex Plut. 75.3 of the Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) in Florence, there exists a text entitled: “Theon, On the composition of purgative medicines” (Θέωνος, Περὶ τῶν καθαιρόντων φαρμάκων). There is limited information available about a physician named Theon. Photios (9th century), in his work “Bibliotheca”, mentions a Theon from Alexandria, who authored a medical treatise called “Man” (Ἄνθρωπος).

The text in codex Plut. 75.3 comprises two distinct parts: In the first section, eight plants are described in detail: colocynth, flax-leaved daphne, white hellebore, caper spurge, aloe, scammony, dodder, and black hellebore. The second part contains eight recipes, including antidotes for the liver and spleen, as well as unguents for scabies, dropsy, and kidneys. All pharmaceutical recipes presented are unique and cannot be found in any other text. In this article, we are publishing this text for the first time.

Mirroring the Mind and Brain: Reflection on Has Berger's EEG and the Scientific Perception of Reality

Francesco Brigo, Valentina Gazzaniga, Silvia Iorio, Mariano Martini — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the invention of the EEG (electroencephalogram) by Hans Berger (1873–1941), who is widely recognized as the first to record electrical brain waves in humans. While brainwaves recorded on photographic paper served as an effective example of what Berger called Hirnspiegel (“brain-mirror”), his early drawings provide a unique insight into the workings of his mind—and, by extension, those of any researcher.