Antonio
Scarpa,
Saggio di osservazioni e d'esperienze sulle principali malattie degli occhi
A
Treatise on the Principal Diseases of the Eyes
Antonio
Scarpa studied at the University of Padua, where he served as assistant
and personal secretary to Morgagni, the master of pathological anatomy.
After ten years as professor of anatomy and clinical surgery at the
University of Modena, Scarpa joined the medical faculty at Pavia and
served as chair of anatomy for the rest of his professional life.
Scarpa wrote important works in otolaryngology, orthopedics, ophthalmology,
neuroanatomy, and general surgery. He was the first to demonstrate cardiac
innervation and to accurately describe the pathological anatomy of congenital
club-foot. He also introduced the concept of arteriosclerosis, identified
"Scarpa's triangle" of the thigh, and provided the first detailed
description of sliding hernia of the large bowel.
Scarpa's Saggio di malattie degli occhi was the first ophthalmology
text published in Italian. The book earned Scarpa the title of "father
of Italian ophthalmology". Scarpa described the treatment of cataract
by depression rather than extraction, noted his procedure for making
artificial pupils, and suggested a surgical treatment of dropsy of the
eyeball. This is a first edition of Scarpa's work published in Pavia
in 1801.
