Abella

For other uses, see Abella (disambiguation).

Abella sometimes known as Abella of Salerno was a mid-14th century Roman physician who taught general medicine at the Salerno school of medicine.[1] Though her dates are not established, she is believed to have lectured on standard medical practice, bile, and women's health and nature.[1] She published two treatises: De atrabile and De natura seminis humani ("On Black Bile" and "On the Nature of the Seed"), which do not survive.[2] In Salvatore De Renzi's nineteenth-century study of the Salerno School of Medicine Abella is one of four women (along with Rebecca de Guarna, Mercuriade and Constanza Calenda) mentioned who both practiced medicine and wrote treatises.[2]

Legacy

Abella is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor.[3] She is one of the "Ladies of Salerno" along with Rebecca Guarna, Francesca de Romana and Mercuriade who attended the medical school in Salerno from its inception.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie. "The" biographical dictionary of women in science: pioneering lives from ancient times to the mid-20th century. Taylor & Francis US. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-415-92038-4. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  2. 1 2 Monica Green, Women's Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europe, Signs, Vol. 14, No. 2, Working Together in the Middle Ages: Perspectives on Women's Communities (Winter, 1989), p. 453
  3. "Abella of Salerno". Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Abella of Salerno. Brooklyn Museum. 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  4. Proffitt, Pamela (1999). Notable Women Scientists. Detroit: Gale Group. p. 1. ISBN 0787639001.
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