Giuseppe Sterzi (1876-1919) of the University of Cagliari: a brilliant neuroanatomist and medical historian.

Abstract

irst of all, let me explain why weare now writing about Sterzi.Approximately two years ago I(A.R.) received a message from Prof.Colin Wendell Smith, the secretary ofthe FCAT, who happens to live in theantipodal (for me) island of Tasma-nia, asking me if I could find him thearticle on subcutaneous tissue writtenby an Italian professor named Sterzi.This article had been mentioned byProf. DiDio during one FCAT meetingand Prof. Wendell Smith had alreadyunsuccessfully tried to obtain it viathe usual library system. Since I wasaware that Sterzi had been one of mypredecessors in the Anatomy Chair inCagliari, it was easy for me to send acopy of the article to Prof. WendellSmith, who was surprised to hear thatSterzi had been working in the antip-odal (for him) island of Sardinia andso was indirectly associated with me.In order to provide him with an En-glish summary, I had to read the 172-page article myself. I was greatly im-pressed by the rigorous discussion ofprevious reports and by the amount ofnew findings obtained also through acomparative anatomical/embryologi-cal approach. Prompted by this, webecame interested in Sterzi’s life andscientific achievements, being mani-fest that the studies on the subcutane-ous tissue and some others such asthat on the endolymphatic sac,though important and superbly car-ried out, had been just a parenthesisin his production devoted almost ex-clusively to neuroanatomy and thehistory of anatomy. Favaro (1921)maintains, in fact, that Sterzi madethem mainly to show his critics thathis production was not monothe-matic.