science and medicine in early modern venice 729
although the Health office was a lay institution staffed by nobles
who were not physicians, in licensing new drugs and examining medical
practitioners the Sanità always consulted with the college of Physicians
(Physicians’ Guild). an august body made up of prominent physicians,
usually members of the medical faculty, the college was charged with
examining applicants seeking licenses to practice and was required to
communicate the names of those approved to the Sanità. The Health office
retained two physicians on a permanent basis. The first was responsible
for the medical care of patients in the lazaretto Vecchio, where plague
victims were sequestered and treated. The second, the medico per la terra,
was mainly concerned with identifying cases of plague in the city. central
to the defense of Venice from plague was the early identification of any
outbreak of the disease in the city. For this purpose, the Health office
recorded all deaths in Venice, noting symptoms of the deceased persons
and the length of their illnesses. in suspicious cases the medico per la terra
was sent to investigate.79
in 1576, one of the worst plagues in its history struck Venice, testing the
ability of medical experts and the city’s public health system to contain
the disease.80 The combined performance of the two was not impressive.
Girolamo Mercuriale, one of the University of Padua’s most distinguished
physicians, was called in as the leader of a team of medical experts, all
professors, to advise on dealing with the epidemic.81 admired at home and
abroad, Mercuriale was initially hailed as the savior of the city—thanks
to his reassuring assessment, based on the authority of the ancient doc-
tors, that the disease in Venice could not possibly be plague. Mercuriale
advanced many learned arguments for his opinion. His line of reasoning
rested on the Hippocratic doctrine holding that plague was caused by cor-
ruption of the air; hence, since everyone breathes the same air, the sick-
ness could not be plague. Mercuriale urged the city to relax the rigorous
measures of control it had instituted against the epidemic.
The Provedditori alla Sanità were horrified by Mercuriale’s pronounce-
ment and the acclaim he received from the population. The health officials
steadfastly opposed the opinion of the Padua physicians, while Mercuriale,
79 Palmer, “Physicians and Surgeons,” p. 451.
80 Paolo Preto, Peste e società a Venezia, 1576 (Vicenza, 1978).
81 richard Palmer, “Girolamo Mercuriale and the Plague of Venice,” in a. arcangeli
and V. nutton, eds., Girolamo Mercuriale: Medicina e cultura nell’Europa del Cinquecento
(Florence, 2008), pp. 51–65.