p-medicine.msg

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p-medicine-msg – 2/11/08

Period medical practices. References.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

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Thank you,

Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous

Stefan at florilegium.org

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A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE:

"Doctor, I have an ear ache."

500 A.D. - "Here, eat this root."

1000 A.D. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer."

1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstition, drink this potion."

1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."

1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."

2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!"

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From: jack at dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)

Date: 9 Apr 91 12:05:35 GMT

Organization: COMANDOS Project, Glesga Yoonie, Unthank

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.org.sca,sci.med

fireflyte at oak.circa.ufl.edu wrote:

> AERE6909 at Ryerson.CA (Chris Davis) writes:

>> If anyone knows were I can acquire a book that has examples of disease,

>> sicknesses and their cures from medieval times, it would be greatly

>> appreciated.

> A good idea would be to post a message to rec.org.sca [...] and ask the

> members there (of the Society for Creative Anachronism---a medieval

> recreationist group) for such a source...

A bit later than mediaeval, but probably useful for lots of SCA people:

An Explanation of the Fashion and Use of Three and Fifty Instruments of

Chirurgery: Gathered out of Ambrosius Pareus, the famous French

Chirurgion, and done into English, for the behoofe of young Practitioners

in Chirurgery, by H.C. [Helkiah Crooke]

London Printed for Michael Sparke, 1634

(facsimile reprint by West Port Books, 151 West Port, Edinburgh 3, phone

+44 31 229 4431)

This is mostly devoted to military surgery, with lots of gruesome stuff

about skull wounds and gangrene; there are detailed engravings of each bit

of hardware described. Here is Crooke's description of bullet wounds:

For the signes, there is one generall that the wound is orbicular or round:

the Colour of the part is also altered and becomes livid, blewish,

greenish, or betwixt both. Adde hereto that the sense of the blow is

gravative, as if some huge weight had fallen upon the part, neither doth

the blood issue proportionably to the wound, for the parts being sore

brused, doe presently swell: in so much that you hardly insinuate a pledger

into it; for the lips of the wound being tumefied, hinder the issue of the

blood. There is also in this kind of wound, a very great heate, caused

either by the swiftnesse of the motion, or by the vehement impulsion of the

ayre, or else because the the contused parts being driven one against

another, raise heate by attrition. The reason why a Bullet makes so great

a contusion, is because it hath no corners to cut his entrance, but is

round, and therefore cannot enter without extreame force, and thence it is

that not the wound onely is blackish, but the neighbour parts also are

livid. Hence also proceed those many ill symptomes of paine, fluxion of

humours, inflammation, aposthemation, convulsion, phrensie, palsie,

Gangrene, mortification, and at length death it selfe. The contusion also

and the rending attrition and tearing of the the adjacent parts, makes the

sanies or matter of the wound which it belches out, to be of a noysome and

odious savour, and so much more plentifull because to a part so notably

offended many humours will flow out of the whole body, which at the part

affected cannot be governed by the weakened naturall heate thereof, and

therefore rot into corruption. But if you add to this confluence of

humours, whereby naturall heate is suffocated, those other universall or

particular causes of putrefaction in the ayre, and in diseased bodyes, then

will the matter or _sanies_ be as neere a poyson as putrefaction can

attaine being exalted, and consequently the stench and other symptomes more

dangerous and mortall.

-- Jack Campin Computing Science Department, Glasgow University, 17 Lilybank

Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland 041 339 8855 x6854 work 041 556 1878 home

JANET: jack at dcs.glasgow.ac.uk BANG!net: via mcsun and ukc FAX: 041 330 4913

INTERNET: via nsfnet-relay.ac.uk BITNET: via UKACRL UUCP: jack at glasgow.uucp

From: sbloch at euler.ucsd.EDU (Steve Bloch)

Date: 11 Apr 91 21:49:41 GMT

Organization: The Internet

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

AERE6909 at Ryerson.CA (Chris Davis) writes:

> If anyone knows were I can acquire a book that has examples of disease,

> sicknesses and their cures from medieval times, it would be greatly

> appreciated.

Almost any medieval cookbook will have medical comments, as the

prevailing medical theory was that of the balance of the humours,

which can be most easily regulated by controlling the diet. (No

bleeding or trephinig, please!) Many of the recipes therein are quite

consistent with modern medical beliefs, e.g. a confection of oranges

for a cold, or one of violet flowers for a cough (these examples come

from a 13th-century Moorish cookbook). One of the leading Arab

writers on the subject was abu-l-Qasi, whose name has been Latinized

into Abulcasis; his books should be available in any medical school

library (although they may be in Arabic or Latin!)

I've also found quotations from a 3rd-century Greek medical treatise

on the binding and splinting of wounds; I can look up the reference at

home if anybody's interested.

Stephen Bloch

Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib

>sca>Caid>Calafia>St.Artemas

sbloch at math.ucsd.edu

From: DRS at UNCVX1.BITNET ("Dennis R. Sherman")

Date: 15 Nov 91 02:54:00 GMT

Organization: The Internet

Someone asked about psychiatric references for our period. It just

happens that I'm working in a book that has some references that may be

of interest. The source:

Cockayne, Rev. Thomas Oswald (tr.); _Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and

Starcraft of Early England, being a collection of documents for the most

part never before printed, illustrating the history of science in this

country before the Norman conquest._; London: Longman, Green, Longman,

Roberts, and Green, 1865.

I'm currently in volume 2 (of 3), which contains the "leechdoms", which

are prescriptions for solutions to medical problems. The manuscript

(which is transcribed [Old English] on one page, with a facing page

modern English translation) is dated from the 10th Century, probably

about 960 CE. Some excerpts about psychiatry (sort of :-) :

For a fiend sick man, when a devil possesses the man or controls him

from within with disease; a spew drink, lupin, bishopwort, henbane,

cropleek; pound together, add ale for a liquid, let stand for a

night, add fifty libcorns, and holy water. A drink for a fiend sick

man, to be drunk out of a church bell; githrife, cynoglossum, yarrow,

lupin, betony, attorlothe, cassock, flower de luce, fennel, church

lichen, lichen of Christs mark, lovage; work up the drink off clear

ale, sing seven masses over the worts, add garlic and holy water,

and drip the drink into every drink which he will subsequently

drink, and let him sing the psalm, Beati immaculati, and Exurgat,

and Salvum me fac, deus, and then let him drink the drink out of a

church bell, and let the mass priest after the drink sing this over

him, Domine, sancte pater omnipotens. For a lunatic; costmary,

goutweed, lupin, betony, attorlothe, cropleek, field gentian, hove,

fennel; let masses be sung over, let it be wrought of foreign ale and

of holy water; let him drink this drink for nine mornings, at every

one fresh, and no other liquid that is thick and still, and let him

give alms, and earnestly pray God for his mercies. For the

phrenzied; bishopwort, lupin, bonewort, everfern, githrife,

elecampane, when day and night divide, then sing thou in the church

litanies, that is, the names of the hallows, and the Paternoster;

with the song go thou, that thou mayest be near the worts, and go

thrice about them, and when thou takest them go again to church with

the same song, and sing twelve masses over hem, and over all the

drinks which belong to the disease, in honour of the twelve

apostles.

lxvi.

Against mental vacancy and against folly; put into ale bishopwort,

lupins, betony, the southern fennel, nepte, water agrimony, cockle,

marche, then let drink. For idiotcy and folly, put into ale,

cassia, and lupins, bishopwort, alexanders, githrife, fieldmore, and

holy water; then let him drink.

Robyyan Torr d'Elandris Dennis R. Sherman

Kapellenberg, Windmaster's Hill Chapel Hill, NC

Atlantia drs at uncvx1.bitnet

drs at uncvx1.oit.unc.edu

From: DRS at UNCVX1.BITNET ("Dennis R. Sherman")

Date: 28 Nov 91 03:30:00 GMT

Organization: The Internet

Aleksander Yevsha recently mentioned _Bald's Leechbook_, a 10th

century manuscript, and gave some publication information.

It is also available as volume 2 of the three volume set,

_Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft, being a collection of

documents, for the most part never before printed, illustrating

the history of science in this country before the Norman conquest_;

collected and edited by the Rev. [Thomas] Oswald Cockayne.

London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green. 1865.

This is the copy currently in my hands - great stuff! It was

also reprinted (in the USA) about 1961, if memory serves - check

online catalogs using an Author search for Cockayne, and it'll

show up. (My favorite online catalog: melvyl.ucop.edu - 6.5

million entries and still growing :-)

Robyyan Torr d'Elandris Dennis R. Sherman

Kapellenberg, Windmaster's Hill Chapel Hill, NC

Atlantia drs at uncvx1.bitnet

drs at uncvx1.oit.unc.edu

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: jliedl at nickel.laurentian.ca

Subject: Re: Gender and the arts & sciences

Organization: Laurentian University

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1993 19:13:50 GMT

In article <21kdm5INNskm at hal.com>, hoffman at hal.COM (John Hoffman) writes:

John the Elusive quotes me:

>> After all, medical

>> texts of the day held that the newly conceived fetus was entirely a

>> product of _male_ genetic material (to use a modern phrase). All the

>> woman provided was the incubating environment to bring the fetus to

>> term in the best way possible.

> Can someone confirm that some or most medical texts of the day

> contained such beliefs?

> It seems to fly in the face of evidence that would be obvious

> to any breeder of domestic creatures. For that matter, even

> casual observation of several generations of human families

> would probably lead to the conclusion that at least some traits

> came from each side.

> Or I am too easily biased by modern thinking?

Before I begin here, let's make it clear, I was talking about Renaissance

culture, not other periods (esp. where matrilineal descent was followed).

They were following the texts of Galen, Aristotle and the Hippocratic

Corpus, which held, among other things, that :

1) Man is the standard, woman is a debased copy

2) Male sperm is the standard; woman's menstrual flow is a debased form

of sperm, lacking the all important constituent: "the principle of Soul"

(cf. Aristotle's _The Generation of Animals_

3) Man provided the "form" and "soul" of the offspring; woman, only the

"matter".

Most all of this is drawn from Aristotle, whose pervasive influence on

later medieval and early Renaissance science was enormous.

And lets not forget the stories about barnacle geese!

Ancarett Nankivellis

Janice Liedl

Laurentian University, Canada

JLIEDL at NICKEL.LAURENTIAN.CA

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: tbarnes at silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes)

Subject: A Book Review: The Medieval Health Handbook

Organization: Indiana University

Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 15:51:34 GMT

Greetings from Lothar,

As promised here is my review of the book I was raving about a

couple of days ago.

You real medievalists can laugh like donkeys at my poor attempt

at a scholarly style if you wish...

THE MEDIEVAL HEALTH HANDBOOK: Tacuinium Sanitas by Luisa

Cogliati Arano translated by Adele Westbrook and Oscar Ratti. George

Brazillier Press; New York. 1976. ISBN 0-8076-1277-4. US$20.00

10" x 6", 48 color plates, 243 black and white plates, 46 page

introduction, concordance, and bibliography.

Much of medieval medicine, like modern medicine focused on

preventive measures that would ward off illness. In some respects

medieval preventive medicine was more elaborate than modern preventive

medicine since the medicine of the High Middle Ages and Renaissance was

based on predicting and balancing astrological influences and the four

bodily humors of Galenic medicine. This lead medieval physicians, like

19th c. medical reformers, to prescribe not just medicines, but proper

diet, living conditions, and activities for their patients. By the 14th

and 15th c. working on the works of the Arab physician Dioscorodies,

medieval health writers had created a genre of "health manuals" that

expanded on medieval herbals. The "Tacuinium Sanitas" is a fine example

of this genre, and the George Brazillier edition is an excellent and

easily accessible source for this manuscript.

The book begins with a 46 page history of the genre of medieval

health manuals and a discussion of the history and origins of the six

texts from which the book is collated. The illustrations and

translations of the text which make up most of the book are taken from

the Tacuinums of Leige, Paris, Vienna, and Rouen, and the Theatrum of

the Casanatense Library, Rome. All of these works were executed by work

shops in Northern Italy and Berry from the last quarter of the 14th

century to the first quarter of the 15th century with illustrations of

contemporary scenes wedded to an earlier text.

Each color plate gives a full page illustration from a page of

one of the six texts (mostly the Rouen and Leige texts) with a

translation of the text that accompanied the illustration in the

original manuscript at the bottom of the page. Each entry describes

the virtues and dangers of the item in the picture, when it is optimum

from a medicinal point of view, the nature of the humors of the item,

and the way to neutralize the dangers of the item. Plates are arranged

in alphabetical order by the latin name for each item.

As an example, and also as documentation for the Medieval Sex

thread, here is the text of pl. IX Coitus.

IX. Coitus (Coytus)

Nature: It is the union of two for the purpose of introducing

the sperm. Optimum: That which lasts until the sperm has been completely

emitted. Usefulness: It preserves the species. Dangers: It is harmful to

those with cold and dry breathing. Neutralization of the Dangers: With

sperm-producing foods. (Paris, f. 100v)

The accompanying color illustration depicts a late 14th c.-

early 15th c. couple in bed having sex in the missionary position.

Other plates give similar information about various herbs,

spices, foods, textiles, seasons, winds, emotions, and activities. The

black and white plates are reproduced 6 to a page, but have the same

text format. In many cases, the text of a given illustration has been

taken from several of the other manuscripts to accompany an illustration

from a second manuscript. This means, that in some cases, there are

three or four slightly different versions of the same block of text,

each of which has more or less information, or different information.

This variation is very nice to have, since some texts include

information not given in others.

The text is fascinating, since it gives hints as to how foods

were to be prepared, what foods they were to be served with, and when

during the meal they were to be served. It also gives us a sense of what

medicinal values and dangers were associated with each food. Beyond that

the text serves as a list of medieval herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables,

condiments, and meats. Other activities, such as fencing and hunting,

are also described, giving an amateur medievalist a sense of what

medieval genry did for fun and what they thought of a given activity.

If, like most Anachronists, you find pictures to me more useful

than words, the book is even more valuable. The illustrations are done

in a late-Gothic, early-Naturalistic style. The figures are fairly

realistically drawn, but most of the interiors and plants are drawn out

of scale or out of perspective. While the artistic quality of any given

illustration is not high, illuminators will be impressed by the sheer

number of illuminations. There are literally hundreds of costumes,

tools, cooking utensils, pieces of furniture and other artifacts shown.

Costumers, illuminators, wood-workers, gardeners, vintners, and cooks

can spend many delightful hours looking through this book documenting

various materials, tools, and techniques.

In case you couldn't tell, I highly recommend this book. Run,

don't walk to your nearest bookstore to get it. I can't think of any

person in the SCA who would not be at least marginally interested in

this book, especially since the text was taken from earlier sources, and

was reprinted in different forms in later sources. If you have a 14th or

15th century persona, you will WANT this book. Given the increible

number of color and black and white plates, and the usefullness of the

text, this book represents a tremendous value for the money. This isn't

just another coffee-table book, it is a credible work of scholarship

that nicely integrates art with a translation of a historical source.

Lothar

From: Phyllis_Gilmore at rand.org (Phyllis Gilmore)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: RE: Period Sex (or lack thereof)

Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 12:37:35 GMT

Organization: RAND

v081lu33 at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Ken Mondschein) wrote:

> I'm pretty sure they did it. I've read the Decameron.

> Does anyone know of period non-intercourse sexual things that our

>forebears invented (in other words, when was making out invented?)

> ALSO, remember that the folks put a huge premium on chastity and

>virginity (in the Rennaissance, this was more for women). This side of their

>philosophy, as great a virtue as chivalry, is so oft neglected in the SCA. We

>should at least give AoA's for chastity (the Order of the Iron Unerwear) ;)

> --Tristan Calir de Lune

My library still has all the order of an old bird's nest, so I can't cite

an exact reference or provide a direct quote. However, I am in possesion

of a book that quotes A Learned Scholar's opinions on how to determine

whether or not a woman is a virgin. If I recall correctly, one method had

to do with the color of her urine.

I wonder if even Our Lady could pass some of these tests?! And how

many of quite another stripe might seem as pure as the new-fallen snow!