Paul Zacchias or Paolo Zacchia (1584-1659) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

physician, teacher of medical science, forensic medicine, medio-legal jurist, philosopher, and poet. He is said to have been personal physician to Pope Innocentius X and

Pope Alexander VII Pope Alexander VII ( it, Alessandro VII; 13 February 159922 May 1667), born Fabio Chigi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 April 1655 to his death in May 1667. He began his career as a vice- papal legate, an ...

. Zacchias was also legal adviser to the Rota Romana, the highest

Papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

court of appeals, and head of the medical system in the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. His most well known book in three volumes, ''Quaestiones medico-legales'' (1621-1651) established

legal medicine Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal c ...

as a topic of study.Händel K (2003) 'Paolo Zacchia – der geistige Vater der Rechts-medizin', ''Arch Kriminol'' Vol. 212, No. 3-4 (Sep-Oct 2003), pp.65–73 Zacchias work also contains superstitious views on

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

witches Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...

, and

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

which were widely held at the time. At the time, both theological and medical knowledge was required to differentiate natural cases of sickness from supernatural causes which might require attention of the

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Zacchias was known for a skeptical approach that attempted to eliminate natural causes before diagnosing phenomena as witchcraft. Medical practitioners at his time were also made available to diagnose and assess between miracles and natural causes. He is known to have argued that minors make proper test subjects to be put to

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

. Despite these views, Zacchias is seen to have notably progressed the works of

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

in medicine of the time period.

Biography

Paul Zacchias was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1584 and died in the city in 1659. Zacchias in his life was director of the health system of the Papal States, as well as legal adviser to the Rota Romana, the highest

court of appeals. Under

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

in 1532, legal medicine was introduced to the court system via penal code. However, Zacchias work helped to add scientific basis to the legal practice and court system.

''Quaestiones medico-legales''

Quaestiones medico-legales is divided into three sections. The first section contains decisions of the Rota Romana during his time serving on it. The other two sections cover questions of human

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 ...

. In it he examines problems such as the formation of

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

s, and the animation of the

foetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...

and superfoetation. The later two volumes also include many observations by Zacchias on mental disease. Zacchias was also familiar with hypochondriacal disorder or those without genuine illness. Quaestiones medico-legales was translated into several other languages from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, and was used by medical practitioners into the 18th century.

Editions

* * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zacchias, Paul Medical jurisprudence 17th-century Italian physicians 1584 births 1659 deaths People from Rome Sapienza University of Rome alumni Latin-language writers from Italy