Alaymo, Mark Anthony

, a celebrated physician of Sicily, was born in 1590 at Ragalbuto, in the valley of Demona, and when young acquired great reputation for his proficiency in classical learning, and in the study of philosophy. He then made choice of the profession of medicine, and received his doctor’s degree at Messina in 1610. In 1616 he settled at Palermo, where he practised with uncommon success, his advice being eagerly sought at home and abroad, by persons of all ranks who corresponded with him in cases where his visits could not be procured. His fame rose highest, however, in 1624, when he practised with so much skill, humanity, and success, during the rage of the plague in Palermo, and other parts of Sicily. While in this prosperous career, he was in vain solicited to accept a professor’s chair in the university of Bologna, and the office of first physician to the king of Naples. Nothing could seduce him from his connexions in Palermo, where he had the principal hand in founding the medical academy. He is celebrated also for his piety and munificence towards religious institutions. He died August 29, 1662. His principal works are in Latin. 1. “Consultatio pro ulceris Syriaci nunc vagantis curatione,” Palermo, 1632, 4lo. 2. “De succedaneis Medicamentis,” ibid. 1637, 4to. 3. And in Italian, “Discorso intorno alia preservatione del morbo contagioso, e mortale, che regna al presente in Palermo, tkc.” ibid. 1625, 4to. 4. “Consigli Medico-politici,” also relating to the plague, ibid. 1652, 4to. He left, likewise, some works in manuscript, on the treatment of malignant fevers, and a commentary on the epidemics of Hippocrates. ²

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