Ramazzini’s geological field trip to the oil springs of Montegibbio (1698)

The Italian physician and naturalist Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714) is known in the field of hydrogeology for his annotations and studies concerning the nature of underground water and the interpretation of the origin and hydrodynamics of confined aquifers (1691), which were commonly exploited in his homeland, the Pleistocene alluvial plain north of Modena (Italy). He neither coined nor used the term “confined” or “artesian”, the latter a term that emerged in the early 19th century in France, where many wells were being drilled in the Artois region. He conceived and depicted a physical model of this phenomenon, which he attributed to the principle of communicating vessels. Later, he extended his scientific interests to geologic and stratigraphic issues and published the first hydrogeological cross-section highlighting the relationship between different hydrostratigraphic units. He also anticipated the studies on atmospheric electricity, air temperature and pression measurement, perfectioning the Torricelli’s mercury barometer, and investigated the natural history of the crude oil seepages occurring in the Apennines of Modena. Since the Middle Ages, this precious olio di sasso (oleum petrae, i.e., petroleum) was actively extracted from shallow hand-dug wells or skimmed from natural seepages and salt springs (Macini & Mesini, 2019). In 1690, G.W. von Leibniz visited Modena and spent many days with Ramazzini, appreciating his studies and scientific methodology, based on the experimental practice. However, his primary interests were in the field of medicine, and he actively practiced as a doctor. In 1700 he published his masterpiece De morbis artificum diatriba (On the diseases of workers, 1700), which remained for over two centuries the main reference for the epidemiological study of occupational diseases, translated into many languages. Following the teaching of Hippocrates, he coined the motto longe praestantius est praeservare quam curare (prevention is better than cure), making him the father of occupational medicine. His passion for natural observations and the study of historical sources persuaded him to publish a critical edition of Ariosto’s study on the oil springs of Modena (1698), adding in the appendix a letter addressed to Felice Viali, professor of botany at the University of Padua. Here Ramazzini explains the reasons that led him to study Ariosto’s work, adding personal observations on the field operation of oil extraction at Montegibbio, a village in the Apenninic foothills south of Modena that he visited, taking Ariosto’s book with him as a travel guide. He knew the dangerous drilling techniques for the construction of water wells, and his De morbis contains a chapter on the health of water well diggers (putearii). It is not unlikely that Ramazzini’s trip to Montegibbio was also aimed to examine his patients in their workplace, convinced that he could better identify the etiology and pathogenesis of occupational diseases in person.