If there is a debate in medieval medicine, it’s only a matter of time before someone raises the leeches. And, at least from what we see, we can see that the centrality of people who are immersed in the blood towards the treatment of illness in the Middle Ages is not so exaggerated. Curious. Wellcome Research Resources at Cambridge University Library is an award-funded project that has recently been preserved, digitized and available online 190 manuscripts containing over 7,000 pages of medieval medical recipes. These books contain a wealth of information beyond the text on the page. For example, one of these multispectral imaging analysis revealed that it was once owned by a particular “Thomas Ward, Resh,” a healer who intensively used the tools to imagine, Reach, or Reach.
It’s not that the practice of medieval medicine has led to leeching. in Manuscript digitized by strange treatments (It includes not only medical texts, but also Bible, Law texts, and Time books), find mysterious lands of pigeon poop, fox lungs, salted Owl, Yell’s grease, weasel hair groves, and quicksilver (i.e. mercury).
But, as the subject scholars quickly remind us, medieval medical documents may not want people and “official” knowledge, but they were not purely a repository of superstitions. Rather, they represent the best efforts of intelligent people to understand their bodies and the world they live in, within the dominant worldview of their time and place.
It was a time when health was thought to be determined by “four humors”, black bile, yellow bile, blood, and pH. A time when it was believed that certain parts of a plant or animal were in a “sympathetic” response to certain parts of the human body. When cutting fingernails, praying repeatedly, and burying those cutouts in the old tree can plausibly cure toothache. And now, thanks to curious treatment, it’s easier than ever to feel what it must have been like.” Transcription, translation, and searchable archives of all these manuscripts. Aside from the stranger remedies, what’s surprising is how these books acknowledge the importance of what we now call good night sleep, regular exercise, and a balanced and diverse diet. Medieval times may have understood our health better than we imagined, but despite this, we probably haven’t regained our reachcraft soon.
Related content:
Urine wheels in medieval manuscripts: discovering strange diagnostic tools used by medieval doctors
See a man with wounds in the Middle Ages: a poor soul showing injuries that a person may receive through war, accident, or illness
Based in Seoul Colin marshall Write and broadcasting stationTS about cities, languages, and culture. His projects include the Substack Newsletter Books about cities And the book The Stateless City: Walking through 21st century Los Angeles. Follow him on social networks previously known as Twitter @colinmarshall.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
