The early practice of Physical Anthropology by the Renaissance
Portuguese physician Amatus Lusitanus (1511-1568)
Vítor Matos ([email protected]) and Carina Marques ([email protected]) | Research Centre for Anthropology and Health, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal
Introduction
Amatus Lusitanus: short biography
(based on reference 20)
The foundation of Physical Anthropology is often attributed to Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
(1752-1840), a German professor of medicine, naturalist and collector of human skulls(1-3). On the
1511 – Born in Castelo Branco [Portugal]
early history of this field of knowledge, human variation in terms of race and racial classifications
were the dominant epistemological perspectives(1,4-6), yet interesting observations regarding
Descendant of a Jewish family
human biodiversity, and often neglected by historians of anthropology, were already documented
since Classical Antiquity and subsequent periods(7-8).
1525 – Moved to Salamanca [Spain]
Studied Arts and Medicine at the University of Salamanca.
One relevant case comes from the Renaissance, with the pioneer observations on the anatomical
variability of human skulls made by Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)(9), a remarkable figure of
1529 – Returns to Portugal
modern Anatomy(10,12), on his groundbreaking book De humani corporis fabrica (1543) (Figure 1).
Vesalius “placed physical anthropology on a precise basis [...with a] tentative beginning in
comparative anatomy”(7: 40).
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies
Studied Botany and simultaneously treated patients in several
Figure 1. Frontispiece of the De humani corporis
Portuguese places: Almeida, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora
fabrica (1543).
The birth of modern Anatomy, with the shifting of the old Galenic and Hippocratic paradigms and
[hometown of his mother], Guarda, Santarém, among others.
the rupture with the strictures on human dissections(11-12), endorsed the scientific study of tissues
and organs, including bones and teeth (Figures 1 and 2).
1534 – Moved to Antwerp [Flanders, Belgium]
However, little is known to what extent the early anatomists made use of human bones to
Published his first book “Index Dioscorides” in 1536.
investigate and try to find answers to specific anthropological problems. To explore their works
may provide insights on the deepest roots of the history of Physical Anthropology.
1540 – Moved to Ferrara [Italy]
Was professor of Anatomy at the University of Ferrara, one of
Aims
the most prestigious medical schools during Renaissance. This
This work aims to describe what can be considered one of the earliest evidences of the practice of
chair was later occupied by Gabriele Falloppio (1523-1562).
Physical Anthropology performed by the Portuguese physician Amatus Lusitanus (1511-1568) and
to show how the Renaissance medical texts represent an interesting and underexplored source for
Amatus practiced intensively the dissection of human cadavers
the history of this field.
and travelled to other Italian cities, including Florence, Pisa,
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/historicalanatomies/Images/1200_pixels/ketham_p64.jpg
Figure 2. Human dissection depicted on Fasiculo
Amatus Lusitanus
de medicina, Johannes de Ketham (1496).
Rome and Venice - where he treated Cosimo I de Medici,
Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Amatus Lusitanus (1511-1568), pseudonymous of João Rodrigues, can be considered as the archetype of the European Renaissance
physician(11) and is recognized as an influential figure of this period(13). He studied Medicine in the prestigious University of Salamanca,
lived in several countries, was professor of Anatomy at the University of Ferrara and treated some prominent persons of the Renaissance
(see the box for a short biography).
1547 – Moved to Ancona [Italy]
Finished the 1st (1549), 2nd (1551), 3rd (1552) and 4th (1553)
centuriae. Treated the pope Julius III who suffered from
Between 1551 and 1561, this physician published 7 volumes entitled Curationum medicinalium centuriae, each containing 100 cures
reporting medical cases treated by him in several European countries (Figures 3 and 4).
podagra, in Rome, in 1550.
The last cure, from the 4th centuriae (dated from 1553)14 is entitled:
“Where it is taught how a left-handed boy, i.e. with more agility on the left
hand, could not be brought to the use of the right hand, and at the same time
on the weight of human bones and skin.”
On this centuriae, Amatus reports his attempt to understand handedness by
measuring the weight differences between left and right humeri, as follows:
“When in the past years we dissected many and various bodies, aiming the
exact knowledge of anatomy, we were not satisfied only by sectioning bodies
and examining particles, […] we found many novelties never written before
[…], and additionally we weighed bones, comparing those from the right side
with the left ones, and this weighing allowed us to find an explanation to our
intent [understanding handedness]. When weighing the left and right arm
bones (from the elbow to the shoulder) using a two-arm scale, with the right
in one side of the scale and the left in the other side, I found that the right
one, or right arm bone, presented a much higher weigh than the left bone.”
Figure 3. Frontispiece of the 4th centuriae (left) and the 100th cure (right) of Amatus
Lusitanus. Edition from 1653 available at: http://purl.pt/23097.
The
cure of the
4th
Adapted from http://www.uc.pt/bguc/Documentos2011/AmatoBio.
1555/6 – Moved to Pesaro [Italy]
Discussion and final remarks
100th
Figure 4. Renaissance map of Europe signaling the places where Amatus Lusitanus lived and places visited.
centuriae of Amatus reveals that interesting issues that nowadays are within the scope of Physical Anthropology
were already debated on the 16th century through the analysis of human bones. Handedness continued to be a concern of this field of
1556 – Moved to Ragusa [Drubovnik, Croatia]
Finished the 5th centuriae.
inquiry, on the archaeological but also on forensic settings(15).
Research regarding the skeletal morphology and handedness has been growing on recent decades, focusing on different approaches,
1559 – Moved to Thessaloniki [Greece]
such as, differences in size and robusticity of the limbs, analysis of asymmetry on bone mineral density and on articular diseases (e.g.
Finished the 6th and 7th centuriae (1561).
osteoarthritis), among other approaches(15).
Died of “plague” in 1568.
On the other hand the study of the weight of bones also did not fall into oblivion, yet evolving to other
dimensions either in archaeological and in forensic settings, for example, estimating the living weight based on
References
the skeleton weight, assessing the relationship between body mass and cremation weight, interpretating burial
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practices, estimating the minimum number of individuals from commingled human skeletal remains and issues
related to human identification(16-19).
In sum, this work provides new clues regarding the practice of Physical Anthropology in the 16th century
performed by the Portuguese physician Amatus Lusitanus and shows the importance of Renaissance medical
writings for the history of this discipline.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (grants number: SFRH/BPD/70466/2010 [VM] and SFRH/BD/30038/2006
[CM]) and CIAS - Centro de Investigação em Antropologia e Saúde, Departamento de Ciências da Vida da Universidade de Coimbra.