[THE HISTORY OF A VANISHED PHARMACY IN ROME]. / SPEZIERIA CONTI - CORSI STORIA DI UNA FARMACIA ROMANA SCOMPARSA.

Starting from archive documents, the present article aims to retrace the history of a once well-known pharmacy based in S. Eustachio square, in Rome, and then commonly denominated Corsi's. Thanks to the information gathered in Roman archives, it is possible to throw light on the events related to this apothecary, whose activity, as found out, lasted since the XVIII until the first decades of the XX century, under the property of two families, first the Conti and then the Corsi. Notwithstanding its long establishment, this pharmacy seems to have suddenly vanished from the official documents registered within the archives. Nevertheless the importance of its history is actually related to some of the instruments, being part of its original inventory, and nowadays held in the collection of the Museum of History of Medicine in Rome. These specimens particularly jars and boxes, are valuable in order to describe how in the past professionals used to take care of most of the diseases.

[The history of radioactivity and its applications in hygiene and therapy]. / Storia della radioattività e delle sue applicazioni nell'igiene e nella cura.

Since Antiquity, the observation of matter and its composition has been fascinating for the human mind. It represented the core of philosophical studies since the atomistic theory by Leucippus and Democritus, as well as of the opposed theory of elements by Empedocles, Plato and Aristoteles. Research on the atom, on its spontaneous or artificial disgregation, on the practical application of radioactive substances has strongly influenced daily life and the development of knowledge. Products containing radioactive substances have been used, often without regulation or control, in many scientific fields, as well as in medicine and cosmetics.

[Two hospitals in Rome between the church and the state: Policlinico Umberto I and Addolorata]. / Due progetti di ospedali a confronto nei primi anni dello Stato unitario: il Policlinico Umberto I e l'Addolorata di Roma.

During the years between the 1900 and the 1907 two significant hospitals were built in Rome, the "Policlinico Umberto I" and the "Addolorata" hospice, founded by Antonio Cerasi. The first one aims to reflect the lay idea of medical assistance, widely open to relevant science developments, and in the meantime strengthened by the dedication to scientific research and education; the other one was the very embodiment of the Christian spirit of charity and care for poorest and chronic patients.

[Medical museology the exhibition: The history of Rome medical faculty through images and documents]. / Museologia medica la mostra immagini e documenti per una storia della facolta' medica di Roma.

The Museum and Library of History of Medicine celebrated the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" with an exhibition of images and documents recalling the history of the medical faculty. Dissecting tools and surgical instruments testify to the long history of anatomical and surgical studies and to the great worth of the teachers at Rome University. Documents, archival papers, books and pictures document the historical inheritance of the Medical School in Rome.

[Hortus simplicum: the first attempt of practical teaching]. / L'orto dei semplici: primo tentativo di insegnamento practico.

Teaching the correct use of the plants for therapeutic purposes was basic for medicine studies. Since the XVI century Universities created professorship roles for the lectura simplicium. An hortus simplicium was very important for the teaching methodology as a training place for the student. It could give the chance to recognize "in vivo" the simplices and their medicinal properties. A specific attention of the physician in taking care of his own patients also protected them from the mistakes and fraudes of the spetiali.

[Aldo Castellani (1874-1971). A century-long scientific travel]. / Aldo Castellani (1874-1971). Un viaggio scientifico lungo un secolo.

Aldo Castellani is an international scientist, well known for his essential contribution to the aetiological researches on sleeping-sickness. During his career, that took him to many parts of the world, he studied a number of tropical diseases and he obtained important results, like the discovery of new therapies and some fundamental laboratory techniques. His academic career lasted about seventy years, during which he increased thanks to his works the scientific knowledge of Italian and foreign universities. Basic in his life is the period in which he headed the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University of Rome, making important choices for Italian public health: for instance, during the Italian-Ethiopian War he proved to be an "additional weapon" for the Italian Army. He spent the last part of his life travelling, but he remained personal physician to the former Italian king Umberto II, exiled in Cascais and professor in the Tropical Medicine Institute of Lisboa. The aim of the authors, in homage to Aldo Castellani's memory, is to emend, as far as possible, the occasional errors in the papers dedicated to him.

[The Rome Policlinico Umberto I: an innovative project]. / Un progetto innovativo: il caso del Policlinico Umberto I.

The Rome Policlinico Umberto I is an example of the tendency, already in place at the end of the XIX century, to reunite in a single architectural compound hospital-clinics, labortories, teaching rooms, and libraries, so as to satisfy the needs of University research and education. Guido Baccelli was the promoter of the project: his political and scientific commitment are proved by the imposing architectural structure and by the economic effort that were needed to build the Policlinico.

[A plastic model of a lost hospital: the San Lazzaro leper house]. / Modello di un ospedale perduto: il plastico del lebbrosario di San Lazzaro.

The Museum of History of Medicine preserves a polychromatic plastic model drawned to a scale of one to one hundred. This model shows an hospital in Rome where, in the Middle Ages, it used to hospitalize lepers. The buildings were placed extra pomerium in account of sanitary reasons. They were composed of a church, that still does exist, and of a leper house, that was destroyed in 1938. The leper house became part of the Santo Spirito in Saxia hospital just in the XVIII century.

Modello di un ospedale perduto: il plastico del lebbrosario di San Lazzaro / A plastic model of a lost hospital: the San Lazzaro leper house

The Museum of History of Medicine preserves a polychromatic plastic model drawned to a scale of one to one hundred. This model shows an hospital in Rome where, in the Middle Ages, it used to hospitalize lepers. The buildings were placed extra pomerium in account of sanitary reasons. They were composed of a church, that still does exist, and of a leper house, that was destroyed in 1938. The leper house became part of the Santo Spirito in Saxia hospital just in the XVIII century.