title: An etymological "autopsy" of Morgagni's title: De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis (1761).
abstract: For the Morgagnian anniversaries of 2011 to 2012, the University of Padua organized a wide research project, trying to understand Morgagni's contribution in his historical context and why he is still considered the father of a new way of thinking in medicine, based on anatomoclinical correlations. Calling his masterpiece De sedibus et causis morborum per anatomen indagatis, Morgagni placed his research in a specific tradition of medical studies: the mechanistic approach to medicine, considered new in different European contexts. This approach gave Morgagni the theoretical structure to find his anatomopathologic research and the revolutionary idea for his time: post mortem dissections could be useful to understand pathophysiologic mechanisms and clinical symptoms in the living.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, Section of Medical Humanities, Padua University Medical School, Via A. Gabelli, 86-35121 Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zampieri
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zanatta
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thiene
mesh_terms: D000715:Anatomy / Q000266:history*; D001344:Autopsy; D049671:History, 18th Century; D007558:Italy; D013782:Textbooks as Topic / Q000266:history*
keywords: Anatomoclinical correlations; History of pathology; Mechanism; Morgagni; Pathology