FRACASTORO, Girolamo.

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Syphilis, sive Morbus gallicus. First edition of "the most famous of all medical poems" (Garrison-Morton), containing the earliest printed poetical reference to Columbus's voyage. Elegantly printed in a charming italic type, the book is a compendium of the contemporary European knowledge on the disease that spread throughout the continent following the American conquest.The story of Columbus's first voyage appears in book III of the poem, integrated within an epic narrative of the mythical origins of syphilis. After a long voyage, the Spaniards reach Ophyre, a fictional equivalent of Hispaniola. Here, they became infected after hunting the birds living in a forest of guaiacum trees sacred to the Sun God. They later meet an indigenous king who tells them the myth of the shepherd boy Syphilis, the first who was affected with the disease as a result of insulting Apollo. The sailors also learn that the extract obtained from the bark of the guaiacum trees (a species discovered by Columbus) has natural curative powers. Fracastoro's poem become so well-known that the infection, which was first known as morbus gallicus ("French disease"), then took the name of Fracastoro's character.The other two books in the poem are more medical in content. The work is a fundamental source of information on the treatment methods for syphilis that were available to 16th-century doctors, the most common cures being quicksilver and sweating. To avoid the disease, Fracastoro also recommends following G

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