Mondino de Luzzi
Mondino de Luzzi | |
---|---|
National Library of Medicine | |
Born | ca. 1270 AD |
Died | 1326 AD |
Occupation(s) | Anatomist, physician, professor |
Mondino de Luzzi, or de Liuzzi or de Lucci,[1][2] (c. 1270 – 1326), also known as Mundinus, was an Italian physician, anatomist and professor of surgery, who lived and worked in Bologna. He is often credited as the restorer of anatomy because he made seminal contributions to the field by reintroducing the practice of public dissection of human cadavers and writing the first modern anatomical text.[3][4]
Life
He was born around 1270 into the prominent
Teaching methods
Mondino was the first to incorporate a systematic study of anatomy and dissection into a medical curriculum.[8] The dissection of human cadavers was a hallmark of the Alexandrian school, but declined after 200 A.D. due to legal and religious proscriptions. These bans were eventually lifted, allowing Mondino to perform his first public dissection in Bologna in January 1315 in the presence of medical students and other spectators; the subject was mostly likely a female executed criminal.[3] It was common practice for the professor of anatomy to sit in a large, ornate chair elevated above the dissection proceedings, reading from an anatomical text and providing commentary, while a demonstrator, or surgeon, physically performed the dissection. Additionally, an ostensor was present to point out the specific parts of the body that were being examined.[3] Mondino's teaching methods were unique because he often performed dissections in person and served the role of demonstrator himself, carefully studying the cadaver and incorporating this personal experience into his text and teaching.[9][10]
Dissection theory
His dissection practices were guided by his adherence to a tripartite division of the human body. He theorized that the body was composed of three distinct containers: the
Contributions to anatomy
Mondino's major work, Anathomia corporis humani, written in 1316, is considered the first example of a modern dissection manual and the first true anatomical text.[3] The earliest edition of the work was printed in Padua between 1475 and 1478, and more than 40 editions are thought to exist.[14] By the 14th century, the practice of anatomy had come to involve the dissection of a cadaver according to prescribed rules; Anathomia was intended as a handbook to guide this process.[15] Anathomia remained the most widely used anatomical text for 250 years (through the 16th century) because it clearly and concisely provided the important technical indications involved in the dissection process, including the steps involved and the reasoning behind the organization of these procedures.[16][10] Unlike his predecessors, Mondino focuses specifically on anatomical descriptions rather than engaging in a larger discourse on pathology and surgery in general.[3]
Anathomia opens with the assertion that human beings are superior to all other creatures because of their intellect, reasoning ability, tool-making abilities, and upright stature; because he possesses these noble qualities, man is worthy to be studied.
Mondino's description of the
Mondino describes the closure of an incised intestinal wound by having large ants bite on its edges and then cutting off their heads, which one scholar interprets as an anticipation of the use of staples in surgery.[21] Anathomia also includes a detailed passage on the surgical treatment of a hernia, both with and without castration, as well as a description of a type of cataract surgery.[22]
Mondino's treatment of the skull provides only inexact directions for its dissection, suggesting that the cranial cavity was opened infrequently and with little technical skill.[19] Nonetheless, Anathomia contains a description of the cranial nerves derived from Galen's Uses of the parts of the body of man. Furthermore, the brain is divided into three vesicles, with the anterior vesicle serving as the meeting place of the senses, the middle vesicle housing the imagination, and the posterior vesicle containing the memory. Movement of the choroid plexus is said to control mental processes by opening and closing passages between the ventricles. Mondino follows Galen and the Islamic commentators in placing the lens in the center of the eye.[23]
Much of the medical information included in Anathomia is derived from commentaries on
Legacy
He made lasting, even if not entirely accurate, contributions to the fields of anatomy and physiology. Anathomia quickly became a classic text and, after his death, Mondino was regarded as a "divine master" to such an extent that anything differing from the descriptions in his book was regarded as anomalous or even monstrous. For three centuries, the statutes of many medical schools required lecturers on anatomy to use Anathomia as their textbook.[14] Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, a 16th-century professor of anatomy at Bologna, wrote an extensive commentary on Mondino's work, and the text of Anathomia was incorporated into Ketham's 1493 text Fasciculus medicinae.[25][16]
Notes
- ^ a b c Olmi 2006, pp. 3–17.
- ^ The family name is spelled variously: Liucci, Lucci, Luzzi or Luzzo (Latin: de Luciis, de Liuccis, de Leuciis); the dei may be contracted to de' or de. See: Giorgi, P.P. (2004) "Mondino de' Liuzzi da Bologna and the birth of modern anatomy" Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian).
- ^ a b c d e f Wilson 1987, p. 64.
- ^ Singer 1957, p. 74.
- ^ Siraisi 1990, p. 146.
- ^ a b c Castiglioni 1941, p. 341.
- ^ Singer 1957, p. 75.
- ^ Castiglioni 1941, p. 342.
- ^ a b Singer 1957, p. 76.
- ^ a b c Castiglioni 1941, p. 343.
- ^ Singer 1957, p. 78.
- ^ Siraisi 1990, p. 90.
- ^ Kornell 1989, p. 846.
- ^ a b Castiglioni 1941, p. 74.
- ^ Siraisi 1990, p. 86.
- ^ a b Beasley 1982, p. 971.
- ^ Siraisi 1990, p. 78.
- ^ a b Singer 1957, p. 81.
- ^ a b c Castiglioni 1941, p. 344.
- ^ Singer 1957, p. 83.
- ^ Beasley 1982, p. 971-972.
- ^ Singer 1957, p. 82,84.
- ^ Singer 1957, p. 84.
- ^ a b Siraisi 1990, p. 91.
- ^ a b Infusino, Win & O'Neill 1995, p. 73.
- ^ Infusino, Win & O'Neill 1995, p. 72.
References
- Beasley, AW (1982). "Orthopaedic aspects of mediaeval medicine". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 75 (12): 970–975. PMID 6757434.
- Castiglioni, Arturo (1941). A History of Medicine. Translated by Krumbhaar, E.B. New York: Knopf.
- Infusino, Mark; Win, Dorothy; O'Neill, YV (1995). "Mondino's book and the human body". Vesalius. 1 (2): 71–76. PMID 11618549.
- Kornell, Monique (1989). "Fiorentino and the anatomical text". The Burlington Magazine. 131 (1041): 842–847.
- Olmi, Giuseppe (2006). Representing the body – Art and anatomy from Leonardo to Enlightenment. Bologna: Bononia University Press.
- Singer, Charles (1957). A Short History of Anatomy from the Greeks to Harvey. New York: Dover.
- Siraisi, Nancy (1990). Medieval & early Renaissance medicine: an introduction to knowledge and practice. Chicago: University of Chicago.
- Wilson, Luke (1987). "The performance of the body in the Renaissance theater of anatomy". Representations (17): 62–95.
- The International Centre for the History of Universities and Science (CIS), University of Bologna
External links
- Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries High resolution images of works by Mondino de Luzzi in .jpg and .tiff format.
- Francesco Moscheni & Giovanni Battista Negri D. (1550) " Matthaei Curtii ... In Mundini Anatomen explicatio" by Mondino de Luzzi