HIERONYMUS FRACASTORIUS: A BRIEF SURVEY OF HIS LIFE AND WORK ON SYPHILIS

In the last quarter of the fifteenth century, while the Italian Renaissance was rapidly gaining momentum, there was born in the old city of Verona, in or about the year 1478, a boy, son of Paolo Filippo and Camilla de Mascarelli. This child, one Girolamo Fracastoro or Fracastorio, as Bruno prefers, was so blest in after-life that one is almost convinced that his destiny was directed by the same gods he so often eulogized in his various poems.His ancestors, the Fracastorii, according to Cartolari's "Noble Families of Verona," were members of the Council from 1406 to 1771. They were distinguished members of their community and possessed considerable wealth. His great-grandfather, Paolo Filippo, a warm supporter of the Venetian conquest, was one of a small group selected to present to the Doge of Venice the keys of Verona, in 1405. The adherence of Verona to Venice, strangely enough, existed until