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Reviewed by Raanan Geberer for Readers' Favorite
The Two Chambers: The Story of a Physician Persecuted by the Inquisition by Pedro Puech is a story of intrigue, medical scholarship and religious conflict during the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation. A young Portuguese physician and his tutor, both of whom have to hide their Jewish origins from the Inquisition, are summoned to Rome by a famed scholar connected to the Vatican. He is preparing a book on anatomy, but needs the input of a certain anatomist to solve the mystery of why the heart has two chambers. The trouble is, the anatomist’s book is hard to find and his whereabouts are unknown. He charges the young doctor, Marcus Ibericus, with finding the mysterious anatomist and gives Ibericus a Papal letter of introduction to open doors for him. Thus starts a chase that takes Ibericus through half the countries of Europe – from the free atmosphere of Paris, where no one cares that he is Jewish, to the puritanical atmosphere of Calvin’s Geneva. And all the while, the anatomist, Michel de Villeneuve (a real-life figure better known to historians as Michael Servetus), is one step ahead of him – until the thrilling conclusion of the book.
Pedro Puech, in The Two Chambers, does an excellent job of describing the infancy of modern medicine, when the same person might be considered an expert in anatomy, theology, mathematics and even astrology. He shows us how the scholars of that time still looked to Greek and Roman sources as the ultimate authorities, and that new discoveries were only beginning to be made. He also shows us that while Christianity united Europe, there was plenty of divergence – from the official Catholic Church to the heresy of Arianism to the insurgent Protestant movements. Medical mysteries didn’t start with television’s Dr. House, and Puech proves it in this fascinating book.
