Berengario da Carpi

Abstract

Berengario da Carpi was magister of anatomy and surgery at the University of Bologna from 1502 to 1527. Eustachio and Falloppia defined him as ‘the restaurator of anatomy’. He was a great surgeon, anatomist and physician of illustrious patients including Lorenzo II dei Medici, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Galeazzo Pallavicini, Cardinal Colonna, and Alessandro Soderini. He had strong links to the intellectuals of his time (Forni, Bonamici, Manuzio, Pomponazzi) as well as with the Medici family. He was respected by the Popes Julius II, Leo X and Clement VII. His main contributions are the Isogogae Breves, De Fractura calvae sive cranei, and the illustrated Commentaria on the Anatomy of Mondino de Liucci, a textbook utilized for more than 200 years, which Berengario aimed to restore to its initial text. The Commentaria constitutes the material for the last part of this paper which concludes with a personal translation of some passages on ‘The kidney’, where the author gives poignant examples of experimental ingenuity.

The Scientific Revolution—The Kidney and Nephrology in and about the Seventeenth Century (Part 1)

“…Galen was a firm believer in the importance of experimentation and vivisection which he used to study organ function. This is well exemplified in his experimental studies on the kidney that established it as the organ which produces urine, rather than the bladder as it had been assumed (41,42). Unfortunately, he erred in his general concept of physiology wherein he placed the liver at the center of function in generating nutritive blood to which the vital spirits were added in the heart, and defined blood flow as a kind of tidal motion of an ebb and flow of the hepatic and cardiac blood.…”

“…Questioning Galenic anatomy began in Bologna, where the careful dissection and direct observation of cadavers was launched in the 14th century. Relevant to the elucidation of kidney structure and function are the reported observations that (i) the emulgent vein branches into smaller vessels as it enters the renal parenchyma by Mondino de Luzzi (1270-1326); (ii) that urine is filtered at the fine openings of the small vessels in the renal parenchyma by Gabriele Zerbi (1445-1505); and (iii) that the injection of warm water into the emulgent vein results in the swelling of the kidney but produces no urine by Berengario da Carpi (1460-1530) (42)(43)(44).…”

Mondino de Luzzi: a luminous figure in the darkness of the Middle Ages

“…For at least two centuries, it remained a classical anatomical textbook used by all European universities (22). The book is a treatise on human anatomy and constitutes a practical manual of dissection, including also some physiological information (16,23,24), One of this book’s innovations was the specification of the basic elements of organ anatomy: the position in a topographic region of the body, relationship with the surrounding structures, shape, size, texture, parts, physiology, and pathology (16).…”

Berengario's drill: origin and inspiration

“…12 Determined to continue in medicine, he returned to Bologna and was appointed to the respected position of magister of surgery, and later of medicine, at the university in 1502. 4 Berengario remained in Bologna until 1527. Craniotomies are among the oldest neurosurgical procedures, as evidenced by early human skulls discovered with holes in the calvaria.…”

“…Berengario may have been the first to record the use of such a unique drill, but whether he invented this instrument or merely adapted its use for the craniotomy remains clouded. 4 Graced with this commission, Berengario was consulted by the Medicis for yet another family member and one of Berengario's most influential patients.…”