PISO, WILLEM

(b. Leiden, Netherlands, ca. 1611; d. Amsterdam, Netherlands, N̠ovember 1678),

medicine, pharmacy.

Piso was the son of Hermannus Piso van Cleef; his mother’s name is unknown¹ He matriculated as a medical student at the University of Leiden in 1623, at the age of twelve. He received the M. D. degree at Caen² on 4 July 1633 and subsequently established a practice in Amsterdam.

Piso’s fame rests on his work as physician of the Dutch settlement In Brazil (1636℃1644), which had Johan Maurits van Nassau as governor. ³ In Brazil he gathered the data for the books that made him famous.

Although he already had the M. D. degree, Piso matriculated at Leiden again on 3 March 1645, after his return from Brazil. He must soon have rejoined his former chief, however, for a letter dated September 1645 was sent by Piso to his friend Caspar van Baerle, professor of philosophy at the Amsterdam Athenaeum, from the “camp of Maurits van Nassau.”⁴

Later Piso settled in Amsterdam, and on 1 September 1648 he married Constantia Spranger. He became a leading physician there, serving as decanus of the Collegium Medicum from 1656 to 1660 and again in 1670. His name is mentioned as a consultant in the works of Nicolaas Tulp (1593–1674) and Job van Meekren (ca. 1611–1666). Piso is remembered for his work in tropical medicine and pharmacy, but his chief contribution was perhaps his scientific approach to his work. Although he could not free himself from the Hippocratic and Galenic doctrines he had studied at the university and he explained some of his observations in terms of them, he studied the medical lore of the Brazilian natives very closely and felt free to adopt and recommend their methods if they proved effective. He was the to first point out that the health of Europeans in the tropics is best preserved by adopting the way in the tropics is best preserved by adopting the way in which the natives live. During the first decades of their settling in the tropics, the Dutch lived as they had at home. They built their houses of brick; they wore heavy, dark clothing; they swaddled their infants. These practices caused diseases, and the infant mortality was enormous. Piso told his compatriots to beware of the cool nights in Brazil; not to drink too much, especially sour beverages; and to take plenty of exercise. Piso recorded what he had learned in Brazil in Historia naturalis Brasiliae, a folio volume in twelve books, the first four of which are by Piso while the others, which deal chiefly with natural history, were written by Georg Markgraaff.⁵ The latter was probably an assistant to Piso, for Piso says in several places that he ordered Markgraaff to make drawings or perform other chores in his free time. In a later edition, De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica, the subject matter of the book is more consolidated, and in the process the distinction between contributions of the two authors has become somewhat vague; consequently, Piso has sometimes been accused of plagiarism. That Piso has sometimes been accused of plagiarism. That Piso did not intend to take credit for what was not his is clear from the first edition, where the line is sharply drawn. His editing of De Indiae was done because the work was intended to be a handbook of tropical medicine, pharmacology, and natural history. His share covered the Americas, while the East Indies were represented by adding the complete works of Jacobus Bontius.⁶

Piso was the first to distinguish yaws, which he called bubas, from venereal disease, and he recommended the treatment used by the natives. He stated that defective nutrition was the cause of hemeralopia (day blindness), ⁷ fully discussed tropical intestinal disorders, and distinguished their various forms. Dysentery (“fluxus cum febre et sanguine”) in particular was well researched; Piso recommended the native root ipecacuanha to cure this disease, advice followed for centuries. His description of the chigoe (Pulex penetrans or Tunga penetrans) the troubles it causes, and the treatment of these troubles has never been surpassed. Here again, he needed the experience of the Brazilian natives. On numerous expeditions into the back country, Piso searched for medicinal herbs. He was the first to bring ipecacuanha to the attention of the Western medical world and also discussed such American specifics as Radix Chinae (Smilax pseudo China L.), ssarsaparilla (Smilax sarsaparilla L.), Radixmechoacan (Convolvulus brasiliensisL.),, sassafras (Laurus sassafras L.) and guaiacum Guaiacu, officinale). For these and other contributions, Piso deserves to be remembered as one of the pioneers of tropical medicine.

NOTES

1. Van Andel (intro. to “Capita”) and Baumann state that the family name originally was Pies, while von Römer states that it was Lepois. A French physician, Charles Lepois (1563℃1633), was also known as Carolus Piso. But Willem Piso’s fater was called “van Cleef,” which indicates a German origin.

2. Not at Leiden in 1630, as von Römer states.

3. Johan Maurits van Nassau (104℃1679) served in the army of the States-General from 1621.

4. According to van Andel (intro. to “Capita”). This can be only Johan Mauritus van Nassau; there was no Maurits van Nassau alive at the time. Upon his return from Brazil, Johan Maurits van Nassau became lieutenant general of the cavalry of the States-General (24 Oct. 1644) and commander of the fortress at Wesel (3 Nov. 1644). Hence this letter was probably sent from Wesel. See F. J. G. ten Raa and F. de Bas, Het Staatche leger, IV (Breda, 1918), 332, 342.

5. Markgraff appears to be unknown in the biographical literature. There is no M.D. after his name on the title page of the Historia naturalis Brasiliae. After his name is “de Liebstadt, Misnici Germani.” Both Liebstadt and Misnia (Meissen) are in Saxony. According to van Andel (“Willem Piso”). Markgraaff died in 1643 on the coast of Guinea. Several variants of the name are found: Marcgraaf, Marggraaf, marcgrav.

6. Jacobus Bontius (1592℃1631), physician to the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, 1627℃1631. See Opuscula selecta Neerlandicorum de arte medica, x (Amsterdam, 1931)

7. Not night blindness, as van Andel (“Willem Piso”) states See Vos, where a translation of Piso’s remarks on tropical eye diseases is given

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Historia naturalis Brasiliae . . . in qua non tantum plantae et animalia, sed indigenarum morbi, ingenia mores describuntur et iconibus supra quingentas illustrantur (Amsterdam, 1648) consists of 12 books, of which the first 4, by Piso, have the general title De medicina Brasiliensi. They are De aere, aquis et locis; De morbis endemiis; De venenatis et antidotis; De facultatibus simplicium. The remaining 8 written by Markgraaff under the general title Historiae rerum naturalium Brasiliae. These are De insectis; De ipsa regione et illius incolis cum appendice de Tapuyis et de Chilensibus

In De Indiae utriusque re naturali et medica (Amsterdam, 1658), the matter is organized somewhat differently. Piso contributed Historiae naturalis et medicinae Indiae Occidentalis libri quinque and Mantiss aromatica, siva de aromatum cardinalibus quatro et plantis aliquot Indices in medicinum receptis, relatio nova; Markagraaff wrote Tractatus topographicus et meteorologicus Brasiliae, cum observatione eclipsis solaris, quibus additi sunt illius et aliorum commentaride Brasiliensium et Chilensum indole et lingua. This book also contains the complete works of Jacobus Bontius with some editing by Piso

Oost- en West Indische warande. Vervattende aldaar de leef- en geneeskonst. Met een verhaal van de specerijen, boom- en aard gewassen, dieren, etc. Door Jac. Bontius, Gul Piso en Geo. Markgraef (Amsterdam, 1694; 2nd ed. 1734) is not a trans. but an abstract of the writings of Bontius, Piso, and Markgraaff compiled for the use of Bontius, Piso, and Markgraaff complied for the use of naval and tropical surgeons

A later Latin ed. of part of his main work is Historia medica Brasiliae, novam editionem curavit et praefatus est Josephus Eques de Vering...(Vienna, 1817); a Portuguese version is Historia natural do brasil illustrada. Edicao comemorativa do primeiro conquentenario du Museu Paulista (São Paulo, 1948).

In the library of the University of Leiden are three letters by Piso: to J. van Wullen, a Lutheran minister in Amsterdam; to Nicolass Heinsius (1620℃1681), a Latin poet and diplomat; and to Caspar van baerle (1584℃1648), the author of Rerum per octennium in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum (Amsterdam, 1647, 1660, 1698; German trans., Kleve, 1659).

II. Secondary Literature. See M. A. van Andel, “Willem Piso, een bannbreker der tropische geneeskunde,” in Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis der geneeskunde, 4 (1924), 239℃254; “Bontius en Piso over de dysenterie in de beide Indien,” ibid., 11 (1931), 285℃292; and intro. to “Capita nonnulaa de ventris fluxibus, de dysteneria, de lue indica, di ipecacuanha,” in Opuscula selecta Neerlandicorum dearte medica, XIV(Amsterdam, 1937), xii-xxxviii, the best study on Piso, in Dutch and English, with extracts from Piso’s works in the original language (Latin or Dutch) with English trans.; E. D. Baumann, Uit drie eeeuwen Nederlandsche geneeskunde (Amsterdam, 1951), 102–104; L. S. A. M. von Romer, “Dr. Willem Piso,” in Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek, IX (1933), 805–806, unreliable; J. van den Vondel, “Behoude reis aen Willem Pizo, Graef Maurits van Nassaus doctor, staende op sijn vertreck naer Breziji,” in H. Diferee, ed., De volledige werken van Joost van den Vondel, II (Utrecht, 1929), 375–376; and J. A. Vos, “De geneeskunde, in het bijzonder de oogheelkunde, bij Willem Piso,” in Bijdragen tot de geschedenis der geneeskunde, 39 (1959), 7℃11

Peter W. Van Der Pas