‘Nature is More Subtle Than Any Mathematician’: Giorgio Baglivi on Fluids in the Human Body

A very common view describes iatromechanism—which seeks to explain every bodily process, even pathology, on a purely mechanical basis—as opposed to iatrochemistry, which focuses on medicine through the lens of chemistry. Giorgio Baglivi (1668–1707), a proponent of a mechanistic and solidistic view, shows how misleading this strict distinction can be. While rejecting the chemical medicine of his time, Baglivi dealt with numerous chemical issues strictly related to the role of body fluids, on which he carried out rigorous and verified tests and experiments. This “anatomy of fluids” plays an indispensable role in explaining diseases, finding new remedies and understanding the body itself. Baglivi realised that diseases caused by a certain corruption of fluids are not as easy to study as those involving solids, and that pathology is not simply a malfunctioning machine. In Baglivi’s view, this knowledge should only be based on direct experience with nature.