Physiologia Medica

...no need of a herald. It is elaborated with a singular method and a scholarly, solid style for the easy grasp of all readers. It is adorned with those things which, though worthy of being known, are not often observed by others. Indeed, noble Veznici, so that we may consider this matter among ourselves on this occasion: whoever is a good steward of heavenly gifts and does not wish to bury the talent entrusted to him, but is placed in a literary station and wishes to contribute his own share to the heap of common sciences and disciplines by the liberal gift of some commentary—since this age is so fertile and rich in the knowledge of all things conceived and expressed in words that it can hardly be said what has not already become known to this literary century—all effort must be placed into ensuring that the subject discussed is new, or as if new. Or, at least, that the method of teaching is better suited to the understanding of the readers. The noble Author of the present little work has achieved both of these things by fulfilling the duty of an elegant physician and a supreme philosopher, with the matter itself speaking for its own effect.

As for the things proposed by him, Medicine The art of healing brings the riches of all Nature into one heap and into the center of the human body, as if into a bundle, in the sense that it is called the "bond of the whole Universe." Since the Subject The human body of this art must be known beforehand in terms of both "what" it is and "that" it is, Physiology The study of nature/function, the first part of medicine, will exhibit a specimen of this foreknowledge. It...

...exquisitely delineates the human body a priori from the cause through its causes, and a posteriori from the effect through its effects. For its internal causes, namely the Matter Physical substance or the more remote material principles from which the body is made, are the Elements Earth, Air, Fire, Water. The nearer parts of which it consists are the Solid Permanent structures parts or the Containing parts, the Humors Body fluids or the Contents, and the Spirits Vital breaths or those that initiate movement original: "Impetum facientia". However, the Form The organizing principle or formal principles exist as Temperaments The mixture of qualities in relation to the matter they inform, and as Facultates Powers/Faculties in relation to the soul that informs them. Finally, the effects are the Actions Functions of the body. These seven Chapters of medical Physiology, long known and handed down in perpetual precepts by many, both ancient and modern, might not be considered new or as if new. Instead, they might be rejected as "twice-cooked cabbage" a Latin idiom for a boring, repeated subject by men of more delicate palates, especially those who are moved only by the external surface of things.

Yet he who enters into the deeper recesses will feel differently. He will learn to recognize with open philosophical eyes those things which, though seen before, he did not truly know. To establish this as a foundation: how often does it happen that a mind occupied with internal objects of thought does not see the things right before it, even while looking? How often do many people, though their physical and mental eyes are fixed on the thing they see, still not see it because they do not understand it? To use political examples, the Helvetii Swiss in that golden age, after plundering the camp of Charles the Bold the Duke of Burgundy, defeated by the Swiss in 1476, did not understand how much wealth they had acquired. Because they thought the golden plates were made of tin, they sold them off at a very low price. When someone found his diamond, most famous throughout the world, lying in a box, he threw it under a wagon; returning later, he sold it to a priest for a single gold coin. The priest then received two from the magistrate of his town to whom he had sent it.