Editorial opinion Antonio Scarpa was an outstanding “head” in the history of surgery Gian Battista Parigi, MD., F.E.B.P.S.* Department of Pediatric Surgery, University of Pavia, and IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy Manuscript received September 10, 2003; revised manuscript December 28, 2003 Every time we operate on an inguinal hernia and open the superficial fascia of the anterior abdominal wall, we pay a tribute to the scholar who first described this structure, Antonio Scarpa (1752–1832), professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Pavia (Fig. 1). After him are named, among others, the ganglion vestibuli of the acoustic nerve, the postic staphiloma of the bulbus oculi, and the femoral triangle at the root of the lower limb. Scarpa de- signed the Historical Museum of the University of Pavia in 1785. In the main hall of the museum are many wax ana- tomic preparations, his own professoral chair, his marble bust, and a niche on top of the northern entrance, hidden by wooden shutters, within which is a casket of crystal glass, filled with pure alcohol, containing the head (Fig. 2) [1] of Antonio Scarpa in addition to both forefingers and first phalanxes of thumbs as well as the urogenital apparatus fixed in a paraffin mold. After Scarpa’s death from renal failure on the morning of the October 31, 1832, in his house in Pavia, on the street today named “via Scarpa,” two of his disciples and admir- ers, Carlo Beolchini, MD, and the naturalist Mauro Rusconi, removed the master’s head and fingers. Allegedly the reason was “the idea not to allow the earth to appropriate all of the mortal remains of a man celebrated throughout Europe” [2]. University gossip at that time suggested other reasons. Scarpa’s life Antonio Scarpa, son of Giuseppe, a boatman, was born of May 9, 1752, in Lorenzaga, a hamlet of Motta di Livenza near Padova in northern Italy (he had a brother, Antonio, born June 13, 1747, but he died soon after birth [3]; hence the misunderstanding of some authors [4] still dating back the birth of “our” Antonio to 1747). Since his earliest years Antonio displayed a lively intelligence; his first studies were with his uncle don Paolo, a priest, who introduced his nephew to the subtleties of the Latin language. As high school student in the bishop’s seminary in Portogruaro, as the guest of an aunt, he systematically dissected chickens to examine their internal organs. His fine brain allowed Anto- nio to be admitted at a very young age (15 years) to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Padova. There he became a pupil of the famous anatomist, Giovanbattista Morgagni, and obtained his medical degree magna cum * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-03-82-42-2-66; fax: +39-03-82-42- 2-66. E-mail address: gbparigi@smatteo.pv.it Fig. 1. Antonio Scarpa’s portrait. The canvas was disfigured as a sign of contempt by a slash dealt after the scientist’s death. Reproduced with permission from the Museum for the History of the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. The American Journal of Surgery 188 (2004) 17–21 0002-9610/04/$ – see front matter © 2004 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2003.12.057