Antonio Maria Valsalva (17 January 1666 – 2 February 1723), was an Italian anatomist born in

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

. His research focused on the anatomy of the ears. He coined the term

Eustachian tube In anatomy, the Eustachian tube, also known as the auditory tube or pharyngotympanic tube, is a tube that links the nasopharynx to the middle ear, of which it is also a part. In adult humans, the Eustachian tube is approximately long and in d ...

and he described the aortic sinuses of Valsalva in his writings, published posthumously in 1740. His name is associated with the Valsalva antrum of the ear and the

Valsalva maneuver The Valsalva maneuver is performed by a forceful attempt of exhalation against a closed airway, usually done by closing one's mouth and pinching one's nose shut while expelling air out as if blowing up a balloon. Variations of the maneuver can ...

, which is used as a test of circulatory function. Anatomical structures bearing his name are ''Valsalva’s muscle'' and ''taeniae Valsalvae''. He observed that when weakness of one side of the body is caused by a lesion in the brain, the culprit lesion tends to be on the side opposite (contralateral) to the weak side; this finding is named the "Valsalva doctrine" in his honor.

Background

Valsalva was born at

. The contemporary of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

and

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

, he was educated in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, and

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s. After studies of the liberal arts, he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. He was taught by Marcello Malpighi, who is known as the founder of microscopic anatomy. Valsalva graduated from medical school in 1687. In 1695, he was named surgeon for the Hospital of the Incurables in Bologna. In 1705, he was appointed professor of anatomy at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

. He was later chosen as president of the '' Istituto Clementino delle Scienze ed Arti'' (Clementine Institute of Arts and Sciences). Valsalva taught

Giovanni Battista Morgagni Giovanni Battista Morgagni (25 February 1682 – 6 December 1771) was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Prof ...

who edited Valsalva’s complete writings and published a biography on Valsalva, both in 1740. In 1709, Valsalva married Elena Lisi. As he lost his health, he lost his sense of smell, but he recognized the prodromal symptoms, in the form of dyslalia, of the disease that would eventually cause his death from

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

in 1723. Valsalva was buried in the church of

San Giovanni in Monte San Giovanni in Monte is a 15th-century Roman Catholic church in Bologna, Italy. History The current church can be traced back to a round church from the 5th century known as the Monte Oliveto, traditionally said to be founded by Saint Petronius ...

, Bologna. The Valsalva family donated a collection of dried anatomical specimens to be used for educational purposes to the Institute of Sciences founded in 1711. The wear of this material that followed possibly inspired the work of the Bolognese school of wax modeling and the artists Ercole Lelli and

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

and

Anna Morandi Manzolini Anna Morandi Manzolini (21 January 1714 – 9 July 1774) was an internationally known anatomist and anatomical wax modeler, as lecturer of anatomical design at the University of Bologna. Life Morandi was born in 1714 in Bologna, Italy. She wa ...

. This new anatomic collection includes models of the heart and lungs and is today presented at the Museum of Anatomy. Valsalva was described as a skillful

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and excellent

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, a meticulous anatomist with high scientific integrity, and a man of great kindness. Morgagni wrote ''". . . there is nobody of those times who goes ahead of him, very few who are his equals."''

Research

Valsalva both studied and taught in the fields of science, surgery, anatomy,

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

, and

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

. At a young age, Valsalva had successfully removed a dog’s kidney. He opposed

cauterization Cauterization (or cauterisation, or cautery) is a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. It destroys some tissue in an attempt to mitigate bleeding and damage, remove an undesired growth, or ...

in the treatment of wounds, and recommended humanitarian treatment of mentally ill patients. His main interest was the middle and internal ear, including the muscles of the external ear and the pharyngeal muscles. Valsalva named the

and described its function and that of its muscle. He showed the connection between the mastoid cells and the

tympanic cavity The tympanic cavity is a small cavity surrounding the bones of the middle ear. Within it sit the ossicles, three small bones that transmit vibrations used in the detection of sound. Structure On its lateral surface, it abuts the external auditory ...

, and made observations on physiologic and pathologic processes of the ear. ''De aure humana tractatus'' published in 1704 contains a description of the

and patency test of the auditory tubes. A skilled anatomist, Valsalva conducted many autopsies on deceased patients. During the 17th century, lacking chemical tests and knowledge of disease transmission mechanisms, he sometimes tasted the fluids he encountered in cadavers in an effort to better characterize them. "Gangrenous pus does not taste good", he wrote, "leaving the tongue tingling unpleasantly for the better part of the day."

Published works

De aure humana tractatus (Treatise on the Human Ear
in quo integra auris fabrica, multis novis inventis & iconismis illustrata, describitur omniumque ejus partium usus indagantur: quibus interposita est musculorum uvulae, atque pharyngis nova descriptio et delineatio; by Antonio Maria Valsalva, Ludugni Batavorum, Gisbertum Langerak and Johannem Hasebroek (1735). (Translated into Italia

by Vincenzo Mangano)

Valsalva device in spacesuits

The

Valsalva device The Valsalva device is a device used in spacesuits, some full face diving masks and diving helmets to allow astronauts and commercial divers to equalize the pressure in their ears by performing the Valsalva maneuver inside the suit without using t ...

is a device used in

spacesuit A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...

s to allow astronauts to equalize the pressure in their ears by performing the

inside the suit without using their hands to block their nose. It has also been used for other purposes, such as to remove moisture from the face.

References

External links

BiographicalA short biography on the life of the dedicated anatomist -Valsalva
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valsalva, Antonio Maria 1666 births 1723 deaths 17th-century Italian physicians 18th-century Italian physicians Italian anatomists People from Imola