Dimitrios Mavrokordatos Disproving the Hemostatic Myth of Aqua Binelli

Abstract

“Aqua Binelli” or “Aqua Balsamica Arterialis” was a hemostatic compound invented by the Italian Fedele Binelli in 1797. Its hemostatic properties were viewed as the solution to treating hemorrhage in cases of wounds and surgical operations. Those who opposed the compound were persuaded of its total lack of effectiveness, supporting the view that hemostasis could be achieved by exerting pressure on, stitching, and ligating a vessel. The publications of Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe, Professor at the University of Berlin and fervent advocate of Aqua Binelli, helped spread the use of the compound in Europe. In 1832, however, one of his students, a young Greek named Dimitrios Mavrokordatos, who became the first Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the newly established University of Athens in 1837, published in Würzburg his dissertation titled Observations on the Potency of Aqua Binelli (Weitere Nachrichten über das Binellische Wasser), where a completely different picture emerged relating to those applications of the compound that von Gräfe considered successful. The case of Mavrokordatos’ dissertation was a typical 19th-century scientific controversy between a young student and his teacher who enjoyed the support of his associates. Eventually, the myth of the hemostatic activity of Aqua Binelli was debunked. © The Author(s) 2020.