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Eustachi, Bartolomeo

1. Dates
Born: San Severino, Ancona, c. 1500-1510
Died: in Umbria, while travelling to join Card. della Rovere, 27 Aug. 1574
Dateinfo: Birth Uncertain
Lifespan: 74
2. Father
Occupation: Physician
His father, Mariano Eustachi, was a physician, said to have been of noble family.
I assume affluence as always with physicians.
3. Nationality
Birth: Italian
Career: Italian
Death: Italian
4. Education
Schooling: Sapienza (Rome), M.D.
He had a good humanistic education, in the course of which he acquired an excellent knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. He appears to have studied medicine at the Archiginnasio della Sapienza in Rome, and I assume the studies led to an M.D. I also assume a B.A. or its equivalent.
5. Religion
Affiliation: Catholic
6. Scientific Disciplines
Primary: Anatomy, Medicine
In 1562 and 1563 Eustachi produced a remarkable series of treatises on the kidney, the auditory organ (De auditus organis), the venous system, and the teeth. These were published in Opuscula anatomica (1564). The treatise on the kidney was the first work specifically dedicated to that organ. The teatise on the auditory organ provided a correct account of the tuba auditiva that is still referred to eponymously by Eustachi's name. He was also the first who made a study of the teeth in any considerable detail. In 1552 Eustachi, with the help of Pier Matteo Pini, prepared a series of 47 anatomical plates, which (although they were published only in 1714, long after his death) alone assured him a distinguished position in the history of anatomy. He placed anatomy in the service of medicine; much of it was pathological anatomy.
7. Means of Support
Primary: Medicine, Patronage, Academia
Secondary: Government
1540-74, medical practice.
Some time before 1547, Eustachi became physician to the Duke of Urbino. At the time of his death Eustachi had a clock that the Duke had given to him.
1547-74, physician to the duke's brother, Cardinal Giulio della Rovere. He followed Cardinal della Rovere to Rome in 1549 and considered the cardinal his primary patron.
In 1549 he joined the medical faculty of the Sapienza as the equivalent of professor of anatomy. He resigned his chair some years later due to illness.
Eustachi was the Protomedico in Rome.
He was also physician to S. Carlo Borromeo and S. Filippo Neri.
8. Patronage
Types: Court Official, Eccesiastic Official, Aristrocrat
He was in the service of the Duke of Urbino and the duke's brother, Card. della Rovere, for about 30 years.
The Duke of Terranova in Sicily called Eustachi in on the occasion of an illness.
When Eustachi was attacked in polemics, Card. Alciati defended him, and to Card. Alciati Eustachi dedicated De auditus organis, 1562.
He dedicated De renum structura to Card. Borromeo and De dentibus to Card. Amulio.
9. Technological Involvement
Type: Medical Practice
10. Scientific Societies
Membership: Medical College
He was a member of the Medical College of Rome.
He was a friend of Aldrovandi, Coiter, et al. Letters to Aldrovandi survive.
Sources
  1. G. Bilancioni, Bartolomeo Eustachi, (Florence, 1913).
  2. Pietro Capparoni, Profili bio-bibliografici di medici e naturalisti celebri italiani dal sec. XV al sec. XVII, 2 vols. (Rome, 1925-28), 1, 31-4. In the copy I have, vol. 1 is from the second ed, (1932) and vol. 2 from the first (1928). I gather that pagination in the two editions is not identical.
  3. Gaetano Luigi Marini, Degli archiatri pontifici, 2 vols. (Roma, 1784), 1, 417-18.
Not Available and Not Consulted
  1. Memorie e documenti riguardanti Bartolomeo Eustachio publicati nel quarto centenario della nascita, (Fabriano, 1913).
Compiled by:
Richard S. Westfall
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Indiana University

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©1995 Al Van Helden
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