Medieval medicine
Subtitle: the art of healing, from head to toe
By: Luke Demaitre
Series: Praeger series on the Middle Ages
Publisher: Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Santa Barbara, California
Language: eng
Number of pages: 350
ISBN-13: 9780275984854; 9780313038426
Subjects: History of Medicine; Medieval History
Description: "This unique examination of medieval medicine as detailed in physician's manuals of the period reveals a more sophisticated approach to the medical arts than expected for the time. Far from the primitive and barbaric practices the Middle Ages may conjure up in our minds, doctors during that time combined knowledge, tradition, innovation, and intuition to create a humane, holistic approach to understanding and treating every known disease. In fact, a singularly authoritative medical source of the period, Lily of Medicine, continued to provide crucial study for students and practitioners of medicine almost four centuries after its completion in 1305. This unprecedented book investigates the extensive capabilities of physicians who relied on practice, observation, and imagination before the supremacy of mechanistic views and technological aids. Medieval Medicine: The Art of Healing, from Head to Toe is a comprehensive look at diseases as they were described, classified, explained, assessed, and treated by doctors of the age. The author methodically compares a dozen encyclopedic manuals in which both the fundamental understanding of healthy functions and the specific response to diseases were summarized, viewing the information through a medieval perspective rather than based upon modern criteria." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [333]-340) and index.
Table of contents: title: Learning to heal; title: Paradigms of disease : fever, pestilence, and poison; title: The body surface : tumors and trauma; title: Head problems, from hair loss to epilepsy; title: The face and the senses; title: Uvula to diaphragm and passiones spirituales; title: From gullet to gut : passiones nutritivorum; title: From the haunches to the heels, and passiones membrorum generationis.