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Details
MEDICAL HANDBOOK, in Latin, MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER
[southern Italy, 15th Century]
146 x 100mm. 41 leaves in a single gathering with f.38 an inserted singleton, written in a neat cursive hand of up to 28 lines, a few flourished capitals, 21 blank pages (minor stains and foxing). Contemporary wrapper with fragmentary title '.... recepte probate [ad?] plurima mala homini contingencia', resewn into later wrapper. Fitted cloth case, spine with gilt title 'Materia Medica'.
An attractive volume of remedies against 41 contingencies, beginning with a group of cures 'for breaking the stone in the kidneys or bladder', and ending with instructions for warding off wolves. The ailments treated range from the everyday -- deafness, cough, belching, gout -- to the more serious -- scrofula, dysentery, epilepsy, fistula -- and the frankly alarming -- 'against worms growing in the ears', 'for inflammation, heat, burning and excoriation of the testicles'; some are preventative -- for improving memory and conserving eyesight -- while others treat the dangers and inconveniences of snakes, rats, flees and bugs. The majority of the recipes are based on combinations of oil, wine, vinegar, honey, herbs and seeds, though there are some more outlandish techniques -- a wolf's tail buried in a house keeps off wolves and flies.
Some of the remedies include instructions for identifying the correct strain of the illness -- for example whether the epilepsy is curable or not -- and a number provide a series of alternative cures. Authorities cited include Thomas Aquinas, Almansor, Arnold of Villanova (d.1312/13, physician to Robert of Naples and Frederick II of Sicily), and less familiar characters such as 'Agrippa the merchant'. Where a remedy has been tested this is noted. These features suggest that the book may have been the handbook of a medical practitioner, rather than the more common household volume.
[southern Italy, 15th Century]
146 x 100mm. 41 leaves in a single gathering with f.38 an inserted singleton, written in a neat cursive hand of up to 28 lines, a few flourished capitals, 21 blank pages (minor stains and foxing). Contemporary wrapper with fragmentary title '.... recepte probate [ad?] plurima mala homini contingencia', resewn into later wrapper. Fitted cloth case, spine with gilt title 'Materia Medica'.
An attractive volume of remedies against 41 contingencies, beginning with a group of cures 'for breaking the stone in the kidneys or bladder', and ending with instructions for warding off wolves. The ailments treated range from the everyday -- deafness, cough, belching, gout -- to the more serious -- scrofula, dysentery, epilepsy, fistula -- and the frankly alarming -- 'against worms growing in the ears', 'for inflammation, heat, burning and excoriation of the testicles'; some are preventative -- for improving memory and conserving eyesight -- while others treat the dangers and inconveniences of snakes, rats, flees and bugs. The majority of the recipes are based on combinations of oil, wine, vinegar, honey, herbs and seeds, though there are some more outlandish techniques -- a wolf's tail buried in a house keeps off wolves and flies.
Some of the remedies include instructions for identifying the correct strain of the illness -- for example whether the epilepsy is curable or not -- and a number provide a series of alternative cures. Authorities cited include Thomas Aquinas, Almansor, Arnold of Villanova (d.1312/13, physician to Robert of Naples and Frederick II of Sicily), and less familiar characters such as 'Agrippa the merchant'. Where a remedy has been tested this is noted. These features suggest that the book may have been the handbook of a medical practitioner, rather than the more common household volume.
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