Paolo Mascagni (25 January 1755 – 19 October 1815) was an Italian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

. He is most well known for publishing the first complete description of the

lymphatic system The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the immune system and complementary to the circulatory system. It consists of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymphoid organs, lympha ...

Biography

Early life

Mascagni was born in the comune of Pomarance (in the Province of Pisa) to Aurelio Mascagni and Elisabetta Burroni, both belonging to old gentry families of Chiusdino (in the

Province of Siena The province of Siena (, ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Siena. It has 259,826 inhabitants. Geography The province is divided into seven historical areas: * Alta Val d'Elsa * Chian ...

). He studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Siena. Upon graduating in 1777, renowned anatomist Pietro Tabarrani took Mascagni as an assistant. Upon Tabarrani's death in 1780, Mascagni was appointed as an anatomy lecturer at the University of Siena.

Career

As a young man, Mascagni was interested in geological sciences, as evidenced by his several papers on the Lagoni (thermal springs) of

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

and Volterra. Upon graduation, he turned his interest to the human lymphatic system. His many discoveries in this field led to the composition and publication of ''Vasorum lymphaticorum corporis humani historia et iconographia'' in 1787. He was elected a corresponding member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

in 1796, and president of the Accademia dei Fisiocritici in 1798. During the French occupation of Tuscany in the spring of 1799, Mascagni showed himself to be an enthusiastic

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

. For this reason, he spent seven months in prison after the French were expelled. Mascagni was freed from prison by a ''motu proprio'' of the King of Etruria, who on 22 October 1801 appointed Mascagni a professor of anatomy at the University of Pisa, with the additional charge of lecturing twice a week at the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. In 1807, Mascagni was appointed professor of anatomy at the University of Florence. There, he wrote ''Treatise of Anatomy''.

Collaborations

In 1781, Mascagni began advising sculptor Clemente Susini, who was working on a collection of human anatomical waxes. The collection was completed in 1786 and consisted of approximately 800 pieces. In 1801, the Sardinian anatomist Francesco Antonio Boi became a student of Mascagni. Mascagni and Boi entered into a close collaboration as well as a personal friendship. The anatomical waxes are held in the Museo archeologico nazionale in

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

Death

Mascagni died of

sepsis Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...

in 1815. Some decades after his death, his statue was erected in the courtyard of the

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

.Moodie, Roy L., "Anatomical Names with Biographical Sketches", 1917
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Legacy

Mascagni posthumously published two works: * ''Prodromo della grande anatomia'' (1821) * ''Anatomicae universae iconae'' (1823) Mascagni has been posthumously credited with the first discovery of meningeal lymphatic vessels, though his findings were disregarded during his lifetime. These vessels were conclusively discovered in mice in 2014 and subsequently confirmed in humans and non-human primates in 2017.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mascagni, Paolo 1755 births 1815 deaths People from Pomarance Italian anatomists 18th-century Italian physicians Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Academic staff of the University of Pisa Chiusdino