19 



taken from the instructions written by Pietro Follerio, an eminent 

 jurisconsult, who was assigned by the viceroy of Naples to superin- 

 tend the province of Campania during the prevalence of pest with the 

 special duty of indicating means for the betterment of public hygiene. 

 It is worthy of notice that the provisions of public sanitation in those 

 times are usually found, not in books of medicine, but in treaties on 

 jurisprudence. This is explained by the fact that the medical pro- 

 fession was looked to for scientific indications only, and that the appli- 

 cation of sanitary measures founded thereon, limiting or compromising 

 as they often did the rights of the public or the constitutional privi- 

 leges of citizens, was a matter for legal consideration and action. 



AN EARLY SANITARY CONGRESS. 



The efforts of some of the pioneers of quarantine were at times ill- 

 advised, did not always meet with general approval, and sometimes, 

 indeed, occasioned strong outbursts of popular indignation. The 

 experience of Girolamo Mercuriale (called the iEsculapius of -his 

 time) and of his colleague Capodivacca is an iustance. In the summer 

 of 1576 the frequence of strange febrile diseases, often very mortal, 

 was observed at Venice. The supreme magistrate of health of the 

 Republic of Venice, suspecting pest, called a conference of great 

 physicians, among others Girolamo Mercuriale, Capodivacca, and 

 Nicola Massa. As for the verdict Massa wavered, and the other mem- 

 bers were divided into two camps, one body for and the other against 

 pest. Mercuriale and Capodivacca asserted decidedly that the malady 

 was not pest, but an epidemic of fever, due to the excessive heat of the 

 season. This opinion carried the day, and no precautions were taken 

 against the spread of the disease. Unfortunately for the optimistic 

 diagnosticians, the illness increased, and speedily took on all the 

 characters of pest. The populace uprose and made an effort to lynch 

 Mercuriale and Capodivacca and burn their houses. Both the physi- 

 cians, fortunately for them, escaped by flight, their property being 

 saved by prompt action of the authorities. 



EARLY EFFORTS AT DISINFECTION. 



The armament of disinfection in early days was full of oddities. 

 In the process of purification time was more trusted than anything 

 else. Gian Filippo Ingrassia, appointed by Philip II of Spain to 

 establish a public sanitary service in Sicily, begins his book on pest 

 and contagious disease with the following distich by Martello: 



Lana, aura et Mnum captani contagia pestis; 

 Ignis, furca, auruni sunt medicina mali. 



Before reviewing the different means besides fire, the gallows, and 

 money used against contagion, it is interesting to make a survey of 



