Girolamo Fracastoro
You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.
Girolamo Fracastoro (Fracastorius) (1478‑August 8, 1553) was an Italian physician, scholar (in mathematics, geography and astronomy), poet and atomist.
Born of an ancient family in Verona, and educated at Padua where at 19 he was appointed professor at the University. On account of his eminence in the practice of medicine, he was elected physician of the Council of Trent. A bronze statue was erected in his honor by the citizens of Padua, while his native city commemorated their great compatriot by a marble statue. He lived and practised in his hometown. In 1546 he proposed that epidemic diseases are caused by transferable tiny particles or "spores" that could transmit infection by direct or indirect contact or even without contact over long distances. In his writing, the "spores" of disease may refer to chemicals rather than to any living entities.
"I call fomites [from the Latin fomes, meaning "tinder"] such things as clothes, linen, etc., which although not themselves corrupt, can nevertheless foster the essential seeds of the contagion and thus cause infection."[1]
His theory remained influential for nearly three centuries, before being displaced by germ theory.[1]
The name for syphilis is derived from Fracastoro's 1530 epic poem in three books, Syphilis sive morbus gallicus ("Syphilis or The French Disease"), about a shepherd named Syphilis. The poem suggests using mercury and "guaiaco" as a cure. His 1546 book (De contagione -- "On Contagion") also gave the first description for typhus. The collected works of Fracastoro appeared for the first time in 1555.
Works
- Syphilidis, sive Morbi Gallici (1530)
- Di Vini Temperatura (1534)
- Homocentricorum sive de Stellis, de Causis Criticorum Dierum Libellus (1535)
- Homocentrica (1538)
- De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis (1546)
- Syphilis sive de morbo gallico (1539, poem)
References
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
- The Latin text available in Google Books (see link below) is from Poemata selecta Italorum: qui seculo decimo sexto latine scripserunt. Oxford and London: Slatter et Munday (Ox.) Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme (London) 1808, p. 65-110.
Footnote
External links
- Hieronymus Fracastorius
- Complete text in Latin from Google Books
- Excerpts of an English translation of Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus
- German translation from Google Books
- A French translation facing the Latin original from Google Books
- Seasonal and periodic rhythms of infectious diseases (abstract)Template:Italy-bio-stub
de:Girolamo Fracastoro el:Τζιρόλαμο Φρακαστόροfr:Girolamo Fracastoro hr:Girolamo Fracastoro it:Girolamo Fracastoro he:ג'ירולמו פרקסטורו lb:Girolamo Fracastoro ja:ジローラモ・フラカストロsl:Girolamo Fracastoro
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
