Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Giovanni Battista Morgagni

  • The Valsalva maneuver

    JMS Pearce Hull, England, UK   Fig 1. Valsalva’s maneuver. Source It is a paradox that the discovery of the Valsalva maneuver did not relate to cardiovascular physiology but to the treatment of discharges from the ear. Valsalva’s maneuver is now used physiologically1 to test cardiac and autonomic function, and in several other diagnostic and…

  • Samuel Clossy’s Observations: an unrecognized contribution to the origin of anatomical pathology

    Guillermo Quinonez Ancaster, ON, Canada Laurette Geldenhuys Halifax, NS, Canada   Title page of Site and Causes of Disease by Giovanni Battista Morgagni It is often stated in the medical history literature that Anatomical Pathology was established as a modern science in 1761 when Giovanni Battista Morgagni published Site and Causes of Disease (Figure 1)…

  • Antonio Valsalva of the maneuver (1666-1723)

    Antonio Valsalva qualified in medicine at the University of Bologna in 1687 after studying under Marcello Malpighi, one of the first people to use microscopy in medicine. Valsalva succeeded him in 1697 as professor of anatomy and later of surgery and was also surgeon to the hospital for incurables and mentally ill in Bologna. He…

  • The origin and evolution of Padua hospitals

    Alberto Zanatta Fabio Zampieri Padua, Italy    The first picture (XVI century) of San Francesco Hospital with the characteristic colonnade of Padua architecture The hospital San Francesco Grande in Padua was founded by the Piombino jurist Baldo Bonafari (†1418) and his wife Sibilla de Cetto (†1421), who also financed the construction of the San Francesco…