Carlo Musitano (5 January 1635 – 1714) was an Italian
Catholic priest and
physician often known by his
Latin name Musitanus. He was one of the most important Italian
physicians of the seventeenth century and his works were reissued several times and translated into French and German.[1][2]
Biography
Carlo Musitano was born at
Castrovillari, in
Calabria, on January 5, 1635. He graduated in
theology and
philosophy, and was
ordained a
priest in 1658.[2] He then settled in Naples, where he studied medicine under the guidance of renowned masters such as Tommaso Cornelio, Leonardo da Capua and Sebastiano Bartoli and acquired considerable reputation as a physician.[1] Musitano also practised surgery.[3] His treatise on the theory and practice of surgery appeared in 1698.[4]
As a physician he paid special attention to
gynaecology and
venereal diseases.[5] One of his most important works was a treatise on women's diseases: "De morbis mulierum tractatus". This particular activity of the Priest-Physician made him many enemies who, under the pretext of "indecency", tried to prevent him from practicing medicine. However they did not succeed, for
Pope Clement IX, who recognized his worth, allowed him to practice, and Cardinal
Antonio Pignatelli, Archbishop of Naples, who later became Pope Innocent XII, also decreed that Musitano was entitled to administer the
confessional rites.[6] Thus supported, Musitano went on and did much good, both as a
confessor and a physician. He attended rich and poor with equal assiduity, and refused all fees and presents.[7]
A defender of the new experimental approach to medicine, in 1700, he became involved in a quarrel with the Galenic doctor Pietro Antonio de Martino.[1] Musitano was a prolific writer and was appointed a member of several scientific academies, including the Investiganti of Naples and the Spensierati of Rossano.[1] He died in Naples in 1714, aged 79.
Works
His works on
medicine and
surgery were published in two volumes folio, after his death. Musitano was a follower of the
iatrochemical school and an outspoken enemy of
Galenism.[6] He was a proponent of the
experimental method and condemned the use of
bloodletting,
leeches and baths.[8] Musitano played a major role in the discovery of the parasitic origin of
scabies and was among the first to say that the
itch mite was found at the end of the burrow and not in vesicular lesions (
Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo had erroneously claimed that the mite was within the blisters of the eruption).[9][10] Musitano was the author of many treatises on medicine and related subjects, among which may be mentioned the following:
Pyrotechnia sophica rerum naturalium, Naples, 1683
Pyretologia sive Tractatus de febribus, Naples, 1683.
Trutina medica antiquarum ac recentiorum disquisitionum gravioribus de morbis habitarum, Venice, 1688.
De lue venerea libri quatuor, Naples, 1689. A
French translation of the work appeared in 1711.[11]
Chirurgia teoretico-practica seu Trutina chirurgico-physica, Geneva and Lyon. 1698.
Apologia celeberrimorum Virorum, ibid. 1700.
Opera medico chymico-practica seu Trutina medico-chymica, Geneva, 1700; translated into
German and published in Frankfurt and Lipsia in 1702.[12]
Trutina Medico-Physica, Geneva, 1701.
Ad
Hadriani a Mynsicht thesaurum et armamentarium medico-chymicum Mantissa, Geneva, 1701.
De morbis mulierum tractatus, Geneva, 1709.
His
complete works were published at Geneva in 1716 and reissued in Lyon in 1733 and in Venice in 1738.[1]
^Mazzola, Riccardo F.; Foss, Catherine B. (2023). Plastic Surgery. An Illustrated History. Springer International Publishing. p. 145.
ISBN9783031120039.
^Chirurgia Theoretico Practica; seu Trutina Chirurgico-Physica, in IV Tomos divisa [Theoretic-practical Surgery; or Surgical-Physic Balance, divided in four Books]. Genevae & Lugduni. 1698.
^De morbis mulierum tractatus, cui quaestiones duae, altera de semine cum masculeo, tum foemineo, altera de sanguine menstruo, ut pote ad opus apte facientes sunt praefixae. Quae ad earundem naturam mulierum, anatomen, conceptum, uteri gestationem, foetus animationem, & hominis ortum attinent, ubertim simul explanatur. Geneva: Chouet et Co. 1709.
^Craig, Errol (2022). The Itch: Scabies.
Oxford University Press. p. 118.
ISBN9780192848406. In 1688 the priest, physician, and philosopher Carolus Musitanus would rectify Bonomo and Cestoni's error, describing the exact location of the scabies mite in the burrow.
^Traité de la maladie vénérienne et des remedes qui conviennent à sa guerison. Translated by Jean Devaux. Trévoux: Louis Ganeau. 1711.
^Chirurgische und physicalische Schriften. 2 Bde. Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1701-1702.
Bibliography
«D. Carlo Musitano». In : Elogi accademici della Società degli Spensierati di Rossano, In Napoli : a spese di Carlo Troise stampatore Accademico della medesima Società, 1703, pp. 99–110 (
on-line).
Éloy, Nicolas François Joseph (1778). "Musitan, Charles". Dictionnaire historique de la médicine ancienne et moderne. Vol. 3. pp. 363–364.
Friedman, Reuben (1938). "Carolus Musitanus. The 250th Anniversary of His Contribution to Scabies". Medical Life. 45: 177–187.
Russo, Francesco (1948). "Musitano, Carlo". Enciclopedia Cattolica. Vol. 8. p. 1561.
Pazzini, Adalberto (1954). "Carlo Musitano da Castrovillari and his work". Athena. 20 (5): 226–229.
PMID13189817.
Arcieri, Giovanni Piero (1969). In difesa di un medico sacerdote calabrese del Seicento, Carlo Musitano, accusato di atti ipersensuali da medici partenopei. Philadelphia: Bichoff's Printing House.