Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Luigi Padeletti

  • The pulsilogium and the diagnosis of love sickness

    Donatella LippiGiuseppe MasciaLuigi PadelettiFlorence, 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 pulsus amatorius. (Fig 1.)…

  • The Spedale of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence

    Donatella LippiLuigi PadelettiFlorence, Italy The spedale of Santa Maria Nuova was founded in June 1288 by Folco di Ricovero dei Portinari, father of Dante’s Beatrice, who bought some houses in the centre of Florence to receive poor people who needed help. At first the hospital could only accept men from the large crowd of people…

  • Vesalius: The true face of anatomy

    Donatella LippiFlorence, ItalyLuigi PadelettiFlorence, Italy The only unquestionably life-portrait of Vesalius’ is the wood-cut which finds its place in the frontispieces of both editions of the Fabrica1 in German and Latin editions of the Epitome,2 as well as in the 1546 Letter on the China Root.3 This portrait was done by Jan Stephan van Calcar…