Lombroso (Lumbroso)

Sephardic family, members of which lived in Tunis, Marseilles, and Italy. The two forms of the family name are doubtless due to different readings of the Hebrew .

Abram Lumbroso, Baron:

Tunisian physician and scientist; born in Tunis 1813; died in Florence 1887. After completing his classical studies in Florence and receiving his M.D. degree at Pisa, he became physician-in-chief to the Bey of Tunis and afterward director of the state sanitary service. In 1846 he accompanied the bey to Paris, receiving from King Louis Philippe the Order of the Legion of Honor.

In Tunis Lumbroso founded a scientific society, of which he was president; and he was one of the most ardent assistants of the bey, who was interested in the promotion of culture. Lumbroso distinguished himself not only by his skill as a physician, but also by his pḥilanthropic acts. As a reward for his valuable services during the cholera epidemic, rendered to foreigners and to natives without regard to sect or creed, King Victor Emanuel II. of Italy bestowed upon him the title of baron, with remainder to his eldest son. He was decorated also by the Sultan of Turkey with the Order of the Medjidie.

Of Lumbroso's published works may be cited: "Schizzo Storico Scientifico sul Colera Asiatico che Invase la Reggenza di Tunisi nel 1849 e 1850," Marseilles, 1850; "Lettere Medico-Statistiche sulla Reggenza di Tunisi," ib. 1850.

Bibliography:

  * De Gubernatis, Piccolo Dizionario dei Contemporanei, Rome, 1895;
  * Resoconto sulle Opere del Barone Dr. Abram Lumbroso Letta all' Accademia Reale di Medicina di Torino nel Anno 1866.



David Lumbroso:

Tunisian political agent; born in Tunis 1817; died in Leghorn 1880. He was a highly respected merchant in the Italian colony of the former city, and was much trusted by the Tunisian government, to which he was of service on many critical occasions.

Giacomo Lumbroso:

Brother of Abram Lumbroso; head of a prominent business house at Marseilles, where he was consul for Tunis till the latter came under the protectorate of France.

Giacomo Lumbroso, Baron:

Son of Abram Lumbroso. He studied law in Tunis, graduating with honors, but devoted himself principally to historical and archeologic researches, upon which he has written many important works. He was professor of ancient history, first in the University of Pisa and afterward in that of Rome. He resigned the latter position and retired to private life. Baron Giacomo is a member of the Accademia dei Lincei.

Bibliography:

  * De Gubernatis, Piccolo Dizionario dei Contemporanei, Rome, 1895.



Giacomo Lumbroso:

Italian physician; born in Leghorn 1859. He was privat-docent in neuropathology and electrotherapeutics at the Institute of Florence, and physician-in-chief at the united royal hospitals of Leghorn.

Bibliography:

  * De Gubernatis, Piccolo Dizionario dei Contemporanei, Rome, 1895.



S. E. L.Isaac Lumbroso:

Chief rabbi of Tunis and rabbinical author; died in 1752. He was prominent in the Tunisian Jewry, being judge of the community about 1710—an epoch coinciding with the schism which divided the Jews of the city into two camps, native Tunisians and Gournis or Italians. Lumbroso was appointed rabbinical judge of the latter; and, being a man of means, he filled at the same time the position of receiver of taxes to the bey as well as that of caid, being the representative official of his community.

From a literary point of view, Lumbroso, who was one of the most brilliant pupils of Rabbi Ẓemaḥ Ẓarfati, was the most important among the Tunisian rabbis of the eighteenth century. He encouraged and generously assisted his fellow rabbis; and his reputation as a Talmudist and cabalist has survived to the present day.

Lumbroso was the author of "Zera' Yiẓḥaḳ," published posthumously at Tunis in 1768. This work, the only one which has as yet been printed in that city, is a commentary on the different sections of the Talmud. Several funeral orations, pronouncedby Lumbroso on divers occasions, are appended thereto.

Bibliography:

  * Cazès, Notes Bibliographiques, pp. 240-246.



S. S. M. Fr.Isaac Vita Lumbroso:

Father of Abram Lumbroso; born in Tunis 1793; died in Leghorn 1871. He was well known because of his philanthropy. For thirty years he was president of the Portuguese consistory in Tunis, and for four years judge of the Court of Appeals.

S. E. L.Jacob Lombroso:

Italian rabbi and physician, of Spanish origin; lived at the beginning of the seventeenth century in Venice, where he published a notable Bible having an exhaustive introduction and explanations together with Spanish translations of the more difficult passages. By some he is considered to be the author of the "Propugnaculum Judaismi," written in defense of Judaism against the attacks in the fifth book of Grotius' "De Veritate Religionis Christianæ." Mortara, however ("Indice," p. 35), observes that Lombroso himself ascribes this work to Isaac Orobio.

Bibliography:

  * De Rossi, Dizionario.



D. E. L.