Search

The organic mineraloid gemstone, amber, a fossilized resin collected from Eocene deposits laid down around 44 million years old on the Baltic coast, has been an important geopharmaceutical in the western materia medica since classical times. Once rendered into powdered form, it could be delivered into the body using a wide range of vehicles including lozenges, pills, tablets, troches, electuaries, solutions and lohochs (lick-pots), and with toast and poached eggs. Acting either alone or in combination with a wide range of botanical, zoological and other geological ingredients, it was employed in the treatment of a huge range of diseases. Most prominent among these were various vascular disorders (e.g. haemoptysis, haemorrhage, excessive menstrual bleeding), problems with the urogenital system (e.g. tendency towards miscarriage, impotence, venereal diseases, strangury, dysuria and bladder stones) and alimentary conditions, particularly dysentery. A variety of infectious diseases, including plague, gonorrhoea, measles and fevers could be targeted with amber-containing preparations, as could epilepsy, melancholy and the ravages of old age. Rather more unusual applications included its use in the treatment of impotence, halitosis, drunkenness and a weak back.

Humans have had a history of association with mercury since the earliest records. This relationship has had many quixotic elements, but has on many occasions and in many ways impinged upon the kidneys. Arabic physicians used mercury to treat skin infections, urinary infections and urethral stones. The rise of syphilis in Europe in the 16th century saw its application as the primary treatment, sometimes oral and sometimes parenteral, of patients suffering from that disease until the mid-20th century. It also found various other uses. Mercurial diuretics originated from chance observations of such patients, and these received much use in the first half of the 20th century until safer and more efficacious nonmercurial diuretics replaced them. Many physicians viewed mercury as a panacea, but others challenged their views. Its use was always recognised to have potential complications, but realisation of its ability to cause acute kidney injury, chronic renal impairment and nephrotic syndrome gradually evolved, and it was phased out of therapeutics. A further contribution it made to nephrology lay in the manufacture of thermometers, sphygmomanometers and cystoscopes.

Urine has always interested and attracted the attention of people. It was in fact never considered a waste product of the body but rather as a distilled product selected from the blood and containing useful substances for the care of the body. It was referred to as the "gold of the blood" and "elixir of long life," indicating its therapeutic potential. This paper reports on the practice of urine therapy since its origin attributed to the Indian culture, and briefly reviews its use through the centuries and different cultures and traditions. Records from the Egyptians to Jews, Greeks, Romans and from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance testify to the practice of urine therapy--a practice that continues to be found in more recent times, from the 18th century to the present. Experiences with the practice of urine therapy have even been discussed and shared recently in 2 different conferences: in 1996 in India and in 1999 in Germany, where people from different countries shared and presented their own research on urine therapy.

The paper examines the didactic strategies in Hildegard von Bingen's 'Causae et curae'. Based on her self-developed, complicated concept of primary qualities, elements, and body fluids, she connects cosmic processes with physical activities and disease patterns. Hildegard combines an allopathic and a homoeopathic approach and, as an attentive observer of nature, she looks upon everyday situations as signatures of healing. Hildegard's imagination in analogy and comparison constitutes a specific quality of her medical advice.

Chagas disease is one of the main endemic illnesses in Latin America. Since 1969 up to the present, the treatment of chronic Chagas patients has been the object of a scientific-medical controversy mobilizing several bodies of knowledge and actors. The resolution of the controversy has direct effects on the health of patients; however, they have been systematically excluded of public debates. In this paper we identified and specified four different steps of the controversy, showing the different positions adopted by the actors implicated, analyzing their statements, the scientific knowledge mobilized during the debates and the consequences for the establishment of norms for the treatment. We conclude showing that what makes up the central issue of the controversy is not what the actors implicated explicitly state as it but the criteria (technical and cognitive) through which are measured and defined "illness" and "cure" states. This research is about a case study in Argentina.

Chronic pain (CP) is a stressful condition that severely impacts individuals' lives. Researchers have begun to explore the role of religion for CP patients, but the literature is scarce, especially for West European populations. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, this study examined the associations between the religious meaning system and the life satisfaction for a group of CP patients who were members of a Flemish patients' association. To take into account the religious landscape of West European countries, the centrality of one's religious meaning system, rather than religious content, was the focus. Results from the questionnaires completed by 207 patients suggest that the centrality of a meaning system is an important factor in the promotion of life satisfaction for this group, above and beyond the influence of several control variables. Furthermore, the centrality of the religious meaning system moderated or buffered the detrimental influence of pain severity on life satisfaction.

The São Pedro Hospice was inaugurated on June 29, 1884, and it wa the first psychiatric hospital in Rio Grande do Sul State and one of the first of Brazil, whose history was in a turning point, and it became correlated with the construction of the psychiatry then province. This article presents an abbreviation history of the institution until the decade of 1920, it analyzes the data of the internal population. Moreover, it deals with the medical practices of attendance inside the hospice, which were combined with the development of the "cure" of the subjects, the precepts of the science and the physical and cultural attributes, as well as the experiences of the inpatients' life.

Dr. Dominique-Jean Larrey wrote memoirs of 12 diseases he encountered while serving as chief surgeon of the French army during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. He describes symptoms and treatments, evaluates remedies used by the Egyptians, and the effects of the climate. Of interest are his original though misguided explanations of causes of sickness or complications from wounds as well as descriptions of medications--now known to be dangerous--but all balanced by his common sense and efforts to ameliorate suffering.

The article is dedicated to recovery and holy therapy in Medieval society. In the XIII century Roman Church define the religious observations of physical and spiritual healing: the intervention of Saints and their holy miracles is very important for a perfect recovery. The article analyse the holy therapy through the study of the Cronica Civitatis Ianuensis read by the Dominican friar Iacopo da Varagine, at the end of the XIII century. This work represents one of the most important literary and hagiographic instrument to comprehend medical medieval imaginary.

In 1914, in the former Portuguese colony of Goa, India, the physician António Joaquim Vás announced the discovery of a wonderful treatment for smallpox, entailing clinical application of seeds from the bananeira brava (Heliconia biabi Sw.m.), a plant remedy allegedly derived from Indian medical practices. The present article explores the circumstances surrounding the successes and failures of this discovery. The concept of scientific translation is used to interpret the transformation of bananeira brava seeds into an early twentieth-century remedy for smallpox. This transfer from indigenous use to scientific therapeutic constitutes the creation of a quasi-medicine, that is, a case of 'medium translation'. Although these seeds occupy a problematic place within the program of scientific translation, they enjoyed active circulation within science and remained a part of medical practices for combating smallpox.

Mummies have always exerted a strong suggestion on mentality through centuries. They have been considered magical objects, possessing mysterious powers and able to protect from dangers. Pieces or mummy were employed as amulets to preserve life. In the modern age physicians and apothecaries began to use it for therapeutical treatments. This article concerns the therapeutic employ and the different compositions and uses of mummial remedies from early modern age to XVIII century.

This article offers a "flash" of images concerning the diffusion and advertising of specific anti-luetic therapeutic systems and drugs, since the beginning of XVI century to the discovery and the therapeutical use of penicillin. Advertisements in medical and scientific magazines and pictures of texts and articles of the Library of the History of Medicine (Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza") have been used.

It was only in 1946 that Ramon and Richou's publication in the newspaper "le Progrés Médical", reminded of Ernest Duchesne's thesis which dealt for the first time with antagonism between germs and mould like penicillium. Thanks to Justin Godard's paper at the Académie de Medecine, Duchesne was known as "the precursor of the antibiotic action of penicillium". From that moment, some papers were written and the thesis was even published in a luxurious edition. The 1983 year of the "Ecole du Service de Santé des Armées" was called Ernest Duchesne who can be considered as "the theoretician precursor of antibiotic therapy" according to François Chast.

The article is a survey of plants foods and drugs that Greeks and Romans thought to be aphrodisiac and to have a specific effect on the male libido. The article is a useful support to study the sexual therapy in ancient world.

If the intimacy of the private conversation between the doctor and his patient cannot be penetrated by any external observer, it remains that historical, social, and cultural factors around this meeting can be examined and contextualized. With this perspective, this publication presents a reflection on the context of the therapeutic relationship in the second part of the 18th century. This study is based on about 1,300 consultations written to Dr. Tissot, famous Swiss physician who practised between 1750 and 1797. Most of these accounts, coming from patients or their lay mediators, show how the authors perceived the figure of the doctor, and their relation to money, time, and space. All of these elements are considered to determine the nature of this relationship.

In an attempt to discern the paradigms underlying our medical practice (more specifically paediatrics) over the last 30 years, it was found that these are rather similar to the ones prevailing at the beginning of this period--all wrong-doings were attributed to outside forces which had to be neutralized; the obsession to standardise the internal milieu; the compulsion to always do something, little attention being paid to collateral effects; the ends justifying the means and the charm of technology.

During the Scientific Revolution one important gauge of the quality of reformed natural philosophical knowledge was its ability to produce a more effective medical practice. Indeed, it was sometimes thought that philosophers who pretended to possess new and more potent philosophical knowledge might display that possession in personal health and longevity. Rene Descartes repeatedly wrote that a better medical practice was a major aim of his philosophical enterprise. He said that he had made important strides towards achieving that aim, on that basis, he offered practical medical advice to others and advertised the expectation that, taking his own advice, he would live a very long time. This paper describes what Cartesian medicine looked like in practice and what that practice owed to the power of modernist Reason.

Giorgio Baglivi's name is usually connected to the Iatromechanic approach but the medical theory outlined in his major work, De Praxi Medica, denounces how deeply he was influenced by hippocratic tradition and mainly by the holistic approach to therapeutics centered on the idea of an inborn healing power of the body. It is proposed that the contradiction was avoided by Baglivi simply assuming the preminence and autonomy of the clinical point of view in front of the biological reseach to which he attached great theoretical interest but little therapeutical relevance.

One of the most important legacies of Sir William Osler was his textbook The Principles and Practice of Medicine. A common criticism of the book when it was first published was its deficiency in the area of therapeutics. In this article, the 1st edition of The Principles and Practice of Medicine is compared with the 11th edition of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. The analysis focuses on the treatment recommendations for 4 conditions that were covered in both books (diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, pneumonia and typhoid fever). Osler's textbook dealt with typhoid fever and pneumonia at greater length, whereas Harrison's placed more emphasis on diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease. Notwithstanding Osler's reputation as a therapeutic nihilist, the 2 books devoted equivalent space to treatment (in terms of proportion of total sentences for the conditions). For all conditions except ischemic heart disease, Osler concentrated on general measures and symptomatic care. Throughout Osler's textbook numerous negative comments are made about the medicinal treatment of various conditions. A more accurate statement about Osler's therapeutic approach was that he was a "medicinal nihilist." His demand for proof of efficacy before use of a medication remains relevant.

The article analyzes the work of practitioners, especially bleeders and surgeons, in nineteenth-century Minas Gerais. Once surgical and medical courses had been established in Brazil, conflicts between academically trained medical workers and folk practitioners intensified. Bleeders and surgeons with no academic training nevertheless remained active in the health area.

The medical literature of the greek speaking ottoman world was deeply influenced by its byzantine heritage: the major authors were copied and commented, while practical manuals containing recipes and therapies - the iatrosophia- kept being enlarged with useful information. Furthermore, during the first centuries hospitals closely followed the models of their glorious past in what concerns architecture, scientific level, means and targets. In fact, only the years after 1770 rely on occidental academic knowledge and adopt modern conceptions.