TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS IN THE 17th CENTURY BASED ON THE ORIGINAL WORK DE PHTHISI (ON TUBERCULOSIS) FROM 1679

Galen was the first who defined phthisis as lung ulceration, accompanied by coughing, persistent low-grade fevers, and body wasting. Attempts to define tuberculosis and find the cause of the disease belong to significant errors in the period of medical theories about tuberculosis (TB). Even in the 17th century, the most common causes of this disease were pulmonary ulcers, incorrect shape and position of the lungs, or menstruation. This article endeavors to elucidate the history of TB and its therapy in the 17th century on the basis of the Latin inaugural academic disputation De phthisi (On Tuberculosis) from 1679, which was first translated into Slovak in 2021. It was written by Matthaeus Palumbini, a Hungarian physician of Slovak origin born in Turiec County (Comitatus Thurociensis) in the Kingdom of Hungary. Although this dissertation is due to the anatomical, physiological, and clinical views of the Early Modern period, the ideas about the disease inhalation route as well as the fact that the disease transmission happens indirectly through the air, are close to existing knowledge. Similarly, the TB classification, the description of indications, climatic treatment, or principles of healthy lifestyle surprisingly correlate with the current medical practice. The article is supplemented by examples of the period of drug prescriptions that constituted a part of the therapy. The archival source of the original text comes from the Digitale Sammlungen der Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Are Old Men Impotent? On a Sparse Discourse of Early Modern Medicine and Its Forensic Implications in Paolo Zacchia's Quaestiones medico-legales.

In early modern medical literature, there are increasing references to sterility and impotence in older men. This is especially true of the Quaestiones medico-legales by the Roman physician Paolo Zacchia (1584-1659). In several books of this systematically structured manual, its author discusses medical and legal arguments on the one hand. On the other hand, in the 10th, only posthumously published volume, a total of five cases of impotence in old men are described on the basis of court decisions of the Rota Romana and expert opinions of the author. The paper examines these cases with regard to central statements on male impotence in old age, which are placed in the medical as well as the social and legal-historical context of the time. It becomes clear that old-age impotence and sterility were less a medical than a legal problem in the 17th century. However, the physician Zacchia emphasises the concept of biological age instead of historically transmitted numerical age limits. In this respect, his expert opinions already show the first signs of medical empiricism.

Discurso científico y modelos de circulación: entre el Manifiesto y la Libra de Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700) / Scientific discourse and circulation models: between the manifiesto and the libra by carlos de sigüenza y góngora (1645-1700)

El Manifiesto filosófico contra los cometas (1681) y la Libra astronómica filosófica (1690) de Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (México, 1645-1700) han sido considerados por la crítica en su continuidad, como dos textos -uno más breve y otro más extenso- que representan una misma idea acerca de la naturaleza de los cometas: ellos no son ni causa ni señal de catástrofes. Pero en su tiempo, cada obra contó con una causa, un objetivo, una visibilidad y un público propios. Volver a poner en el centro de atención estas diferencias vinculadas a la materialidad de cada obra permitirá conocer mejor las condiciones de la circulación del discurso científico en el siglo XVII en el virreinato de Nueva España. Al exponer su conocimiento acerca de un fenómeno astronómico, como lo fue el cometa de 1680/1, Sigüenza advierte la necesidad de contar con un plan diversificado de comunicación de la ciencia: por un lado, interviene en la arena política estableciendo que el cometa no auguraba ni provocaría ninguna desgracia al nuevo gobierno; por otro, escribe un extenso y especializado tratado dirigido a matemáticos europeos para socializar sus mediciones y demostrar que es factible ser americano y docto a la vez.(AU)

The Manifiesto Filosófico contra los cometas (1681) and the Libra astronómica y filosófica (1690) of Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (México, 1645-1700) have been considered by the critic in their continuity, as two texts -one shorter, one longer- that represent the same idea about the nature of the comets: they are neither cause nor sign of catastrophes. Nonetheless, in their time, each work had its own cause, objective, visibility and public. We aim to put back in the center of attention these differences linked to the materiality of each of the works, which will allow us to learn more about the conditions of the circulation of the scientific discourse in the 17th century in the Viceroyalty of New Spain. When asked to expose his knowledge about an astronomical phenomenon, like the 1680/1 comet, Sigüenza notices the need of counting with a diversified plan of communication of science: on the one side, he takes action in the political stage by establishing that the comet does not predict and would not cause any disgraces to the new government; on the other, he writes a long and specialized treaty directed to European mathematicians to socialize his measurements and demonstrate that it is possible to be American and learned at a time.(AU)

Euclides en la práctica: un tratado sobre el fundamento y la construcción de pantómetras en el siglo XVII español / Euclid’s in practice: a treatise on foundation and construction of pantometers in 17th century spain

Apenas iniciado el siglo XVII, un matemático de la solvencia, consideración y difusión del jesuita Christoph Clavius (1537-1612) comenzó su Geometria practica (Maguncia, 1606) con dos capítulos dedicados a la construcción y uso de dos instrumentos matemáticos. Quedó así incorporado al acervo matemático académico, además del cuadrante común, un instrumento para dividir fácilmente cualquier recta en cualquier número de partes iguales o proporcionales que denominó Instrumentum Partium -posteriormente pantómetra-. Este trabajo aborda un inédito manuscrito anónimo español del siglo XVII sobre construcción de pantómetras, probablemente de uso docente, desde el punto de vista de su contribución al desarrollo de la aritmetización de la geometría mediante la consideración numérica de las magnitudes continuas en términos de cantidad. El texto fundamenta la operatividad instrumental de las pantómetras -superior al cálculo aritmético en cuanto a economía de tiempo y errores- en el rigor geométrico clásico de los Elementos de Euclides, especialmente el libro VI. No obstante, aborda el problema de la inconmensurabilidad desde un punto de vista práctico, en términos de aproximaciones con un margen de error sensorialmente imperceptible e irrelevante a efectos de aplicación práctica.(AU)

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Jesuit Christoph Clavius (1537-1612) -a competent and well-known mathematician- began his Practical Geometry (Mainz, 1606) with two chapters devoted to the construction and use of two mathematical instruments. Thus, in addition to the common quadrant, an instrument for easily dividing any line into any number of equal or proportional parts, that he called Instrumentum Partium -later pantometer- became part of the academic mathematics teaching. This paper looks at a 17th-century Spanish unpublished anonymous manuscript -probably a course- on the construction and use of sectors from the viewpoint of its contribution to the development of the arithmetization of geometry by means of the numerical consideration of continuous magnitudes as quantities. The author bases the instrumental operability of sectors -that surpassed geometric methods or arithmetic calculations in terms of time and errors savings- on Euclid’s Elements, especially Book VI. As for incommensurability, the reduction of incommensurable quantities to the nearest commensurable quantities is accepted, for it is possible without noticeably error by the senses and irrelevant in practice.(AU)

Ciencia en el imperio español del siglo XVII: Fray Ignacio Muñoz y sus manifiestos geométricos / Science in the 17th-century spanish empire: friar ignacio muñoz and his geometrical manifestos

La investigación describe alguno de los conocimientos científicos que ayudan a construir la trayectoria vital del dominico Ignacio Muñoz Pinciano, en sus estancias en Filipinas, Nueva España y en la Corte de Felipe IV. Especial interés reviste en las fuentes directas de sus conocimientos científicos de base geométrica que han llegado a nuestros días, y cuya utilización por parte del dominico se adaptan a las necesidades del mantenimiento de imperio español en el siglo XVII. La documentación manuscrita y representaciones gráficas del dominico aportan numerosas referencias sobre su saber geométrico que nos permiten comprender la base de su conocimiento científico y su singular aportación recogido bajo el título de “manifiestos geométricos”.(AU)

The research describes some of the scientific knowledge that help to build the life trajectory of the Dominican Ignacio Muñoz Pinciano, during his stays in the Philippines, New Spain, and the Court of Philip IV. He is particularly interested in the direct sources of his geometrically based scientific knowledge that have survived to the present day, and whose use by the Dominican is adapted to the needs of maintaining the Spanish empire in the 17th century. The Dominican’s own handwritten documentation and graphic representations provide numerous references to his geometric knowledge that allow us to understand the basis of his scientific knowledge and his unique contribution collected under the title of “geometric manifestos”.(AU)

"Round, red globules floating in a crystalline fluid" - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's observations of red blood cells and hemocytes.

This article addresses a deficit in the cell biology and hematology literature, specifically regarding Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's central role in observing and describing red blood cells and hemocytes. While the existing literature on the history of hematology usually mentions Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, typically, it is an incomplete summary of his contributions. Leeuwenhoek is cited as one of the three individuals who first saw and described red blood cells through their microscope lenses. Jan Swammerdam and Marcello Malpighi also documented red blood cells in human blood before Leeuwenhoek. The literature fails to mention that Leeuwenhoek commented on red blood "globules," as well as arthropod hemocytes, at least thirty-five times in thirty-one letters spanning thirty-nine years of correspondence to The Royal Society and others. Some of his descriptive passages were extensive. His observations on blood circulation are a separate set of observations in his letters and are not covered here. Leeuwenhoek viewed various creatures to see if there were characteristics to their blood cells that he could share with the recipients of his letters. He also would view the cells in different chemical and physical environments to understand their properties. Leeuwenhoek's observations of blood corpuscles are discussed in chronological order. Comments included in footnotes by the Committee of Dutch Scientists, who edited the published seventeen volumes of Leeuwenhoek's Alle de Brieven, are also discussed when their comments are relevant.

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek: defining proportion in the microscopic realm during the 17th century.

This article examines comparisons Antoni van Leeuwenhoek made between everyday objects, such as grains of sand, millet seeds, and hairs, and the structures and objects he observed through his single-lens microscopes. These comparisons, their possible origins in commerce, and the variety of Leeuwenhoek's observations have not been appreciated widely for their elegance. His measurements of the microscopic world might have grown out of his time as an apprentice to William Davidson, an international cloth merchant in Amsterdam, Leeuwenhoek's surveying licensure, drapery business, and other commercial experiences in Delft. Leeuwenhoek initiated the use of comparisons in his 28 April 1673 letter to the Royal Society, his first letter describing his observations. He compared animalcules, blood cells, fat globules, veins and arteries, insect, plant, and mineral structures to a range of conventional, although tiny objects such as fine and coarse grains of sand, millet grains, human hairs, and other items. In many of his comparisons, he arrived at size estimates for the objects that are very close to the sizes found using current instruments and techniques. Examples of Leeuwenhoek's comparisons will be provided.

Physical and Chemical Characterisation of the Pigments of a 17th-Century Mural Painting in the Spanish Caribbean.

The arrival of Spaniards in the Caribbean islands introduced to the region the practice of applying pigments onto buildings. The pigments that remain on these buildings may provide data on their historical evolution and essential information for tackling restoration tasks. In this study, a 17th-century mural painting located in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo on the Hispaniola island of the Caribbean is characterised via UV-VIS-NIR, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, XRD and SEM/EDX. The pigments are found in the older Chapel of Our Lady of Candelaria, currently Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy. The chapel was built in the 17th century by black slave brotherhood and extended by Spaniards. During a recent restoration process of the chapel, remains of mural painting appeared, which were covered by several layers of lime. Five colours were identified: ochre, green, red, blue and white. Moreover, it was determined that this mural painting was made before the end of the 18th century, because many of the materials used were no longer used after the industrialisation of painting. However, since both rutile and anatase appear as a white pigment, a restoration may have been carried out in the 20th century, and it has been painted white.

Doron medicum-the gift of medicine: How a rare 17th century medical translation positively impacted the community and predicted current analgesic techniques.

In 1683, a self-proclaimed apothecary physician and London professor of physick by the name of Guilelmus (William) Salmon authored a pharmacopoeia titled Doron medicum, the 'gift of medicine' (Greek/Latin translation). This text formulates an English supplement to the Latin Materia medica (16th century), discussing internal and external compound medicines of the late 17th century. This pharmacopoeia enabled those incapable of reading Latin to provide medical care to a challenging post-plague community. Opiology, mercury, dragon's blood, willow bark, animal preparations and therapies now considered obscure, provide insight into therapies at the time. Early critical care treatments in haemorrhage control and pain management are described.Doron medicum preceded the controversial opening by the College of Physicians of the first London Dispensary in 1698, and was published in a maturing period of medical governance and healthcare establishment in London. During the 17th century, great competition and debate existed between the Royal College of Physicians and the apothecaries. Throughout such debates, William Salmon advocated for access to medical care for the poor and recognition of an allied approach to healthcare.This paper discusses Salmon's contribution to medicine, which has been poorly transcribed in medical history. A selection of opiate-based analgesic therapies, early critical care strategies and animal preparations are revisited. A small chronicle of William Salmon's life and professional achievements will be reviewed. Debate surrounding the opening of the first London Dispensary will be discussed in relation to William Salmon's contribution, echoing ongoing contemporary challenges in healthcare over 300 years later.

The discovery of the lymphatic system in the 17th century. Part VII: the rise of vascular injection.

In the second half of the seventeenth century, vascular injection was introduced in anatomy for the study of the mechanism of secretion of bodily fluids, a phenomenon into which the lymphatic system plays an important role. Injection became a routine procedure in the second half of the seventeenth century. Reinier de Graaf developed an appropriate syringe to inject liquid into minuscule tubules. He was the first to observe that water injected into seminiferous tubules was partially repelled by transudation to be absorbed by neighbouring lymph vessels. He also injected lymph vessels in and around the uterus and ovaries. His study friend Johannes Swammerdam developed a coloured hardening wax and Ruysch injected coloured hardening wax into vessels and ducts of lymph nodes and excretory glands. Ruysch introduced combined injection - corrosion procedures which resulted in delicate structures, including capillaries. He denied the presence of glandular structures in organs as described by Malpighi, and made blood vessels inclusive lymph vessels agents instead of aids to fluid secretion. His ideas resulted in the concept of the body being completely vascular, a theory which became commonplace in Dutch medical circles. Antony Nuck, the professor in medicine at the Leiden University, injected an amalgam of quicksilver and tin for further evaluation of the lymphatic system. He thought that lymph vessels originated from distal arteries and sustained that the shape of pores in these arteries determined the mechanisms of secretion in secretory glands and in lymph glands. He introduced lymphography.

Pharmaceutical Art and Peculiarities in the Latin Dissertation De phthisi (On Tuberculosis) from 1679 by Slovak Physician Matúš Palumbini.

The objective of the article is to present and analyse one part of the printed dissertation De phthisi (On Tuberculosis) by Matúš Palumbini, namely chapter VIII, Curatio perfecta (Perfect Treatment). Treatment of diseases in the 17th century was solely dependent on and linked to the medicinal products, many a time of exotic origin, prepared by pharmacists. In this regard our main research contribution is that it provides the then description of tuberculosis and elucidates the use and pecularities in its treatment. Simultaneously, we also present the authors view over the treatment methods, which he identified as the most effective in tuberculosis. As follows from the text, all conceivable treatments and medications to treat tuberculosis in the 17th century were widely used and prescribed. Many abbreviations and alchemical symbols were mentioned in the dissertation, especially in the prescriptions. Each prescription contains drug components, their amount expressed in apothecary measures and weights, and finally instructions for drug preparation and use, including designation of the prepared drug and dosage instructions. The combinations of drug components in prescriptions (from herbal to animal and mineral ones) might currently seem bizarre, e.g. looh de pulmone vulpis - thick syrup from fox lungs, or lapides cancrorum - crayfish stones.

Health care at the St. George Monastery at the Prague Castle in the 17th and 18th century.

The article expresses main phenomena of the health care at the oldest Czech monastery - St. George Monastery at the Prague Castle - in the early modern period. The care is studied based on the period regulations, archive information about resident and local (para)medics, facilities, control or diseases. The medical problems had to be in the spotlight of the monastery inhabitants since every disease meant the paralysing of the nun community. In this respect, the monastery was not independent of its environs. The St. George nuns was often brought face to face with male (para)medics. Direction of the men within the monastery belonged to the main problems of the health care in the early modern female communities.

Edward Gresham's Astrostereon, or A Discourse of the Falling of the Planet (1603), the Copernican paradox, and the construction of early modern proto-scientific discourse.

This paper investigates the functioning of the 'Copernican paradox' (stating that the Sun stands still and the Earth revolves around the Sun) in the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England, with particular attention to Edward Gresham's (1565-1613) little-known and hitherto understudied astronomical treatise - Astrostereon, or A Discourse of the Falling of the Planet (1603). The text, which is fully appreciative of the heliocentric system, is analysed within a broader context of the ongoing struggles with the Copernican theory at the turn of the seventeenth century. The article finds that apart from having a purely rhetorical function, the 'Copernican paradox' featured in the epistemological debates on how early modern scientific knowledge should be constructed and popularised. The introduction of new scientific claims to sceptical audiences had to be done both through mathematical demonstrations and by referring to the familiar concepts and tools drawn from the inventory of humanist education. As this article shows, Gresham's rhetorical techniques used for the rejection of paradoxicality of heliocentrism are similar to some of the practices which Thomas Digges and William Gilbert employed in order to defend their own findings and assertions.

The Earliest Blood Transfusions in 17th-Century in Italy (1667-1668).

Historical accounts of the earliest experiments in blood transfusion celebrate work done in France and England in 1667 to 1668. Less attention has been given to pioneering experiments conducted at the same period in Italy. We review records of the first blood transfusion experiments conducted in 17th century Italy. Using original source documents, we provide details of early experiments focusing on the identity of early researchers, their instruments, and techniques. Accounts of the period describe animal-to-animal, animal-to-human, and human-to-human transfusions. We highlight how transfusion was considered a new form of emergency surgery, carried out in order to save patients who could not be cured with traditional therapy of the time.

The beginnings of health libraries of the Czech Brothers Hospitallers in the 18th century.

During some 150 years in the 17th and 18th centuries the network of convents with hospitals and pharmacies run by the Brothers Hospitallers was established in the Czech Lands. At that time the members of the Order made use of quite a large amount of early modern European health literature. Although the need of those books was closely connected with the main mission of the Order, their position in convents was marginal at the beginning and depended on the personality of individual friars. For a long time, the Czech Brothers Hospitallers were forced to use second-hand literature (even from the 16th century) which was not replaced by new volumes until the moment when the convents overcame the "birth pangs" of the founding years (end of the 18th century). The study deals with the facts that are mentioned above on the basis of the hitherto ignored archive sources coming from Prague, Kuks, Nové Město nad Metují, Prostějov, and Vizovice. Key words: brothers hospitallers pharmaceutical literature medical literature 17th century 18th century history of libraries pharmaceutical history.

Depiction of a 17th-Century Tooth Extraction: A Drawing by Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne (Dutch, 1589-1662).

A prolific and inventive painter, draftsman, and poet, Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne was born in Delft in 1589. His wealthy parents had fled from Protestant persecution in the Southern (Spanish) Netherlands during the 1580s. Van de Venne was educated in Leiden, where he became part of the vibrant political and intellectual community around the University. He settled in Middleburg, in Zeeland, by 1614; his earliest dated paintings are also from this year. In 1625, van de Venne moved to The Hague, where he remained until his dealth. He executed several commissions for the Dutch stadholder Frederik Hendrik, was repeatedly elected dean of the guild of St. Luke, and in 1656 was one of the founding members of The Hague's painter's guild, "Pictura schilders confrerie." Van de Venne painted histories, portraits, and genre scenes; from 1618, he was also active as a printmaker and book illustrator, notably for the popular poet Jacob Cats. His literary accomplishments included satire and political propaganda, as well as several books of poetry.

Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731): Historical perspective and contemporary analysis of his teratological legacy.

The Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) in Saint Petersburg is the oldest museum in Russia. It keeps the remains of the anatomical collection of the world-famous 17th century Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch. This unique collection was bought and shipped in 1717 by Czar Peter the Great, and presently still comprises more than 900 specimens, a modest number of which concerns specimens with congenital anomalies. We searched for teratological clues in the existing collection and in all his descriptions and correspondence regarding specimens and cases he encountered during his career as doctor anatomiae and chief instructor of the surgeons and midwives in Amsterdam. A total of 63 teratological specimens and case descriptions were identified in this legacy, including some exceedingly rare anomalies. As it turns out, Ruysch was the first to describe several of the conditions we encountered, including intracranial teratoma, enchondromatosis, and Majewski syndrome. Although his comments pose an interesting view on how congenital anomalies were scientifically perceived in early 18th century Europe, Ruysch mostly refrained from explaining the causes of the conditions he encountered. Instead, he dedicated himself to careful descriptions of his specimens. Almost 300 years after his demise, Ruysch's legacy still impresses and inspires both scientists and lay men. © 2016 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Franciscus Sylvius on Clinical Teaching, Iatrochemistry and Brain Anatomy.

Born in Hanau, Germany, in 1614, Franciscus (Dele Boë) Sylvius received his medical doctor diploma from Basel University in 1637 and became Professor of Practical Medicine at Leiden University in 1658. One of the founders of medical biochemistry, Sylvius was also an outstanding anatomopathologist, with contributions ranging from the first description of the pulmonary tubercles to that of the lateral fissure of the brain. Thanks to Sylvius, a gifted teacher and one of the greatest physicians of his time, Leiden became a major European medical training center. He died in 1772 after having served as Rector Magnificus at Leiden University.

Mistress Joyce Jeffreys and her physician, Dr Bridstock Harford (1607-1695).

The notebooks of Joyce Jeffreys, a wealthy Hereford businesswoman in the mid-17th century, provide information about the medicines she purchased and the fees she paid to her medical advisors. Her physician, Dr Bridstock Harford, was a successful doctor but a troublesome neighbour, who was often the subject of litigation. As an ardent parliamentarian, he held public offices during the Commonwealth. Later his opinions mellowed and he ended his days as a loyal subject of the king and a benefactor to his city.