Josephus Struthius

Title page of Joseph Struthius's treatise Sphygmicae artis iam mille ducentos perditae et desideratae libri V

Struś was born to a maltmaker Mikołaj and Elżbieta, a daughter of the Mayor of Poznań. He was educated at the local school associated with the church of St. Mary Magdalene and then studied at the Collegium Lubranscianum before joining the Jagiellonian University. He was influenced by the German reformer Christopher Hegendorf (1500–1540) at the Collegium Lubrascianum. He studied at the faculty of philosophy for two years and then moved to the faculty of medicine in 1527. He continued studies and obtained a master's degree in 1531. He wrote on the astrology of Luciani Samosatensis. In 1532 he went to study medicine in Padua where he started examining the works of Galen and Hippocrates, translating their works from Greek to Latin. After receiving a doctoral degree in 1535 he joined the Padua University faculty. He taught numerous students and influenced Andreas Vesalius among them. In 1537 he moved to Poland and became a physician to Andrzej Górka. His treatment of Isabella Jagiellon, daughter of King Sigismund I the Old (1467–1548) brought him recognition. He was part of a delegation to Constantinople, where the Turkish Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566). His popularity in Padua led to his being mayor in 1557 and in 1558. He died at Poznań in 1568 during a plague epidemic and was buried in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.[1]

His conceptual approach to measurement of the pulse is regarded as pioneering and revolutionary.[2][3] In Sphygmicae artis iam mille ducentos annos perditae et desideratae libri V. (first published 1540 in Basel, but only copies from 1555 are accessible) he described five types of pulses, the diagnostic meaning of those types, and the influence of body temperature and nervous system on pulse. As a memory aid he used the palm and fingers to the types of pulse. It contains probably the earliest graphic presentation of the pulse.[1] He also noted that the pulse could be used to detect lies and reactions of people.[1] This was one of books used by William Harvey in his works.

A memory device for understanding pulse introduced by Struthius

Robert Burton wrote of Josephus Struthius in The Anatomy of Melancholy: "Josephus Struthius, that Polonian, in the fifth book, _cap. 17._ of his Doctrine of Pulses, holds that [...] passions of the mind may be discovered by the pulse."

In his book he introduced a set of rules about pulse to be remembered using the fingers as illustrated. Each finger had three degrees of intensity the thumb was for amplitude, the index for duration of systolic pulse, the middle finger for the frequency of the pulse, the fourth for pulse wave velocity, and the little finger for the tension of the pulse.[4]

• Michał Boym

• Biography on the website of Polish Cardiological Society (in Polish)
• Short biography (in German)