SETTALA, Ludovico

by Ludovico Settala

£1,450 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition of this academic treatise on plague by the Italian physician Ludovico Settala (1550-1633), who worked on outbreaks of plague in Milan in 1576 and 1628-30, the latter being the plague described in Manzoni s The Betrothed, in which Settala features. He is also known for accumulating a cabinet of wonders through his Jesuit contacts in Brazil, including a full parrot feather cloak, now in the Pinoteca Ambrosiana. Settala s work is notable for the variety of causes that he notes for the plague as well as the variety of plagues that he observes, indeed he sees variety as the defining feature of plague as a disease. Chiefly following Galen he describes the characteristics and symptoms of plague, as well as its epidemic qualities. Discussing the causes of plague, he attributes it to God s wrath or the operation of demons these kinds of plagues can take place without fevers or contagion the influence of stars, bad air, unhealthy air or corrupt vapours, consuming rotten food, and simple contagion. Settala posits why man is especially prone to the plague, noting that close proximity in unclean and unhealthy surroundings is clearly the cause of significant outbreaks. He keeps an open mind when discussing preventatives and cures, debating the relative benefits of diet, fresh air or enclosure, sleeping or keeping awake, exercising or keeping still, treatments including bleeding and purging, for example by piercing the scrotum, the use of drugs such as arsenic and alexipharmac

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.