Tag: James A. Marcum
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Giorgio Baglivi and The Practice of Physick
James Marcum Waco, Texas, United States Figure 1. Illustration of Giorgio Baglivi from The Practice of Physick by Giorgio Baglivi. Scan courtesy of James A. Marcum “To form a right Judgment of Diseases, is a very difficult Matter.” With this opening sentence, Giorgio Baglivi (Figure 1) began his 1696 treatise De Praxi Medica, which…
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Schola Medica Salernitana and medieval medical philosophy
James MarcumWaco, Texas, United States The naissance of Schola Medica Salernitana, or the medical school at Salerno, on the Italian southwest coast is shrouded in myth and controversy. According to one tradition, the school’s beginning dates to Parmenides, a pre-Socratic philosopher who, in 540 BC, founded a medical school in the Greek colony of Elea…