Andrea Cesalpino
Encyclopedia
Andrea Cesalpino (1524 or 1525 – February 23, 1603) was an Italian
physician
, philosopher and botanist.
In his works he classified
plant
s according to their fruit
s and seed
s, rather than alphabetically or by medicinal properties. In 1555, he succeeded Luca Ghini
as director of the botanical garden
in Pisa
. The botanist Pietro Castelli
was one of his students. Cesalpino also did limited work in the field of physiology
. He theorized a circulation
of the blood
. However, he envisioned a "chemical circulation" consisting of repeated evaporation
and condensation
of blood, rather than the concept of "physical circulation" popularized by the writings of William Harvey
(1578–1657).
, Tuscany
.
For his studies at the University of Pisa
his instructor in medicine was R. Colombo (d. 1559), and in botany the celebrated Luca Ghini
. After completing his course he taught philosophy
, medicine
, and botany
for many years at the same university, besides making botanical explorations in various parts of Italy. At this time the first botanical garden
s in Europe
were laid out; the earliest at Padua
, in 1546; the next at Pisa
in 1547 by Ghini, who was its first director. Ghini was succeeded by Cesalpino, who had charge of the Pisan garden 1554-1558. When far advanced in years Cesalpino accepted a call to Rome
as professor of medicine at University of Rome La Sapienza
and physician to Pope Clement VIII
. It is not positively certain whether he also become the chief superintendent
of the Roman botanical garden which had been laid out about 1566 by one of his most celebrated pupils, Michele Mercati
.
find Cesalpino's books obscure; their failure to comprehend them has frequently misled them in their judgment of his achievement.
No comprehensive summing up of the results of Cesalpino's investigations, founded on a critical study of all his works has appeared, neither has there been a complete edition of his writings. Seven of these are positively known, and most of the seven have been printed several times, although none have appeared since the 17th century. In the following list the date of publication given is that of the first edition.
His most important philosophical work is Quaestionum peripateticarum libri V (1569). Cesalpino proves himself in this to be one of the most eminent and original students of Aristotle in the 16th century. His writings, however, show traces of the influence of Averroes
, hence he is an Averroistic Aristotelean; apparently he was also inclined to pantheism
, consequently he was included, later, in the Spinozists before Spinoza. A Protestant opponent of Aristotelean views, Nicolaus Taurellus
wrote several times against Cesalpino. The work of Taurellus entitled Alpes cæsae, etc. (1597), is entirely devoted to combating the opinions of Cesalpino, as the play on the name Cæsalpinus shows. Nearly one hundred years later Cesalpino's views were again attacked by Samuel Parker, in a work entitled Disputationes de Deo et providentia divina (1678).
Cesalpino repeatedly asserted the steadfastness of his Catholic
principles and his readiness to acknowledge the falsity of any philosophical opinions expounded by him as Aristotelean doctrine, which should be contrary to revelation. In Italy he was in high favour both with the secular and spiritual rulers.
of the blood
are well known, but even up to the present time they have been as often overestimated as undervalued. An examination of the various passages in his writings which bear upon the question shows that although it must be said that Celsalpino had penetrated further into the secret of circulation of the blood than any other physiologist before William Harvey
, still he had not attained to a thorough knowledge, founded on anatomical research, of the entire course of the blood. Besides the work Quæstionum peripateticarum already mentioned, reference should be made to Quaestionum medicarum libri duo (1593).
. The work is dedicated to the Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici. Unlike the "herbal
s" of that period, it contains no illustrations. The first section, including thirty pages of the work, is the part of most importance for botany in general. From the beginning of the 17th century up to the present day botanists have agreed in the opinion that Cesalpino in this work, in which he took Aristotle for his guide, laid the foundation of the morphology
and physiology of plants and produced the first scientific classification of flower
ing plants. Three things, above all, give the book the stamp of individuality: the large number of original, acute observations, especially on flowers, fruits, and seeds, made, moreover, before the invention of the microscope
, the selection of the organs of fructification for the foundation of his botanical system; finally, the ingenious and at the same time strictly philosophical handling of the rich material gathered by observation. Cesalpino issued a publication supplementary to this work, entitled Appendix ad libros de plantis et quaestiones peripateticas (1603).
Cesalpino is also famous in the history of botany as one of the first botanists to make an herbarium
; one of the oldest herbaria still in existence is that which he arranged about 1550-60 for Bishop Alfonso Tornabono. After many changes of fortune the herbarium is now in the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
at Florence
. It consists of 260 folio pages arranged in three volumes bound in red leather, and contains 768 species of plants. A work of some value for chemistry
, mineralogy
, and geology
was issued by him under the title De metallicis libri tres (Rome, 1596). Some of its matter recalls the discoveries made at the end of the eighteenth century, as those of Antoine Lavoisier
and René Just Haüy
, it also shows a correct understanding of fossil
s.
The Franciscan monk Charles Plumier
gave the name of Cæsalpinia
to a plant genus and Linnaeus retained it in his system. At the present day this genus includes approximately 150 species and belongs family Fabaceae
, subfamily Cæsalpinioideae
, which contains a large number of useful plants. Linnaeus in his writings often quotes his great predecessor in the science of botany and praises Cesalpino in the following lines:
Quisquis hic exstiterit primos concedat honores
Casalpine Tibi primaque certa dabit.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, philosopher and botanist.
In his works he classified
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
s according to their fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s, rather than alphabetically or by medicinal properties. In 1555, he succeeded Luca Ghini
Luca Ghini
Luca Ghini was an Italian physician and botanist, notable as the creator of the first recorded herbarium, as well as the first botanical garden in Europe....
as director of the botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
. The botanist Pietro Castelli
Pietro Castelli
Pietro Castelli was an Italian physician and botanist.Born at Rome, he was graduated in 1617 and studied under the botanist Andrea Cesalpino . He was professor at Rome from 1597 until 1634, when he went to Messina...
was one of his students. Cesalpino also did limited work in the field of physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
. He theorized a circulation
Circulatory system
The circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients , gases, hormones, blood cells, etc...
of the blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
. However, he envisioned a "chemical circulation" consisting of repeated evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
and condensation
Condensation
Condensation is the change of the physical state of matter from gaseous phase into liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. When the transition happens from the gaseous phase into the solid phase directly, the change is called deposition....
of blood, rather than the concept of "physical circulation" popularized by the writings of William Harvey
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
(1578–1657).
Biography
Cesalpino was born in ArezzoArezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
.
For his studies at the University of Pisa
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa , located in Pisa, Tuscany, is one of the oldest universities in Italy. It was formally founded on September 3, 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI, although there had been lectures on law in Pisa since the 11th century...
his instructor in medicine was R. Colombo (d. 1559), and in botany the celebrated Luca Ghini
Luca Ghini
Luca Ghini was an Italian physician and botanist, notable as the creator of the first recorded herbarium, as well as the first botanical garden in Europe....
. After completing his course he taught philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, and botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
for many years at the same university, besides making botanical explorations in various parts of Italy. At this time the first botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
s in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
were laid out; the earliest at Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, in 1546; the next at Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
in 1547 by Ghini, who was its first director. Ghini was succeeded by Cesalpino, who had charge of the Pisan garden 1554-1558. When far advanced in years Cesalpino accepted a call to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
as professor of medicine at University of Rome La Sapienza
University of Rome La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy...
and physician to Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...
. It is not positively certain whether he also become the chief superintendent
Chief Superintendent
Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces organised on the British model.- United Kingdom :In the British police, a chief superintendent is senior to a superintendent and junior to an assistant chief constable .The highest rank below Chief Officer level, chief...
of the Roman botanical garden which had been laid out about 1566 by one of his most celebrated pupils, Michele Mercati
Michele Mercati
Michele Mercati was a physician who was superintendent of the Vatican Botanical Garden under Popes Pius V, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, and Clement VIII.-Biography:...
.
Philosophical works
All of Cesalpino's writings show the man of genius and the profound thinker. His style, it is true, is often heavy, yet in spite of the scholastic form in which his works are cast, passages of great beauty often occur. Modern botanists and physiologists who are not acquainted with the writings of AristotleAristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
find Cesalpino's books obscure; their failure to comprehend them has frequently misled them in their judgment of his achievement.
No comprehensive summing up of the results of Cesalpino's investigations, founded on a critical study of all his works has appeared, neither has there been a complete edition of his writings. Seven of these are positively known, and most of the seven have been printed several times, although none have appeared since the 17th century. In the following list the date of publication given is that of the first edition.
His most important philosophical work is Quaestionum peripateticarum libri V (1569). Cesalpino proves himself in this to be one of the most eminent and original students of Aristotle in the 16th century. His writings, however, show traces of the influence of Averroes
Averroes
' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,...
, hence he is an Averroistic Aristotelean; apparently he was also inclined to pantheism
Pantheism
Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
, consequently he was included, later, in the Spinozists before Spinoza. A Protestant opponent of Aristotelean views, Nicolaus Taurellus
Nicolaus Taurellus
Nicolaus Taurellus was a German philosopher and theologian.He was born in the County of Mömpelgard, then part of the Duchy of Württemberg. With support from Duke Georg I. of Württemberg-Mömpelgard, he read theology at University of Tübingen and medicine at the University of Basel, where he...
wrote several times against Cesalpino. The work of Taurellus entitled Alpes cæsae, etc. (1597), is entirely devoted to combating the opinions of Cesalpino, as the play on the name Cæsalpinus shows. Nearly one hundred years later Cesalpino's views were again attacked by Samuel Parker, in a work entitled Disputationes de Deo et providentia divina (1678).
Cesalpino repeatedly asserted the steadfastness of his Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
principles and his readiness to acknowledge the falsity of any philosophical opinions expounded by him as Aristotelean doctrine, which should be contrary to revelation. In Italy he was in high favour both with the secular and spiritual rulers.
Medical and physiological works
Cesalpino's physiological investigations concerning the circulationCirculatory system
The circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients , gases, hormones, blood cells, etc...
of the blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
are well known, but even up to the present time they have been as often overestimated as undervalued. An examination of the various passages in his writings which bear upon the question shows that although it must be said that Celsalpino had penetrated further into the secret of circulation of the blood than any other physiologist before William Harvey
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
, still he had not attained to a thorough knowledge, founded on anatomical research, of the entire course of the blood. Besides the work Quæstionum peripateticarum already mentioned, reference should be made to Quaestionum medicarum libri duo (1593).
Botanical works
His most important publication was De plantis libri XVI (1583). The date of its publication, 1583, is one of the most important in the history of botany before Carolus LinnaeusCarolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
. The work is dedicated to the Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici. Unlike the "herbal
Herbal
AThe use of a or an depends on whether or not herbal is pronounced with a silent h. herbal is "a collection of descriptions of plants put together for medicinal purposes." Expressed more elaborately — it is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their...
s" of that period, it contains no illustrations. The first section, including thirty pages of the work, is the part of most importance for botany in general. From the beginning of the 17th century up to the present day botanists have agreed in the opinion that Cesalpino in this work, in which he took Aristotle for his guide, laid the foundation of the morphology
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
and physiology of plants and produced the first scientific classification of flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
ing plants. Three things, above all, give the book the stamp of individuality: the large number of original, acute observations, especially on flowers, fruits, and seeds, made, moreover, before the invention of the microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
, the selection of the organs of fructification for the foundation of his botanical system; finally, the ingenious and at the same time strictly philosophical handling of the rich material gathered by observation. Cesalpino issued a publication supplementary to this work, entitled Appendix ad libros de plantis et quaestiones peripateticas (1603).
Cesalpino is also famous in the history of botany as one of the first botanists to make an herbarium
Herbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
; one of the oldest herbaria still in existence is that which he arranged about 1550-60 for Bishop Alfonso Tornabono. After many changes of fortune the herbarium is now in the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
The Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze is a natural history museum in 6 major collections, located in Florence, Italy. It is part of the University of Florence...
at Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. It consists of 260 folio pages arranged in three volumes bound in red leather, and contains 768 species of plants. A work of some value for chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, mineralogy
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
, and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
was issued by him under the title De metallicis libri tres (Rome, 1596). Some of its matter recalls the discoveries made at the end of the eighteenth century, as those of Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
and René Just Haüy
René Just Haüy
René Just Haüy – 3 June 1822 in Paris) was a French mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre Dame. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Crystallography." -Biography:...
, it also shows a correct understanding of fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s.
The Franciscan monk Charles Plumier
Charles Plumier
Charles Plumier was a French botanist, after whom the Frangipani genus Plumeria is named. Plumier is considered one of the most important of the botanical explorers of his time...
gave the name of Cæsalpinia
Caesalpinia
Caesalpinia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. Membership within the genus is controversial, with different publications including anywhere from 70 to 165 species, depending largely on the inclusion or exclusion of species alternately listed under genera such as...
to a plant genus and Linnaeus retained it in his system. At the present day this genus includes approximately 150 species and belongs family Fabaceae
Fabaceae
The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...
, subfamily Cæsalpinioideae
Caesalpinioideae
Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia....
, which contains a large number of useful plants. Linnaeus in his writings often quotes his great predecessor in the science of botany and praises Cesalpino in the following lines:
Quisquis hic exstiterit primos concedat honores
Casalpine Tibi primaque certa dabit.