The Methodus medendi innovation in Giorgio Baglivi's work

The need to overcome the critical situation in the medical art of his time and to establish a unifying foundation for medicine urged Giorgio Baglivi to write his De praxi medica. His innovative methodus medendi was achieved by reinstating Hippocrates and adopting Francis Bacon's scientific method. A comparison with T. Sydenham's work evidences further aspects of Baglivi's complex method, in which skepticism towards theoretical medicine is overcome and mechanist theories are embraced. In his solidistic work of physiopathology, De fibra motrice et morbosa, Baglivi goes deeper into the matter, applying to medical knowledge the new scientific concepts of Galilei, Bellini, Borelli, Torricelli, Mayow and Boyle.