cacao; tobacco; chilis; tomatoes, in four chapters; and cacti, in 14 chapters. Publications Hernández was a writer who had to cautiously orchestrate two different themes. He had to show respect toward medieval medicine's own mixture of mythical creatures, magical powers, and miraculous events, and mysterious sympathies while fulfilling his professional mission and recording his personal evaluation of native health practices. In the Natural History of Pliny, Hernández points out his own dissections of human cadavers at Guadalupe and the dissection of a chameleon. Hernández also described plants and animals in detail and analyzed Nahua traditions and practices including their geography, climate, and anthropological considerations in his writings. Hernández's work was published in 22 books in Latin, and was in the process of being translated to Spanish and probably Nahuatl. To the king, Hernández had transmitted 16 volumes, bounded in blue leather embellished with gold and silver. Near the end of the 16th century, various editions of Hernández's work were distributed due to the interests of scientists from several European countries. Fabio Colonna, a member of the Accademia de Lincei (Latin for "Academy of the Lynx-eyed"), was the first to publish the work of Hernández. Other notable Italian scientists who made translations of his work include: Peter Martyr, Fernández de Oviedo, Cieza de León, Francisco López de Gomara, Agustín de Zárate, and José Acosta. Ulisse Aldrovandi, a prominent Italian scientist, was interested in Hernández's work and played a pivotal role in developing European botanical studies. The first text of Hernández's work, Index medicamentorum, was published in Mexico City. It is an index that lists Mexican plants according to therapeutic use and their traditional uses; the index was arranged according to body part, and it was ordered from head to toe. It appeared in Juan Barrios's Spanish translation as an appendix to his medical treaties in 1607. In 1615, Nardo Antonio Recchi published the first edition of Francisco Hernández's extensive descriptions of his findings in a translated collection entitled Plantas y Animales de la Nueva Espana, y sus virtudes por Francisco Hernández, y de Latin en Romance por Fr. Francisco Ximenez also cited as Cuatro libros de la naturaleza y virtudes de las plantas y animales que están recibidos en uso de medicina en la Nueva España published by Francisco Jiménez. Eventually, the members of the Accademia de Lincei went to edit and familiarize this text. A heavily redacted compendium in the