Giovanni Maria Lancisi was born in Rome on 26 October 1654. His mother died shortly after his birth and he was raised by his aunt in
Orvieto. He was educated at the
Collegio Romano and the
University of Rome, where by the age of 18, he had qualified in medicine. He worked at hospital of
Santo Spirito in Sassia and trained at the Picentine College, Lauro. In 1684 he went to
Sapienza University and held the chair of anatomy for thirteen years. He served as physician to Popes
Innocent XI,
Clement XI and
Innocent XII. Clement XI gave Lancisi, the anatomical plates of
Bartolomeo Eustachius; made originally in 1562 and had been forgotten or lost in the
Vatican Library. Lancisi edited and published them in 1714 as the
Tabulae anatomicae. Lancisi studied
epidemiology, describing the epidemics of
malaria and
influenza. He published
De Noxiis Paludum Effluviis (On the Noxious Effluvia of Marshes) in 1717, in which he recognized that
mosquito-infested swamps are the breeding ground for malaria and recommended drainage of these areas to prevent the disease. He also published extensively on
cardiology, describing
vegetations on
heart valves, cardiac
syphilis,
aneurysms and the classification of
heart disease. His landmark
De Motu Cordis et Aneurysmatibus was published posthumously in 1728, edited by
Pietro Assalti who also conducted the autopsy of Lancisi and identified his death as being caused by a duodenal infarction. Early in the 18th century, Lancisi had protested the
medieval approaches to containing
rinderpest in cattle by stating that "it is better to kill all sick and suspect animals, instead of allowing the disease to spread in order to have enough time and the honour to discover a specific treatment that is often searched for without any success". Lancisi adviced restricting the movement animals; quarantine; separation and confinement of infected animals, recovered animals; and of farmers and their animals. These sanitary measures were an early approach in the control of rinderpest (Lancisi, 1715), a procedure that was later adopted by
Thomas Bates. However, Lancisi also erred, as he disputed the work of
Giovanni Cosimo Bonomo (1663-1696), his contemporary, who had correctly identified the cause of
scabies as a parasite. Lancisi however, despite being progressive in other medical areas, continued to subscribe to the Galenic concept of scabies as a disease of the blood. Because of Lancisi's powerful position and, because previous scientists like
Galileo Galilei had fallen into disgrace, Bonomo was silenced and his discovery was forgotten until the modern era. == Studies on the brain and the soul==