Digital image library

Aligning Us With the Stars: Medical Astrology According to the Vedas

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– by Elijah Emerson Buchanan Doss, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

 

Before influencing the West and prior to the beginning of the Scientific Revolution during the 16th century that changed modern medicine as we currently know it, Vedic texts described the relation between the movement of planetary systems and the human body centuries prior. Astrology and science were never separate entities until recently, but rather the two worked alongside of one another to explain illnesses and to treat sick patients.

According to the Vedas (the oldest scripture of Hinduism), Ayurveda, meaning, “the science of life”, is a system of medicine that is based on the highly evolved astrological system known as Vedic astrology.

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Rhubarb, rhubarb

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It’s spring, and that means rhubarb! From strawberry rhubarb pie, to custard, to gin, this vegetable (most often used like a fruit) is either loved or hated by people the world over. Like many plants, rhubarb has been used medicinally for centuries, especially in traditional Chinese medicine. While the various species of rhubarb, and their distribution from Asian countries across the globe have been researched and discussed at length (see Sources and further reading for more), this post will examine the various types of rhubarb and their medicinal uses found in some of the Library’s herbals.

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Mütter Medicine Mondays: Radiation and Radium Therapy

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– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

 

As covered in previous Mütter Medicine Mondays posts, the cutting edge of medical treatment is rarely a place free from debate. A common theme found in emergent medicine is the trade-off: what inconveniences will be had, or sacrifices will be made, to improve one’s prognosis overall? Radiation and radium therapy remain at the forefront of these discussions due to their roles as diagnostic tools and treatments for maladies like cancer, but their medical uses present similar dilemmas to those seen throughout the world when other forms of nuclear energy are invoked.

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Seeing Is Believing: Ophthalmology In The Renaissance Era

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– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

 

Woodcut from [Ophthalmodouleia], das ist Augendienst [219r]

Have you been to your eye doctor lately? The process might have been a little bit different than it was ten or twenty years ago, with developments in optometry resulting in new tests, diagnostic processes and equipment. In some instances, dilation is not even needed for a full exam to be completed anymore! Now, recognizing that these changes have come within many of our lifetimes, can you imagine how much different ophthalmology was a hundred years ago? What about during the Renaissance era? Through the Digital Image Library, we have assembled a collection of images and historical records that show off just what Renaissance era eye doctors could do with the tools and knowledge of the time. Keep in mind some of the forthcoming imagery (both literal and written) might not be for the faint of heart!
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Mütter Medicine Mondays: When the Medical & The Narcotic Overlap

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– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

 

Did you like Medieval Medicine Mondays? We at the Museum did too, and it helped us gain insight into a bunch of medical oddities and trends over time! In this week’s blog entry, I want to once again shift our focus to a more recent time in medical history, one defined by printed pamphlets and a myriad of experimental drug treatments. Advertisements and texts meant for everyday people are a wonderful way to glean information about medical standards of the time and putting them into context can reveal something of a record of societal climate.

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Prophylaxis, A Medical Advent Still Employed To This Day

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– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

 

Welcome to another edition of Medieval Medicine Monday! On Mondays, I highlight information found through the Digital Image Library and draw connections between the world of the early teen centuries and the world we have come to know since! Using a mixture of primary sources of original content, alongside more modern academic writing, Medieval Medicine Mondays are a peek into the shared knowledge of the past through the applied knowledge of the present.

In the medieval and early modern eras, treatment of the plague was very touch-and-go due to a relatively limited amount of medical knowledge about both the condition and the immune system in general. In prior issues, we have discussed how medical superstitions came into play during times like these, although there is some evidence that more modern medical techniques were already starting to come into play towards the tail end of the medieval era. Enter prophylaxis.

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How Thorazine Shows That Medical and Social Histories Shape Each Other

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– by Patrick Magee, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate

 

Welcome back to another issue of #MedievalMedicineMonday! On Mondays, Visitor Services/Gallery Associate Patrick Magee will be exploring the depths of medieval botanical medicine as depicted by woodcuts found in our early printed books. This week is a little different – although there is a theme of medical treatment changing over time present across all #MedievalMedicineMonday posts, for now the focus will be on a more recent time in history that perhaps just feels medieval to certain readers – the 1950s.

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