Medieval Medicine exhibit in Cambridge: Curious Cures

[Minervabird]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

[apl68]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

Sounds like a fascinating (and perhaps at times scary) exhibit.

My MA long ago dealt with Spanish efforts in the late 1600s-early 1700s to move beyond medieval medicine.  So some of this feels familiar.

[jimbogumbo]

Are we sure these just aren't current Tik Tok recommendations? I mean, RFK Jr will be all over this!

[Minervabird]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

Sounds like a fascinating (and perhaps at times scary) exhibit.

My MA long ago dealt with Spanish efforts in the late 1600s-early 1700s to move beyond medieval medicine.  So some of this feels familiar.

That's really interesting....iatrochemical attempts, or Newtonian medicine, or?

[Minervabird]

Are we sure these just aren't current Tik Tok recommendations? I mean, RFK Jr will be all over this!

Shhhhh.  :-)

[apl68]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

Sounds like a fascinating (and perhaps at times scary) exhibit.

My MA long ago dealt with Spanish efforts in the late 1600s-early 1700s to move beyond medieval medicine.  So some of this feels familiar.

That's really interesting....iatrochemical attempts, or Newtonian medicine, or?

Specifically I dealt with the medical thought of Benito Jeronimo Feijoo y Montenegro.  He was a Spanish Benedictine monk and polymath, and a leading figure in the Spanish Enlightenment (Yes, there was one). 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Jer%C3%B3nimo_Feij%C3%B3o_y_Montenegro


He created a number of maxims called "medical paradoxes"--things that seemed counter-intuitive according to the older medical thought of the time.  He was an empiricist in medicine, at a time when inherited tradition from Galen, etc. was still influential.  My favorite "paradox" of Feijoo's stated something to the effect that the best remedy known to medicine is the one that is least used--in other words, be careful not to over-medicate.  Wisdom we could still use today.

[Parasaurolophus]

I've always thought these were interesting, but I used to think so in a condescending sort of way. Like, look at those stupid mediaevals rubbing chicken butts on their bubos.

But then I realized that they had no clue what caused the illnesses in question. And like somebody trying to guess a code with millions of possibilities in finite time, in that situation you're better off trying things more or less at random, rather than brute force trial-and-error.

[Minervabird]

I've always thought these were interesting, but I used to think so in a condescending sort of way. Like, look at those stupid mediaeval rubbing chicken butts on their bubos.

But then I realized that they had no clue what caused the illnesses in question. And like somebody trying to guess a code with millions of possibilities in finite time, in that situation you're better off trying things more or less at random, rather than brute force trial-and-error.

A lot of these are based on Pliny and Dioscorides, and some of the cures actually do have actives that work.  On the other hand, there was the doctrine of signatures with Paracelsus, so a plant that looked like the body part was supposed to affect that body part.

[Minervabird]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

Sounds like a fascinating (and perhaps at times scary) exhibit.

My MA long ago dealt with Spanish efforts in the late 1600s-early 1700s to move beyond medieval medicine.  So some of this feels familiar.

That's really interesting....iatrochemical attempts, or Newtonian medicine, or?

Specifically I dealt with the medical thought of Benito Jeronimo Feijoo y Montenegro.  He was a Spanish Benedictine monk and polymath, and a leading figure in the Spanish Enlightenment (Yes, there was one). 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Jer%C3%B3nimo_Feij%C3%B3o_y_Montenegro


He created a number of maxims called "medical paradoxes"--things that seemed counter-intuitive according to the older medical thought of the time.  He was an empiricist in medicine, at a time when inherited tradition from Galen, etc. was still influential.  My favorite "paradox" of Feijoo's stated something to the effect that the best remedy known to medicine is the one that is least used--in other words, be careful not to over-medicate.  Wisdom we could still use today.

That's really interesting and thanks.  I remember having to translate Juan Luis Vives on the education of women, so I know there was a Spanish humanist movement too. 

So, I'm guessing Feijoo wrote about avoiding speculation. What did he think of organisations such as the Royal Society?

[apl68]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

Sounds like a fascinating (and perhaps at times scary) exhibit.

My MA long ago dealt with Spanish efforts in the late 1600s-early 1700s to move beyond medieval medicine.  So some of this feels familiar.

That's really interesting....iatrochemical attempts, or Newtonian medicine, or?

Specifically I dealt with the medical thought of Benito Jeronimo Feijoo y Montenegro.  He was a Spanish Benedictine monk and polymath, and a leading figure in the Spanish Enlightenment (Yes, there was one). 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Jer%C3%B3nimo_Feij%C3%B3o_y_Montenegro


He created a number of maxims called "medical paradoxes"--things that seemed counter-intuitive according to the older medical thought of the time.  He was an empiricist in medicine, at a time when inherited tradition from Galen, etc. was still influential.  My favorite "paradox" of Feijoo's stated something to the effect that the best remedy known to medicine is the one that is least used--in other words, be careful not to over-medicate.  Wisdom we could still use today.

That's really interesting and thanks.  I remember having to translate Juan Luis Vives on the education of women, so I know there was a Spanish humanist movement too. 

So, I'm guessing Feijoo wrote about avoiding speculation. What did he think of organisations such as the Royal Society?

I really couldn't tell you at this point, though I know he corresponded a lot and was probably all for anything that would facilitate sharing of data.  It's been a long, long time since I studied Feijoo.  My interests as an early modernist were divided between Spain and England, and leaned more toward England.  So my dissertation work ended up examining English images of Spain during Tudor/Stuart times.

[Minervabird]

https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/curious-cures-exhibition

Nice accompanying article and some manuscript transcriptions.

Sounds like a fascinating (and perhaps at times scary) exhibit.

My MA long ago dealt with Spanish efforts in the late 1600s-early 1700s to move beyond medieval medicine.  So some of this feels familiar.

That's really interesting....iatrochemical attempts, or Newtonian medicine, or?

Specifically I dealt with the medical thought of Benito Jeronimo Feijoo y Montenegro.  He was a Spanish Benedictine monk and polymath, and a leading figure in the Spanish Enlightenment (Yes, there was one). 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Jer%C3%B3nimo_Feij%C3%B3o_y_Montenegro


He created a number of maxims called "medical paradoxes"--things that seemed counter-intuitive according to the older medical thought of the time.  He was an empiricist in medicine, at a time when inherited tradition from Galen, etc. was still influential.  My favorite "paradox" of Feijoo's stated something to the effect that the best remedy known to medicine is the one that is least used--in other words, be careful not to over-medicate.  Wisdom we could still use today.

That's really interesting and thanks.  I remember having to translate Juan Luis Vives on the education of women, so I know there was a Spanish humanist movement too. 

So, I'm guessing Feijoo wrote about avoiding speculation. What did he think of organisations such as the Royal Society?

I really couldn't tell you at this point, though I know he corresponded a lot and was probably all for anything that would facilitate sharing of data.  It's been a long, long time since I studied Feijoo.  My interests as an early modernist were divided between Spain and England, and leaned more toward England.  So my dissertation work ended up examining English images of Spain during Tudor/Stuart times.

Don't know if it is still of interest but this early modern prints database is back and functional
https://bpi1700.org.uk/