Maria Conforti

Illustrating Pathologies in the First Years of the Miscellanea Curiosa , 1670–1687

The Miscellanea Curiosa, sive Ephemeridum Medico-Physicarum Germanicarum, the learned periodical published in different German cities under the aegis of the Academia Leopoldina Naturae Curiosorum, contained many cases of an anatomical nature. The Miscellanea Curiosa in its first years actively participated in the development of anatomia practica, the anatomical practice of observing the signs of diseases in cadavers and connecting them to what had been observed at the bedside. The illustrations that accompanied the post-mortem reports published in the Miscellanea Curiosa allow one to assess the evolution of the pathological illustration itself. This article is thus intended to serve as a contribution to the rediscovery of the origins of this visual genre. A learned journal like the Miscellanea Curiosa, which appeared regularly, provided an ideal venue for the process of accumulating, cross-referencing and--in the final analysis--selecting, serializing and systematizing the knowledge that would form the foundations of modern pathology, by providing a wealth of evidence and images observed at the dissection table.

Termometri politici: sciences and politics in encyclopedic journals in Naples in the revolutionary and Napoleonic age

The paper deals with learned journals in Naples at the end of the 18th century and with their political meaning, especially in relation to the promotion of the Provinces of the Kingdom. The ‘encyclopedia’, the system of organisation of the different sections of knowledge, in the Giornale Enciclopedico (1806-1821) and in other periodicals, reflects political implications, conflicts and tensions in the field of sciences - sciences as intellectual pursuits as well as practices - in the Kingdom of Naples in the years preceding and following the 1799 Revolution. By following the way headings and sections change, it is possible to examine the different patterns of appropriation by individuals and groups acting in the Kingdom - and also following, and indirectly describing, the changes in the wider European classification of sciences and disciplines.