Tag Archives: Isaac Beeckman

The pulsilogium and the diagnosis of love sickness

Donatella Lippi Giuseppe Mascia Luigi Padeletti Florence, Italy   Doctors since time immemorial have felt the pulse of their patients, noting its regularity, frequency, strength, and breadth, at times using colorful expressions to variously describe it as “formicant” or “vermicular” (ant-like or worm-like),1 and diagnosing “love sickness” in maidens by the presence of the so-called […]