In medieval medicine, humoral medicine was a common practice. (For more about the humors, see my earlier post here.) When patients were ill, food and drugs – often plant-derived – were prescribed, taking into account not only the symptoms, but also his or her temperament, age, location, and time of year.
Balancing the humors seems to me to have been somewhat precarious at times. If one was too choleric (hot and dry), foods and herbs that were considered cold and moist were prescribed. However, too much could cause a swing in the opposite direction. Foods were assigned qualities similar to those of the four humors – for example, cucumbers and watermelons were considered cool and moist.
Folios 65v – 66r. Baptista Massa de Argenta, De fructibus virtutibus, Ferra, Italy. 1471. Call no. 10a 189.
What is a recipe? Is it instructions from which one can prepare a meal, a snack, a dessert? Or is it how to mix the best cocktail? Or how to cure acne? Or how to care for a bee sting? What other knowledge does one need to properly take advantage of the advice in a recipe? Recipes found in medical books are no different than ones found in food cookbooks; it’s just that the desired outcome is different than a crowd-pleasing cake.
The Historical Medical Library holds over 20 manuscript recipe (or “receipt”) books, dating from the 17th century up through the early 20th century. The majority of our recipe books are medical in nature, but many include food, drink, and household cleaning recipes as well. I’ve even seen recipes for ink in a couple of our 19th century books.
Woodville, William, Medical botany vol. 1, 1793. Call no Qx 113.
Herbal medicine has been in use for millennia, with some of the earliest recorded instances being found in the ancient East, Middle East, and the Egyptians. Ancient Greeks and Romans relied on herbs for their healing properties, and early scholars like Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.E.) and Theophrastus (371 – 287 B.C.E.) wrote about these plants and their healing properties. De materia medica (Latin for “medical material”) by Pedanius Dioscorides, written sometime between 50 and 75 C.E., is an early example of an encyclopedia and pharmacopoeia. Books like this would contain descriptions of plants, their traits, and recipes for medicinal use.
During the Middle Ages, herbal medicine was still a common form of treatment. The first printed books about it, called herbals, were printed in the late 15th century. Herbals contain illustrations or woodcuts of plants along with descriptions, traits, and medicinal recipes. Herbals remained popular well into the 19th century. The first synthetic drug was discovered and 1869, and synthetic drugs became more widely used during the next century and a half.
Near the end of the 20th century, more people began looking for alternatives to synthetic drugs and “re-discovered” herbal medicine. Today, many stores offer plant-based medicines and more medical practices offer integrative or alternative care.
The links below will direct you to the catalog record or finding aid of the resource listed. Remember to check our library catalog and finding aids – these are only some of the great sources we have about herbal medicine!
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