Doctrine of signatures - wikipedia Doctrine of signatures Eyebright was used for eye infections, from the supposed resemblance of the flower to an eye The doctrine of signatures, dating from the time of Dioscorides and Galen, states that herbs resembling various parts of the body can be used by herbalists to treat ailments of those body parts. A theological justification, as stated by botanists such as William Coles, was that God would have wanted to show men what plants would be useful for. Contents 1 History 1.1 Signatures of some plants used in herbalism 2 In literature 3 Scientific skepticism 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading History Paracelsus ( 1493 -- 1541 ) developed the concept, writing that `` Nature marks each growth... according to its curative benefit '', and it was followed by Giambattista della Porta in his Phytognomonica ( 1588 ). The writings of Jakob Böhme ( 1575 -- 1624 ) spread the doctrine of signatures. He suggested that God marked objects with a sign, or `` signature '', for their purpose. Plants bearing parts that resembled human body - parts, animals, or other objects were thought to have useful relevance to those parts, animals or objects. The `` signature '' could sometimes also be identified in the environments or specific sites in which plants grew. Böhme 's 1621 book The Signature of All Things gave its name to the doctrine. The English physician - philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his discourse The Garden of Cyrus ( 1658 ) uses the Quincunx pattern as an archetype of the ' doctrine of signatures ' pervading the design of gardens and orchards, botany and the Macrocosm at large. The botanist William Coles ( 1626 -- 1662 ) supposed that God had made ' Herbes for the use of men, and hath given them particular Signatures, whereby a man may read... the use of them. ' Coles 's The Art of Simpling and Adam in Eden, stated that walnuts were good for curing head ailments because in his opinion, `` they Have the perfect Signatures of the Head ''. Regarding Hypericum, he wrote, `` The little holes whereof the leaves of Saint Johns wort are full, doe resemble all the pores of the skin and therefore it is profitable for all hurts and wounds that can happen thereunto. '' A theological justification was made for this philosophy : `` It was reasoned that the Almighty must have set his sign upon the various means of curing disease which he provided ''. For the late medieval viewer, the natural world was vibrant with images of the Deity : ' as above, so below, ' a Hermetic principle expressed as the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm ; the principle is rendered sicut in terra. Michel Foucault expressed the wider usage of the doctrine of signatures, which rendered allegory more real and more cogent than it appears to a modern eye : Up to the end of the sixteenth century, resemblance played a constructive role in the knowledge of Western culture. It was resemblance that largely guided exegesis and the interpretation of texts ; it was resemblance that organized the play of symbols, made possible knowledge of things visible and invisible, and controlled the art of representing them. '' ( The Order of Things, p. 17 ) Signatures of some plants used in herbalism Lungwort was thought to have the signature of the lungs and was used to treat lung infections. The concept of signatures is reflected in the common names of some plants whose shapes and colors reminded herbalists of the parts of the body where they were thought to do good, as for instance : Eyebright, used for eye infections Hedge woundwort, thought to have antiseptic qualities Liverwort, either Marchantiophyta or Hepatica -- used to treat the liver Lungwort -- used for pulmonary infections Spleenwort, Asplenium -- used to treat the spleen Toothwort, Dentaria -- used for tooth ailments Concepts similar to the doctrine of signatures may be found in folk or indigenous medicines, and in modern alternative medicines. In literature The phrase `` signatures of all things '' appears in the beginning of episode 3 in James Joyce 's novel Ulysses. The character Stephen Dedalus walking along the beach, thinking to himself `` Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot ''. The Canadian poet Anne Szumigalski, 1922 -- 1999, entitled her third full - length collection `` Doctrine of Signatures ''. Scientific skepticism The signatures are described as post hoc attributions and mnemonics, of value only in creating a system for remembering actions attributed to medical herbs. There is no scientific evidence that plant shapes and colors help in the discovery of medical uses of plants. See also Augur Divination Magical thinking Naturalistic fallacy Pictogram Sympathetic magic References Citations ^ Jump up to : `` Doctrine of Signatures ''. Science Museum. Retrieved February 8, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Pearce, J.M.S. ( May 16, 2008 ). `` The Doctrine of Signatures '' ( PDF ). European Neurology. karger.com. 60 ( 1 ) : 51 -- 52. PMID 18520149. doi : 10.1159 / 000131714. Retrieved August 31, 2008. Jump up ^ White ( 1896 ), p. 38. Jump up ^ McDougal, Kevin ( 2013 ). `` Hedge Woundwort ''. Retrieved February 8, 2014. Jump up ^ Stern ( 1991 ), p. 338. Jump up ^ `` The Tudors '' ( PDF ). Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Retrieved 11 November 2014. Jump up ^ Irvine, Alexander ( 1860 ). The Phytologist : A Botanical Journal, Volume 4. William Pamplin. p. 308. As late as 1657 we find William Coles, who was a herbarist... speaking of Spleenwort, or Miltwort, tells us that the learned Crollius, amongst the signatures of parts, doth set down Ceterach to have the signature of the spleen, and that therefore it is profitable for all diseases thereof ; ^ Jump up to : Bennett, Bradley C. ( 2007 ). `` Doctrine of Signatures : An Explanation of Medicinal Plant Discovery or Dissemination of Knowledge ? ''. Economic Botany. 61 ( 3 ) : 246 -- 255. ISSN 0013 - 0001. doi : 10.1663 / 0013 - 0001 ( 2007 ) 61 ( 246 : DOSAEO ) 2.0.CO ; 2. Retrieved 2008 - 08 - 31. Bibliography Stern, Kingsley R. ( 1991 ). Introductory Plant Biology ( 5th ed. ). Wm. C. Brown Publishers. ISBN 0 - 697 - 09947 - 4. White, Andrew Dickson ( 1896 ). A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. Vol. 2. D. Appleton and Company. Further reading Boehme, Jakob ( 1651 ) Signatura Rerum ( The Signature of All Things ). Gyles Calvert. -- - Translation by J. Ellistone. Buchanan, Scott Milross ( 1938 ) The doctrine of signatures : a defense of theory in medicine. Cole, W. ( 1657 ) Adam in Eden or Nature 's Paradise. J Streater for Nathanial Brooke. Conrad, L.I. ; M Neve, V Nutton and R Porter ( 1995 ). The Western Medical Tradition, 800 BC -- 1800 AD. Cambridge University Press. Porter, Roy ( 1997 ) The Greatest Benefit to Mankind : A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present. HarperCollins. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doctrine_of_signatures&oldid=797148224 '' Categories : Obsolete medical theories Herbalism History of science Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Català Cymraeg Deutsch Español Français Gaelg Magyar Nederlands Norsk Русский Svenska Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 25 August 2017, at 06 : 47. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who came up with the doctrine of signatures
Answer: Paracelsus