Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Giovanni Battista Morgagni

  • The Valsalva maneuver

    JMS PearceHull, England, UK 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 therapeutic procedures. The surgeon Leonard of Bertapaglia…

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

    Guillermo QuinonezAncaster, ON, CanadaLaurette GeldenhuysHalifax, NS, Canada 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) in Italy.1,2 However, the development of the discipline was likely more complex, occurring somewhat concurrently in…

  • 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 ZanattaFabio ZampieriPadua, Italy 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 church behind the hospital. Work on the hospital began in 1414, and its first patients could be admitted by…