Henri-Joseph Rega
Henri-Joseph Rega (1690–1754) was a professor of medicine and rector of Leuven University, in the Habsburg Netherlands, where he established a botanical garden, laboratories for chemistry and physics, and an anatomical theatre, as well as adding a new wing to the University Hall (originally Leuven's medieval cloth hall).
Life
Rega was born in
In 1738, he established Leuven's botanical garden,[4] and in 1744 the university's anatomical theatre.[5]
Rega treated numerous wealthy patients in private practice, including
In 1745, in Brussels, Rega treated Maurice de Saxe, the leader of an invading French army during the War of the Austrian Succession. The following year, after the civic militia of Leuven had fired upon French troops who had tried to force access to the town, Maurice threatened Leuven with bombardment. Rega rode through enemy lines in his coach to successfully appeal to him not to carry out the threat.[1]
Since 1733, criminals executed in Brussels had been taken to the dissection chamber of the college of surgeons in Brussels Town Hall. In 1752, the then-governor, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, decreed that the bodies of executed criminals be transferred to the Faculty of Medicine in Leuven for dissection in Rega's anatomical theatre.[8]
Rega died in Leuven on 22 July 1754.[1] He had been a book collector, and after his death his immense library was auctioned off over a period of three weeks.[1] He bequeathed the gem-encrusted medal that Archduchess Maria Elisabeth had given him to St. Peter's Church, Leuven, his parish church.[1]
Writings
- De Sympathia, seu Consensu partium corporis humani, ac potissimum ventriculi, in statu morboso. Haarlem: Mathias van Lee. 1721.
- De Urinis tractatus duo. Leuven: Martinus van Overbeke. 1733.
- Accurata medendi methodus quantum fieri potest ab omni hypothesi abstracta, in 3 partes divisa pathologiam universalem, particularem et therapicam. Leuven: Martinus von Overbeke. 1737.
- Dissertatio medica de aquis mineralibus iisque saluberrimis tam ad conservandam quam restaurandam valetudinem Fontis Marimontensis. Leuven: Martinus van Overbeke. 1740.
- Dissertatio medico-chymica qua demonstratur sanguinem humanum nullo acido vitiari: accedit appendix. Leuven: Martinus Van Overbeke. 1744.
References
- ^ a b c d e f E. Van den Corput, "Rega (Henri-Joseph)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 18 (Brussels, 1905), 842-852.
- Flemish organization for Immovable Heritage. 2020.
- ^ Jan van Impe, De Leuvense universiteitsbibliotheek: historische wandelgids (Leuven, 2012), pp. 56-57.
- Flemish organization for Immovable Heritage. 2020.
- Flemish organization for Immovable Heritage. 2020.
- Flemish organization for Immovable Heritage. 2020.
- Flemish organization for Immovable Heritage. 2020.
- ^ "Eerste helft van de 18de eeuw". med.kuleuven.be (in Dutch). Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven. 2017.