[Hieronymus Fracastorius, from syphilographist to oenologist]

The poem Syphilis sive morbus gallicus was published by Fracastor in 1530. It is written in excellent Latin and gives a valuable description of the symptomatology of this venereal disease, that had appeared in Europe some years before. In his De morbis contagiosis, printed in Venice in 1546, Fracastor describes the cause of syphilis and appears as a precursor of bacteriology. Fracastor was born in 1483 within a well-known medical family. He studied the Fine Arts, Mathematics and Medicine in Padova. He made himself famous not only as a physician, but also as an astronomer, a naturalist, a poet and a philosopher. He acted as arbitrator between two of his fellow-physicians--Gaioni and Fumanelli--who couldn't come to an agreement as to the "nature" of wine. He communicated his reasons and conclusions in his treaty De vini temperatura sententia, published in 1534. Leaning on a rather scholastic reasoning, he takes the side of Fumanelli, who considers wine as being a "dry" remedy. What may be of interest for the modern reader, are the passages where Fracastor, as an excellent oenologist, enumerates the different wines and describes the indications for wine as a medicine. Remarkable are also the passages in which he, be it rather reluctantly, dares to contradict the Ancients.