Zdeněk Žalud:
Academically educated Physicians in written Disputes and Polemics of 16th and 17th Century

Abstract

Academically educated physician of 16th and 17th Century had to capture a positive reputation and to maintain the appearance of his skills and learning to retain his superiority to other service providers within the so-called medical marketplace. There were many disputes among the graduated physicians: some of them were matters of prestige – an argument between Bartolomeo Guarinoni and Christophoro Guarinoni about the origin of earthquakes, between Conrad Gesner and Pietro A. Mattioli about the appearance of aconitum primum – others were matters of life and death – a controversy over the treatment of the Polish king Stephen Báthory between the two chief royal physicians, Simone Simoni and Nicollo Bucella. Some polemics arose whenever an untrained practitioner (empiricus) got in the way of an academically educated physician: e.g. an argument over the use of oxymel between Doctor Taddeo Duno and the empiricist Thomas Zoius.

Language: czech

Keywords: physician, dispute, medical treatment, Conrad Gesner, Johann Crato of Krafftheim, Pietro A. Mattioli, Girolamo Cardano, Simone Simoni