The term pediatrics comes from the Greek, country, paidós (child) and -iatros (medical), therefore, and as we all know, is the branch of medicine that deals with the health and illnesses of children. We are going to leave aside texts or references from the past in which diseases of children and their possible remedies are cited and we will stay with those who specialized in said diseases and treatments and, in addition, put them into practice, those that we could consider as the pioneers of pediatrics.
The first name that appears recognized as such is the Italian doctor Gaetano Palloni (1776-1830), who was appointed honorary professor at the University of Pisa and lecturer in Florence on childhood diseases, a position that did not exist until then and was created expressly for him, for which he is considered the father of modern pediatrics . The chair was created on April 8, 1802 by Ludovico I de Borbón, king of Etruria, with care and clinical responsibilities in the field of the Hospital of the Innocents of Florence and functions of inspection, control and custody of infants. In addition, for the Italians this hospital would also be the first pediatric hospital, an opinion not shared by the French because they considered it more an orphanage than a hospital. In fact, the general opinion attributes that title to the Hospital des Enfants Malades (Hospital for Sick Children), which opened in Paris on May 13, 1802, just 37 days after Palloni's appointment. Later, they spread throughout Europe and these types of hospitals were opened in Berlin (1830) and London (1851). They are also referents in France Charles Michel Billard or Ernest Bouchut and in the United States Abraham Jacobi . Both in the case of paediatricians, if I may call them that, and in the case of hospitals, we are talking about the 19th century, since three centuries before, and as usual in these parts, forgotten by history, we already had in this country a pioneer doctor in pediatrics.
I'm talking about the doctor Jerónimo Soriano , born in Teruel in 1550 and, therefore, a countryman of mine or, rather, I his, for he was an eminence and I was a common letter-writer. In 1600 he published a treatise called « Method and order of curing the diseases of children ”, published in Zaragoza by the editor Ángel Tavano, of which five editions were made, the last one in 1721, and which had a great diffusion and influence among doctors for centuries. So reads a chronicle of his 1929 book…
… It moved him to publish such a monumental book to highlight his vast knowledge on the subject, the fruits of his constant studies and efforts in favor of children; he tried to put, in a clear and concise way, how all childhood diseases could be combated; He pointed out the need for these studies to be perfected by those who succeeded him in such honorable and humanitarian work, giving them encouragement and advice so that they would not lose heart in their research and work so that a time would come when most of the sufferings suffered by the child were not a danger to the various stages of human life.
By the way, there is a copy of this work in the National Library in the "Rare and Precious Books" section -I don't know if it's rare or precious-. And not only that, he also founded in Teruel, and maintained out of his own pocket, the first hospital dedicated entirely to children that is known. But he was forgotten…
Later, his witness was picked up by others, such as Luis Mercado , court physician to King Felipe II and III, who wrote a treatise on Pediatrics in Frankfurt and Valladolid in 1613 and 1614, or Fray Tomás Montalbo , who published a treatise on child hygiene, being the first to deal with the regulation and hygiene of foundlings (abandoned and raised in hospices).
Foundlings for the most part are children of dishonest guilt – Fray Tomás Montalbo