LAUSR

Antonio Maria Valsalva represented a turning point in the history of medicine. Valsalva introduced the new experimental method, diffused by Bacon, Galilei, and Newton, promoting the independence of reason in the study of medical phenomena. Thanks to his gentleness, hard work, and humanitarian spirit, he was able to persuade the traditional, ultraconservative academic medical world to accept his new ideas. Valsalva was born in 1666 in Imola, not far from Bologna. He was sent to a Jesuit school, where he was taught mathematics, science, and humanitarian studies. This education led him to look at human diseases with a scientific mind, never forgetting the humanitarian aspects. Valsalva graduated at the age of 21 Magna cum laude at the University of Bologna under Marcello Malpighi (1628– 1694) direction. He submitted a thesis on the superiority of the experimental doctrine. Already from an early age, Valsalva dealt with the art of anatomical dissection and, under the guidance of his master Marcello Malpighi, he set the bases of pathological anatomy. For each patient, he added the alterations of the sick organs to an accurate annotation of physical findings, symptoms, clinical outcome, and effectiveness of therapy. Just after his graduation, a plague epidemic spread all over the city of Bologna. Due to his university position, he was appointed Inspector of Public Health. He demonstrated wise clinical judgment and outstanding communicative skills during the meetings with the other doctors. He took care of important people, including the Governor of the city. The academic community appreciated so much his honesty, hard work, and humanitarian spirit that Valsalva was awarded the position of Professor of Anatomy and later was named President of the Academy of the Sciences of Bologna. The academic community, even if still loyal to the traditional medicine by Galen, accepted Valsalva and his new theories about the correlation between diseases and pathological changes in the organs because of its deep appreciation of the man. Valsalva understood the medical profession mainly as a humanitarian mission. He never asked money for his service to poor people; often he gave them money. He helped many poor, brilliant people in their medical studies (including 2 of his servants who became surgeons, and several of his maidservants who became midwives). Health Problems Valsalva died at the age of 57 from stroke. He suffered from recurrent episodes of bronchitis and pneumonia and of abdominal pain since his early adulthood. There is the possibility that he suffered from diabetes mellitus, as testified by the continuous desire to drink water. He performed postmortem dissections almost daily, even on corpses in advanced state of decomposition, in times of plague epidemics. Microorganisms were not known, and no precautions were taken: it was easy to became infected. He lost the sense of smell, and this allowed him to perform dissections in the more extreme situations. In times when there were no possibilities of diagnostic tests, Valsalva tasted the fluids from patients and from dissections. His definition of infected/purulent fluids is legendary, “gangrenous fluid tastes bitter, and it leaves an unpleasant feeling in your tongue all day long, and you do not feel good”. At his death, he left all his medical notes to GiovanBattista Morgagni; these notes were included in the many publications by Morgagni.