Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 166-169. (Budapest, 1999)

KISEBB KÖZLEMÉNYEK — ESSAYS - Le Calloc'h, Bernard: Vincenzo Dandolo, avagy egy olasz gyógyszerész regényes élete

Pelletier Bertrand 1761—1797 Pelletier Pierre 1788—1842 Poli Giuseppe Severio 1746—1825 Rouelle Hilaire 1718—1799 Rouelle Guillaume 1703—1770 Souvorov Alexandre 1729—1800 Talbor Robert 1642—1681 Van Swieten Gerard 1700—1772 Vauquelin Nicolas 1763-1829 SUMMARY The article studies the life of Vincenzo Dandolo (1758—1819) a pharmacist, agriculturalist and politician from Venice who welcomed Napoleon's Italian domination, and was a governor of French occupied Dalmatia. Dandolo'

s family was not identical with the famous medieval class of doges. An originally Jewish family, which had been living for long in the Serenissima Republica, converted to Catholic faith two generations earlier. By the time he reached his twentieth birthday, Vincenzo Dandolo had already finished his studies in chemistry and pharmacology at Padova, and opened his own drugstore, the "Adam and Eve ", near the Ponte dei Barcaroli. As a young pharmacist Dandolo made name of himself by producing and exporting huge amounts of teriaka, the mystical mixture (based on considerable doses of opium) which was held to be a panacea universalis. Beside teriaka he also produced various other drugs using mercury against syphilis, and cinchona against malaria. As a result of his financial success he moved his apothecary near the church of San Fantino in the neighbourhood of the theatre "La Fenice ". Here he had more room and could furnish a big laboratory and increase production. This was also the time when he get into contact with the academic community in Italy and abroad. He was involved in some scientific disputes over various subjects (which even included geometry), but his main contribution was the introduction of the methodology and concepts of the new scientific French chemistry into his native Italy. Dandolo had an excellent command of French which helped him to translate a series of books by Lavoisier, Morveau, and Fourcroy. It was, however, in 1797 when Bonaparte occupied Northern Italy and the Serenissima Republica collapsed, that Vincenzo Dandolo's political career started. As a member of the Committee of Public Welfare of the new Republic he stood for radical political and social reforms. During the treaty of Campoformio — which was to pass Venice to Austria — Dandolo was selected for a mission to defend Venetian independence from Austria by facing Bonaparte with Venetian arguments. Although he was unable to achieve this task, his mission was not a complete failure for he aroused the interest of the young general. Subsequently he left Venice for Milan (which was then the capital of the French backed Cisalpin Republic) was elected into its National Assembly, and later even into the Gran ' Consiglio. His political speeches (published in the Monitore Cisalpino) present him as an ardent supporter of French modelled Lombardy. He bought a large estate at Varese, near