“Adversaria anatomica” means “notebook of anatomy”. This extraordinary work by Giovanbattista Morgagni typically expresses his lifelong scientific and medical practice: a perpetual, ceaseless collection of observations, accurately described and classified. A number of such observations still carry Morgagni’s name, such as the accessory lobe of the thyroid gland or the tubercles of the breast areola. What more matters, however, consists in Morgagni’s accurate description of anatomic items, not necessarily reported for the first time, but never before described with so unequivocal claritude. Occasionally, Morgagni used anatomic illustration in a very different way respect to the most famous contemporary anatomic atlases (Bidloo’s or Manget’s). Because he needed to produce an unequivocally effective representation of the anatomic item he was concerned with, Morgagni compelled the illustrators to remove the baroque emphasis typical of the 17th Century, producing very sketchy, though extremely effective, figures. The representation of the fossa ovalis and its valves still appears to be a very fascinating source of information for junior autopsy practitioners. A similar approach is observed in the epistles and achieves its climax in Morgagni’s masterpiece: the “De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis”. In the last work, no illustrations were used, however. Characteristically, Morgagni used a very elegant Latin language and showed a deep and up-to-date knowledge of the most prominent achievements in anatomy and in general clinical medicine as well. Morgagni appears to be a typical man of the newborn enlightenment, having a profoundly rooted sense of history and a quasi maniac passion for an orderly classification of the topics he deals with. Morgagni’s longing for a precise classification is typically expressed by the detailed analytical indexes he set up, though massive multiple indexes appeared in the “De sedibus” only. Morgagni’s location in the main stream of the Enlightenment is demonstrated by the frequent quotation of his studies in the Encyclopédie, together with the “heroes” of the 17th-Century scientific revolution, such as Marcello Malpighi. Fundamentally, Morgagni was a very gifted clinician who, just like his maestro Antonmaria Valsalva, always started his morphological “adventures” from an attempt to solve stringent practical problems. Such an attitude appears to have deep roots in the Renaissance anatomists from Bologna, such as Giulio Cesare Aranzi (1530-1589), the discoverer of the hippocampus and of many features of fetal circulation. Morgagni’s interest for a sketchy though effective anatomic illustration was a legacy from Antonmaria Valsalva. A splendid posthumous edition of Valsalva’s splendidly illustrated “De aure umana” was accurately edited by Morgagni with extensive additional chapters. While Morgagni’s contribution to the foundations of pathology is unanimously accepted, his cautious attitude to the microscope left many scholars puzzled and permitted to consider him as an important cause of the late birth of cellular pathology (eighteen-fifties) respect to the rapid growth of post-galilean astronomy. A reading of the “Adversaria anatomica” and of the epistles shows Morgagni’s persistent and passionate defence of Malpighi’s achievements against his numerous critics and detractors. Morgagni was simply not interested in technologies such as microscopy and injection and preferred a simple direct observation, just as his Maestro Valsalva. The crisis of the microscope appears to be due to an inappropriate and unjustified enthusiasm for vascular injection hindering a rapid development of the still primitive, though extremely effective when used by gifted people such as Malpighi, microscope technology.
Paolo Scarani (2009). THE MEN WHO INFLUENCED MORGAGNI AS ANATOMIST. FIRENZE : European Society of Pathology.
THE MEN WHO INFLUENCED MORGAGNI AS ANATOMIST
SCARANI, PAOLO
2009
Abstract
“Adversaria anatomica” means “notebook of anatomy”. This extraordinary work by Giovanbattista Morgagni typically expresses his lifelong scientific and medical practice: a perpetual, ceaseless collection of observations, accurately described and classified. A number of such observations still carry Morgagni’s name, such as the accessory lobe of the thyroid gland or the tubercles of the breast areola. What more matters, however, consists in Morgagni’s accurate description of anatomic items, not necessarily reported for the first time, but never before described with so unequivocal claritude. Occasionally, Morgagni used anatomic illustration in a very different way respect to the most famous contemporary anatomic atlases (Bidloo’s or Manget’s). Because he needed to produce an unequivocally effective representation of the anatomic item he was concerned with, Morgagni compelled the illustrators to remove the baroque emphasis typical of the 17th Century, producing very sketchy, though extremely effective, figures. The representation of the fossa ovalis and its valves still appears to be a very fascinating source of information for junior autopsy practitioners. A similar approach is observed in the epistles and achieves its climax in Morgagni’s masterpiece: the “De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis”. In the last work, no illustrations were used, however. Characteristically, Morgagni used a very elegant Latin language and showed a deep and up-to-date knowledge of the most prominent achievements in anatomy and in general clinical medicine as well. Morgagni appears to be a typical man of the newborn enlightenment, having a profoundly rooted sense of history and a quasi maniac passion for an orderly classification of the topics he deals with. Morgagni’s longing for a precise classification is typically expressed by the detailed analytical indexes he set up, though massive multiple indexes appeared in the “De sedibus” only. Morgagni’s location in the main stream of the Enlightenment is demonstrated by the frequent quotation of his studies in the Encyclopédie, together with the “heroes” of the 17th-Century scientific revolution, such as Marcello Malpighi. Fundamentally, Morgagni was a very gifted clinician who, just like his maestro Antonmaria Valsalva, always started his morphological “adventures” from an attempt to solve stringent practical problems. Such an attitude appears to have deep roots in the Renaissance anatomists from Bologna, such as Giulio Cesare Aranzi (1530-1589), the discoverer of the hippocampus and of many features of fetal circulation. Morgagni’s interest for a sketchy though effective anatomic illustration was a legacy from Antonmaria Valsalva. A splendid posthumous edition of Valsalva’s splendidly illustrated “De aure umana” was accurately edited by Morgagni with extensive additional chapters. While Morgagni’s contribution to the foundations of pathology is unanimously accepted, his cautious attitude to the microscope left many scholars puzzled and permitted to consider him as an important cause of the late birth of cellular pathology (eighteen-fifties) respect to the rapid growth of post-galilean astronomy. A reading of the “Adversaria anatomica” and of the epistles shows Morgagni’s persistent and passionate defence of Malpighi’s achievements against his numerous critics and detractors. Morgagni was simply not interested in technologies such as microscopy and injection and preferred a simple direct observation, just as his Maestro Valsalva. The crisis of the microscope appears to be due to an inappropriate and unjustified enthusiasm for vascular injection hindering a rapid development of the still primitive, though extremely effective when used by gifted people such as Malpighi, microscope technology.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
