On Pestilence
A Renaissance Treatise on Plague
by Girolamo Mercuriale
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Pub Date Jan 04 2022 | Archive Date Aug 31 2021
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Description
In the spring of 1576, the Health Office of Venice, fearful of a growing outbreak of plague, imposed a quarantine upon the city. The move was controversial, with some in power questioning the precise nature of the disease and concerned about the economic and political impact of the closure. A tribunal of physicians was summoned by the Doge, among them Girolamo Mercuriale, professor of medicine in nearby Padua and perhaps the most famous physician in all of Europe. Whatever the disease was that was affecting Venice, Mercuriale opined, it was not and could not be plague, for it was neither fast-moving nor widespread enough for that diagnosis. Following Mercuriale's advice and against the objections of the Health Office of the Republic, the quarantine was lifted. The rejoicing of the Venetian populace was short-lived. By July 1577, when the outbreak had run its course, the plague had killed an estimated 50,000 Venetians, or approximately a third of the city's population.
In January 1577, in the midst of a plague he now recognized he had misdiagnosed, Mercuriale offered a series of lectures from his seat in Padua. Published under the title On Pestilence, the work surveyed past epidemics, including the Justinianic Plague of the sixth century and the Black Death of the fourteenth, and accounts of plague in Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and other sources. Plague, Mercuriale pronounced, was characterized by its lethal nature and the rapidity with which it spread. He contended it was primarily airborne and was not caught through microbial transmission, but because the air itself became pestiferous and promoted putrefaction. Using his observations, he evaluated recently developed theories of contagion and concluded that pestiferous vapors could also emanate from the diseased bodies of its victims, and that one might also contract the disease from the contaminated clothing or bedding of the ill.
In Craig Martin's translation, On Pestilence appears for the first time in English, accompanied by an introduction that places the work within the context of sixteenth-century Italy, the history of medicine, and our own responses to epidemic disease.
Advance Praise
"Girolamo Mercuriale misdiagnosed plague for the Venetian government and then went on to develop a novel, robust account of the disease to which different kinds of responses and treatments could be brought. Craig Martin's translation of Mercuriale's On Pestilence will appeal to scholars and students of history, history of medicine and science, literature, and anyone looking to capture the steps and missteps in epidemiological history and to take the long view of epidemics—both would seem essential for understanding our current encounters with COVID
—Cynthia Klestinec, Miami University
"Craig Martin's translation of On Pestilence is the most accessible first-hand account of Renaissance medical theory and practice with respect to plague that I know."
—Lisa Rosner, Stockton University
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780812224979 |
| PRICE | $29.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Heather P, Reviewer
This type of book is something that is perfectly crafted for my interests. Italian renaissance, a historical look back, the first English translation, and, now after what our world has gone through in 2020, a look at the ways Europe grappled with one of their major pandemics.
On Pestilence is a translation of a written collection of lectures by Mercuriale, a professor and medical doctor in Padua. He treated the likes of Alessandro Farnese and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II before the plague hit Venice and he advised the quarantine be lifted, leading to the death of around a third of the city’s inhabitants. One of the reasons he advised for the lifting is because of how they viewed plague at the time, and his lectures show some of that. Lacking a knowledge of viruses, bacteria, and even germ theory, what makes a plague is not the symptoms or the plague bacilli, but the fact that it impacts multiple regions at the same time and kills. “Plague is not one fixed disease; but any disease can be plague if it strikes many at the same time and kills a majority of them.” The “majority” does a lot of heavy lifting for Mercuriale.
Mercuriale is in a unique place in history to be able to look back at all of the plagues that he uses in order to try to understand the one he is living through. Italy in the 16th century is perfectly placed to see an increase in literature because of the printing press coming to major Italian cities in the late 15th century and many of the works he cites getting translated around the same time. He uses his study of them, and his own modern plague to come to some astonishing understanding. There is a section in the lectures where he is working through how the illness is transmitted from one person to another and breaks up what makes up an illness into three parts: the disease, the cause of disease, and the symptoms. He then works through it to say what is sent between people is the cause of the disease alone. Seeing how they were able to break down an illness into parts and get to what would end up being either a virus or a bacteria without knowing that was what it would be at the time was so fascinating I had to get up and read that section out loud to someone. The later part of the book is a treat for those interested in early pharmaceuticals, or just want to know what they were smelling to try to get rid of the foul air that caused those plagues. Spoiler alert, I hope you like rose water.
The introduction by Craig Martin really helps to put the lectures into a good framework for the reader to understand what they are about to read, and I would recommend rereading it after finishing the book again. So much of what you read will connect to what you see in our modern plague story. The government pushing to open, maybe too early, because of economic fears. A fear of an illness we can’t see the cause of, a mistrust of science and some belief in a divine cause. The rich and wealthy having a completely different experience than those who are not. “It happens sometimes that also nobles and the rich are attacked by the plague, for whom it is not fair that they are sent together with commoners to lazarettos.” Oh, so unfair. But don’t worry, they can just go to their country estates outside of the city. Hashtag blessed.
Is the book good medical advice? No, I’m never going to put ground up blister beetles on my skin. Is this book a fascinating study of medical history, and exploration human condition through the centuries and how we never really seem to change as we encounter major medical events? Yes. And it’s also kind of heartening to know that even though doctors have made mistakes, for hundreds of years they’ve been looking back and trying to learn to make better medical choices going forward. Still, even if Dr Fauci recommends bloodletting I’m going to pass. Thank you to NetGalley and University of Pennsylvania Press for the ARC of this book.
Katie M, Reviewer
It is difficult to give a "star" rating to a book written so many centuries ago. I cannot claim to fully appreciate the historical context in which this volume was penned. However. I can appreciate the contribution of this translated version of Mercuriale's work to the English annals of science and medicine. The information is intriguing as a snapshot of the understanding and attitudes surrounding modes of infection amd mitigation of plague in Mercuriale's times. Additionally, I found it intriguing in comparison to our own understanding and attitudes surrounding our modern plague, COVID-19. Kudos to Craig Martin in preserving this important document and for providing a thorough introduction to the historical text.
