science and medicine in early modern venice 725
heal various diseases, preaching with a thousand oaths and lies the thou-
sand wonders of the things they are selling.”69
not all observers were as skeptical as Mercurio. even physicians, though
usually at odds with the charlatans, were sometimes impressed by their
abilities. in 1580, the prior of the college of Physicians was so taken by
an itinerant snake-handler’s skill that he recommended the healer to the
Sanità. The snake-handler, Bartolomeo riccio, who came from Puglia,
was one of the so-called “Men of Saint Paul” (sanpaolari) who sold an
antidote for poisonous bites under the trade name “St. Paul’s grace” (gra-
tia di San Paolo) (Fig. 19.3). With the prior’s recommendation in hand,
riccio promptly went to the Health office with his box of serpents and
proceeded with a “demonstration” of the drug’s effectiveness. Under the
watchful eyes of the astounded Provveditori, riccio riled the angry vipers
until they bit him repeatedly on the torso. although the bites swelled and
turned black, riccio calmly applied his Maltese earth ointment and, to the
committee’s amazement, was immediately healed. The examiners were so
impressed that they ruled that for ten years no one other than riccio be
allowed to sell the remedy in Venice.70
did any of the charlatans’ cures actually work? in strictly medical terms
most were not effective—but the same can be said of the remedies used
by the physicians. Whether the charlatans’ nostrums “worked” or not
depended on expectations and perceptions. a purgative that purges obvi-
ously works, though it may not cure the underlying condition that caused
the ailment. The fact that the charlatans’ medicines sold so well means
that they must have been perceived to work. Perhaps they acted at a
symbolic level, just as placebos “work” for certain conditions. or, perhaps
the charlatans’ remedies were perceived to work because they resulted in
physiological changes (such as vomiting or temporary relief of an annoy-
ing skin itch) that convinced users that the remedies were efficacious.
Public Health and the Control of Plagueamong the novelties of the renaissance were new diseases, foremost of
which was syphilis, probably introduced into europe from the new World
69 Scipione Mercurio, De gli errori populari d’Italia (Verona, 1645), p. 271.
70 William eamon, “Markets, Piazzas, Villages,” in roy Porter, ed., The Cambridge
History of Science, 8 vols (cambridge, 2003–09), vol. 3 (2006): Early Modern Science, ed.
Katherine Park and lorraine daston, pp. 220–21.