Schuh’s Annotated Bio-Bibliography

FALLOPPIO, Gabrielle.

(1523 – 1562)

(Born: Modena, Italy, 1523; Died: Padua, Italy, 9 October 1562) Italian physician & naturalist.

Falloppio was one of the most important physicians of the 16th century. He was born to a noble but very poor family, and it was only through great hardship that an education was obtained. He studied medicine at Ferrara, and after taking his degree he worked at various medical schools before becoming professor of anatomy at Ferrara, in 1548. The next year he went to the Pisa, the most important university in Italy. In 1551 Fallopio was invited to occupy the chair of anatomy and surgery at Padua. Though he died at an early age, he had made his mark on anatomy. He studied the organs of generation in both sexes, and his description of the canal or tube which leads from the ovary to the uterus attached his name to the structure (Fallopian tubes). He published only one work dealing with anatomy during his lifetime. All other books attributed to him were published from his manuscripts after his death by his devoted students.

Biographical references: ABI: I 391, 4-76; II 227, 31-35. • Capparoni, Profili Bio-Bibliografici, 1928-32: 2, 46-9, portrait. • Casati, Dizionario degli Scrittori d'Italia, 1925-34. • Catalogue of Portraits of Naturalists: 417 [1 portrait listed]. • Dizionario Biografico Italiani: 44 , 479-86 [by G. Belloni Speciale]. • Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition. • Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, 1906: 1, 262-3. • Jöcher, Gelehrten-Lexikon, 1750-51. • Mieli, Gli Scienziati Italianì, 1921: 2, pt. 1, 43-59, portrait. • Nouvelle Biographie Générale (Hoefer). • Panetto, M., "Gabriele Fallopia (1523-1562): l'experientia tra anatomia e Riforma : con nuovi documenti relativi alla ricognizione del 1996", Studi storici Luigi Simeoni, 51, (2001), p. 273-306. • Poggendorff: 1, cols. 717-8. • WBI.

4°: a-d⁸ e⁴ A-Y⁸; [36], 176l., title vignette (woodcut of chemical apparatus). Page size: 207 x 150 mm.

Rare. Edited by Andreas Marcolini. Published postumously, the text consists of two lectures delivered at the University of Padua in 1556 and 1557. Much of the book is on geology and mineralogy, where his views on the origin of mountains, and fossils are described. The title woodcut shows chemical apparatus.Falloppio's lectures on mineral waters given in Padua in 1556 were published posthumously together with his lecture on minerals given in 1557. Falloppio's work critizes Savonarola and others for their statements about minerals found in springs. It pictures a still and a chemical examination of water according to `modern physicians.' - Partington.Falloppio's lectures on thermal and medicinal springs and also on 'fossils', i.e. both paleontological remains and minerals and earths. These essays were collected and edited for publication after Falloppio's death in 1562 by his pupil Andrea Marcolino.The emphasis of this work is largely geological; the origin of springs and fountains, the nature of subterranean fire and generation of heat within the earth, and the vexing question of the origin of fossils. 'Falloppio, as one of the great line of Paduan anatomists, would have been well aware of organic resemblances in whatever fossils he was familiar with; yet he felt that their occurrence on hilltops far from the sea made their organic origin unacceptable. It would have entailed changes in geography that were literally incredible, even with an Aristotelian view of continuous terrestrial change; and an explanation in terms of spontaneous generation therefore seemed preferable' (M.J.S. Rudwick, The meaning of fossils).Falloppio also describes many individual springs, their geology, the nature of their waters and their medicinal virtues. He performed analyses to determine the mineral contents of various springs.It was published after his death, based on the notes that the famous typographer Marcolini had taken at his lessons in Padua university.It deals with the origin of springs and fossils, thermal baths and their properties, geology, and the medical virtues of various spring waters.He denies that thermal baths would help changing sex, and prescibes not to bathe in leap years, criticising Montagnana and Savonarola. Thorndike, VI, 209-Ward & Carozzi, 772-Durling, 1431-Duveen, Balneology, 512-Heirs of Hippocrates, 336.

Another issue, 1564: Venetiis, apud Ludouicum Avantium, 1564.

Bibliographical references: Adams, Birth and Development, 1938: pp. 91 & 255. • Adams, Cambridge Books, 1967: F-137 & F-138. • Beekman, Systematische Mineralogie, 1906: p. 9 [mention only]. • BL [987.i.1.(1.)]. • Cushing: no. F-22. • Gatterer, Mineralogischen Literatur, 1798-9: 1, 41. • Heirs of Hippocrates, 1990: no. 336. • Hsu, K.-T., "Gabriele Falloppio's `De medicatis aquis' as a major source of Nicolaus Steno's earliest geological writing-`Dissertatio physica de thermis'", Philosophy and the History of Science: A Taiwanese Journal, 2, (1993), no. 2, 77-104. • NLM 16th Century Books (Durling): no. 1431. • NUC: 166, 295 [NF 0023772]. • Osler, Bibliotheca Osleriana, 1969: no. 2563. • Partington, History of Chemistry, 1961-70: 1, 100-1. • Thorndike, History of Magic, 1923-58: 5, 548-9. • Wallerius, Brevis Introductio, 1779: p. 23. • Ward & Carozzi, Geology Emerging, 1984: no. 772. • Wellcome Catalog (Books): no. 2150.

Medicatis Aquis Atque de Fossilibus, 1569

4°: a-d⁸ e⁴ A-Y⁸; [36], 176l., title vignette.

Very scarce. Edited by Andræ Marcolinus. A reprint of the first edition, with a new title page.

Bibliographical references: BL [1171.h.1.]. • Gatterer, Mineralogischen Literatur, 1798-9: 1, 41. • LKG: III 21. • NUC: 166, 295 [NF 0023773]. • Ward & Carozzi, Geology Emerging, 1984: no. 773. • Wellcome Catalog (Books): 1, no. 2151.