Camillo Golgi as clinical pathologist: epicritical reading of Golgi's works on malaria.

Camillo Golgi confirmed, in 1885, Marchiafava's and Celli's discoveries about malaria, following a clinical-pathologic research pattern and studying the patient directly. In 1889 he associated the naturalistic-biological point of view and the clinical-pathologic one so that he made possible a differential diagnosis between tertian and quartan fever, independently from the clinical observation; he supplied useful laboratory data for clinical diagnosis and, in doing so, he created the new figure of the clinical pathologist; he distinguished three different kinds of intermittent fevers and, in 1888, he specified the useful time for quinine administration. The article analyzes, also, his methodological and scientific principles.