Giorgio Baglivi
| Giorgio Baglivi | |
|---|---|
|
Giorgio Baglivi | |
| Born |
September 8, 1668 Ragusa, Croatia (then the Republic of Ragusa) |
| Died |
June 15, 1707 Rome |
| Nationality | Italian |
Giorgio Baglivi, also Gjuro Baglivi, (September 8, 1668 in Ragusa – June 15, 1707 in Rome) was an Italian[1][2] physician and scientist, was born in poor circumstances at Ragusa in Dalmatia, his real name being Armeno. His family was of Armenian descent. His family was removed to Lecce in Apulia, and Giorgio took the name of his adopted father, a wealthy physician named Pier Angelo Baglivi. He made important contributions to clinical education, based on his own medical practice, and in De Fibra Motrice advanced the theory that the solid parts of organs are more crucial to their good functioning than their fluids.
Reputation
Baglivi travelled extensively in Italy, where he worked in hospitals in Padua, Venice, Florence and Bologna and in Holland and England (1688-1692). He was Assistant to Marcello Malpighi first in Bologna and then in Rome (1691-1694). He was appointed Physician to Popes Innocent XII and Clement XI, Teacher of Surgery and Anatomy at La Sapienza, Rome in 1696 and Professor of Theoretical Medicine in 1700. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in July 1698.[3]
Baglivi conducted experiments on dogs and frogs, carried out autopsies and made microscopic examinations of muscle fibres and the membranes surrounding the brain (the meninges and dura mater). He dissected such animals as lions, tortoises, snakes and deer, made morphological and physiological discoveries and experimented with toxic drugs. He felt that physicians had too easily become slaves to theories, systems and hypotheses. In keeping with the spirit of his times, he attacked the medico-philosophical systems, and instead emphasised the Hippocratic principles of sound clinical observation.[4]
Being inclined towards mathematics and quantification in medicine, Baglivi viewed the physiological processes in mechanical terms, behaving like the parts of a machine. He was "a distinguished physiological researcher fascinated by the nerves, his microscopic studies enabled him to distinguish between smooth and striated muscles and distinct kinds of fibres." [5]
His collected works, written in Latin, enjoyed more than 20 editions, and were translated into Italian, French, German and English. The Académie Française accepted him as "membre d'honneur". Baglivi was also a member of the Accademia dell'Arcadia.[6]
Published works
- De praxi medica ad priscam observandi rationem ravocanda, (Rome, 1696), trans. as The Practice of Physick, London, 1704)
- De fibra motrice, et morbosa, nec non de experimentis, ac morbis salivae, bilis et sanguinis, (Perugia, 1700)
- Specimen quatuor libroum de fibra motrice et morbosa, (Rome, 1702)
- Canones de medicina solidorum ad rectum statices usum, (Rome, 1704)
- Opera omnia medico-practica et anatomica, (Lyons, 1704; new enlarged ed., 1710)
See also
- List of Italians
- Republic of Ragusa
- List of notable Ragusans
- Dubrovnik
- Dalmatia
- History of Dalmatia
References
- ↑ Yale University. Dept. of the History of Medicine. Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences (Volume 31). H. Schuman, 1976. p. 469. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
- ↑ History of Science Society, Académie internationale d'histoire des sciences. Isis (Volume 38). Published by the University of Chicago Press for the History of Science Society, 1948. p. 114. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
- ↑ Royal Society Library and Archive Catalogue
- ↑ Giorgius Baglivi, Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 2008
- ↑ Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: a Medical History of Humanity, New York: Norton, p.228
- ↑ Medicine and Science, McGill University
Further reading
- Grmek, M.D. (1970). "Baglivi, Georgius". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 391–392. ISBN 0-684-10114-9.
- A. TOSCANO, Catalogo delle Carte di Giorgio Baglivi conservate nella Waller Samling presso Universitetsbiblioteket <<Carolina Rediviva>> di Uppsala, in “NUNCIUS”, a. IX (1994), fasc. 2, pp. 683–738
- A. TOSCANO (ed.), G. Baglivi Carteggio (1679–1704). Conservato nella Waller Collection presso la University Library <<Carolina Rediviva>> di Uppsala, "Archivio della Corrispondenza degli Scienziati Italiani", 14, Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 1999
- A. TOSCANO, Mirabilis Machina. Il “perpetuum mobile” attraverso il ‘De statice aeris’ e il ‘De fibra motrice et morbosa’ di Giorgio Baglivi, 2 voll., Cosenza, Edizioni Brenner (2004) 2013
- A. Toscano, Giorgio Baglivi e la Comunità scientifica europea tra razionalismo e illuminismo, in Atti del Convegno: Alle origini della biologia medica. Giorgio Baglivi tra le due sponde dell’Adriatico, in “Medicina nei secoli”, n.s., vol. 12, n. 1 (2000), p. 49-79
- A. TOSCANO, “In natura non esiste nulla di più antico del moto”. Dal moto armonico del Cosmo alla meccanica dei fenomeni vitali: G. Baglivi ed il ‘De statice aeris’, lecture submitted to INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR -HISTORY OF MEDITERRANEAN MEDICINE – GIORGIO (ÐURO) BAGLIVI, DUBROVNIK 28–30 June 2007, organized by: University of Zagreb; Centre for Mediterranean Studies – Dubrovnik; History of Medicine and Health Institute - University of Geneva; Medical School - University of Zagreb, in A. TOSCANO, Perpetuum Mobile. The ‘De Fibra Motrice et Morbosa’and The ‘De Statice Aeris’ by Giorgio Baglivi in the European Scientific Community between Galileanism and Enlightenment. Collection of essays, Brenner Editore, Cosenza, 2013;
- A. TOSCANO, La storia, la geografia e i remedi nella medicina di Giorgio Baglivi tra il XVII ed il XVIII secolo, lecture submitted to INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM - THE HISTORY OF PATHOCOENOSIS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA:DISEASES,ENVIRONMENT, CIVILIZATIONS- Dubrovnik, 3-5May 2010, organized by: History of Medicine and Health Institute - University of Geneva, Centre for Mediterranean Studies – Dubrovnik,in A. TOSCANO, Perpetuum Mobile. The ‘De Fibra Motrice et Morbosa’and The ‘De Statice Aeris’ by Giorgio Baglivi in the European Scientific Community between Galileanism and Enlightenment. Collection of essays, Brenner Editore, Cosenza, 2013 ;
- A. TOSCANO, La diffusione delle idee scientifiche dal Sud dell’Italia al Sud della France nel XVIII secolo: il pensireo medico di Giorgio Baglivi nella Facoltà di Medicina di Montpellier, lecture submitted to 126e Congrès des Sociétés historiques et scientifiques - Terres et hommes du Sud, Toulouse 9- 14 avril 2001, A. TOSCANO, Perpetuum Mobile. The ‘De Fibra Motrice et Morbosa’and The ‘De Statice Aeris’ by Giorgio Baglivi in the European Scientific Community between Galileanism and Enlightenment. Collection of essays, Brenner Editore, Cosenza, 2013.
- A.TOSCANO, ‘Il Movimento agente universale’. Il moto armonico del cosmo e la macchina dei fenomeni vitali: Giorgio Baglivi ed il ‘De statice aeris’ , © Anna Toscano-www.storiadellascienza.it, 2008,
- Mihalić, Neva G (2009). "Re-evaluation of the epistemic foundation of Baglivi's medical doctrine and his anatomico-physiological theory". Lijecnicki vjesnik (Croatia) 131 (1–2): 34–9; discussion 40–1. ISSN 0024-3477. PMID 19348355.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "article name needed". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.