Morgagni: His book, vision and views on hepatic coma

The study of pathological anatomy reached a culmination in the magnum opus of Morgagni, The Seats and Causes of Diseases. It represented an innovative way of looking at the patient and his illness, a change that Foucault described as occurring in the 18th century. Physicians saw symptoms penetrating the body and converging upon an organ. We suggest that Morgagni and his fellow workers derived their vision from the practice of visual perspective discovered by Italian Renaissance artists. Perceiving in three dimensional terms, Morgagni added spatial depth to our understanding of disease. His acute vision was brilliantly displayed in his views of hepatic coma. He was among the first to provide the clinical-pathological associations of acute liver failure. The limitations of gross morphology precluded a complete elucidation of the disorder.