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by Central European authors on the lung disease caused by dust accumulation
and on the differentiated toxicology of some metals, De Morbis offers an origi-
nal, systematic, complete, special vision of the relationship between the work of
the craftsmen and the diseases.

The sixty categories of craftsmen studied by Ramazzini parade “in orderly se-
quence”. The professions are classified according to large categories, of which
the first three can be traced back to the elementary Hippocratic components,

earth, air, water; the fourth category considers the diseases caused by prolon-
ged incongruous posture.
The poem The author to his book is proposed and commented upon, which

appears only in the Princeps edition of De Morbis and no longer in the definitive
Paduan edition.

Chapter XIV is reread, emphasizing the notion according to which the sewer
workers were the ones who “discovered occupational medicine” precisely be-
cause they are the ones, first and foremost, who demonstrate that they possess
the knowledge of the risk assessed as a priority for their health and the “crude”
methods to adopt to control it.

It is thought that the discussion that considers the times and ways in which
the revaluation of the world of work is achieved to the point of making it a literary
and technical theme should take on particular importance, and that Ramazzini
could not ignore it.

The essay concludes by arguing about themes that pertain to the long-term
success of De Morbis and also to some criticisms to which its author has been
subjected, quite early on by “chemists” interested in production and develop-

ment, and today by some historians.

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