PERRONCITO, EDOARDO

(b Viale d’Asit, Italy, 1 March 1847; d Pavia, Italy, 4. November 1936)

Parasitology, bateriology.

Perroncito studied at the University of Turin and obtained a degree in veterinary of medicine in 1867. In 1873 he won a public competition for the chair of veterinary pathological anatomy at Turin. His professorship was confirmed the following year; he was only twenty-seven.

His scientific interests were mainly in parasitology and bacteriology, subjects which althought relevant to human pathology had been very little studied. The emphasis of his research shifted from the purely veterinary to the human level. Some of his most important research was on Echinococus and Cycticercosis and on other parasitic infections in animals that are easily transmitted to man by infected food. Petrroncito extended his interest to the prophylaxis and cure of these infections. He emphasized the importance of hygiene and advocated stricter and more complete supervision of meat and a more practical approach to the construction of slaughterhouses. He also campaigned for the adoption of refrigeration to preserve food products. He carried out important studies on bovine tuberculosis; which hedemonstrated to be identical to human tuberculosis; and he was active in making known on Italy Pasteur’s studies on the prophylaxis and cure of rabies.

There was almost no aspect of the infective pathology and parasitology of animals (and of some plants) that Perroncito did not carefully investigate, in many cases discovering their etiopathogenetic cause and searching for means of prevention and cures. These activities led to the creation in 1875 of the first chair of parasitology in Italy. The post, established at Turin, was created for Perroncito.

Perroncito’s name is especially connected with his efforts to identify the cause of the anemia that was killing large numbers of the miners (mainly Italian) working on the St. Gotthard Tunnel. His research was also relevant to the health of thousands of otherworkers in mines, furnaces, and similar environments. Perroncito discovered that the fatal illness was caused by the presence in the human body of the worm Ancylostoma duodenale, already described by Dubini in 1843. He studied its complete biological cycle and means of diffusion, and found that it could be eliminated by means of a medicine based on the oil of the male fern.

The priority of Perroncito’s discovery was disputed by others involved in the same research. The polemic lasted many years, and Perroncito became very embitered, but his priority was finally acknowledged. In 1932, on the fiftieth anniversary of the completion of the St. Gotthard Tunnel, the Institut de France awards included honorary degrees from academies, universities, and societies throughout the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Perroncito’s writings include Sugli echinococchi negli animali domestici (Turin, 1871); and “La tubercolosi in rapporto alla economia sociale e rurale,” in Annali della Accademia d’agricoltura di Torino, 18 (1875). See also L’ anemia dei minatori in Ungheria (Turin, 1886); Sulla trasmissione della rabbia dalla madre al feto attraverso la placenta e per mezzo del latte (Turin, 1887); Studi sull’immunità pel carbonchio (Turin, 1889); Sulla utilizzazione delle carni degli animali da macello affetti utilizzaione delle carni degli animali la macello affetti da tubercolosi (Turin, 1892); and La maladie des mineurs …. une question résolue (Turin, 1912).

II. Secondary Literature. See P. Ghisleni, “Edoardo Perroncito,” in Giornale dell Accademia di medicina di Torino100 (1937), 39–47, with bibliography; and V. Matzocchi,” Edoardo Perronicito,” in Patologia comparata della tubercolosi, 3 (1937), 96–98.

Carlo Castellani