Amato Lusitano y los partos prematuros"Cur octimestris foetus non vivit"?

Abstract

According to a widespread idea, which also remains in some pregnant women's minds, it is more likely that a seven-month fetus survives rather than an eight-month baby. This assumption, arised from the Greek Hippocrates, was supported by many authors, not only physicians, from the Antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. However, some figures doubted about its authenticity, such as Aristotle or Plinius. Over the centuries this phenomenon was given several interpretations (physiological, astrological and numerological) and it became a frequent topic in gynecological works, especially in the 16th Century. Amatus Lusitanus also wanted to discuss it, so he wrote the scholia on the singular curatio 72 of the IV Centuria about the different theories on it. The aim of this paper is to analyze the medical texts from the Antiquity to the Renaissance that dealt with this topic to figure out how the Portuguese author reflected this tradition in his commentaries.