Pieter van Foreest - Wandeling Antoni
Pieter van Foreest (1521-1597), city physician Physician Pieter van Foreest was appointed city physician of Delft in 1558, a position he held for over 37 years.
Pieter Van Foreest- Modern Medicus
Van Foreest broke with the habit of relying on historical texts and based his treatments on his own observations. He recorded these in a long series of publications. For many years after his death, many doctors made use of the knowledge and skills of the, in his time, modern physician.
Pioneering influence and the importance of clean water
During the plague epidemic (1557–1559), around 20 per cent of the population died. Van Foreest believed that the stagnant water in the canals was partly to blame for the plague. He persuaded the city council to open the sluices to refresh the water. It was not until 1674 that Van Leeuwenhoek, using his microscopes, demonstrated the ‘micro-organisms’ that could be seen in water samples.
Van Foreest advi...
Pieter Van Foreest- Modern Medicus
Van Foreest broke with the habit of relying on historical texts and based his treatments on his own observations. He recorded these in a long series of publications. For many years after his death, many doctors made use of the knowledge and skills of the, in his time, modern physician.
Pioneering influence and the importance of clean water
During the plague epidemic (1557–1559), around 20 per cent of the population died. Van Foreest believed that the stagnant water in the canals was partly to blame for the plague. He persuaded the city council to open the sluices to refresh the water. It was not until 1674 that Van Leeuwenhoek, using his microscopes, demonstrated the ‘micro-organisms’ that could be seen in water samples.
Van Foreest advised the Delft city council and the national government on medical issues. He also became the personal physician of William of Orange. In international literature, he is sometimes called the 'Dutch Hippocrates', after the influential Greek physician and philosopher.
Smallest house in Delft
According to the plaque on the wall of Oude Delft 147, Pieter van Foreest would have lived here in this smallest house in Delft. However, according to the Huizenprotocol, the municipal property register between about 1585 and 1800, he owned the adjacent Oude Delft 145.