[The "Hospital Real de San Josef de los Naturales" and the rheumatic conditions found in New Spain during the 16th century]. / L'"Hospital Real de San Josef de los Naturales" e le malattie reumatiche nella Nueva España (Messico) durante il XVI secolo.

The rheumatic conditions found in New Spain during the sixteenth century were not different from those seen in Mexico in present times. We present the humoral conceptions on which medical theory was based in those times, and the contributions made by Alonso López de Hinojosos during his practice in the Hospital Real de San Josef de los Naturales, in Mexico City. Among them were the clinical distinction between gout and rheumatoid arthritis more than one hundred years before Sydenham, and the identification of arthritis and ocular involvement associated with a contagious disease more than three hundred years before Reiter. We conclude that the analysis of ancient medical traditions is an interesting and fruitful enterprise.