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This paper explores historical backgrounds and contents of Treatise on Medicine written by King Sejo (r. 1455-1468) including his views on traditional medicine and pharmacy in the early Chosen period. The Treatise declared by King Sejo in 1463 has been considered as an important and unique manual of medicine because it was the exclusive example written by the king of Chosen. It was the King Sejo' s era when the medical milieu in both social and medical aspects was highly encouraged thanks to the previous achievements by King Sejong the Great (r.1418-1450). King Sejo, in particular, who was much interested in practical learning called 'Miscellaneous Studies', emphasized on court medicine. His writing can be understood in such historical frame. Another reason why he wrote the Treatise can be said that he felt necessary for establishing the medical ethic codes for inefficient court medicine-officials. In personal background, he tried to find available remedies since he had been suffered from some chronic diseases. The contents of the Treatise can be broadly fallen to the clinical and ethical aspects. In the former one, the Treatise focuses on treatment without hesitation through the sharp and exact diagnosis by medical doctors. In the latter one, eight categories of medical doctors are discussed according to their moral degrees: sim'eui, sik'eui, yak'eui, hon'eui, kwang eui, mang'eui, sa'eui, and sal'eui. Finally, musim' ji-eui was supplemented. Among them, sal'eui, medicine-official lacking both medical ability and ethical attitude, was classified as the lowest degree; sim'eui, medicine-official sincerely making his all efforts for patients, was thought to be a paragon of medical morality. In conclusion, the Treatise on Medicine by King Sejo played an important role as a manual for the principle of medical practice and for the instruction to enhance ethical attitude among medicine-officials.

In the medical writings of antiquity the recipe, a basic form of scientific writing, was considered a literary genre with conventions of its own. In texttype-linguistics, however, the recipe plays only a minor role; in studies on the history of literary short texts it is hardly ever mentioned and, furthermore, it has come to the conclusion that the recipe's function has lain solely in the curing of the sick. The present study focuses on its multifunctional character. A collection of widely scattered and hardly accessible recipes shows that the recipe adopted functions beyond giving technical directives. Its multifunctionality in the German literature of early modern times is manifest in medical and cooking jocular recipes, cooking recipes in minnesang, mock recipes aimed at physicians and astrologers, recipes of spiritual-religious content, recipes containing art and literary criticism as well as recipes in a moral-satirical or a political-agitative vein.

The medical commentary "Igaku-tensho-ki," written by Gensaku Manase in the Edo era, Japan, describes the medical treatment of Ho-shun-in, Mrs. Toshiie Maeda, the first seignior of Kaga. The Igaku-tensho-ki is famous for its clinical descriptions of the diseases of many notables such as Emperors and Shoguns by their antonyms, and thus is very important for both medical and historical studies. Several variant versions are known to exist now. As to the description of Ho-shun-in, the details such as the date and place of the treatment, and the recipe of the Kampo medicine are not clear. In this study, to clarify these things, a comparative study of various descriptions in all of the variants was carried out. The results show that the medical treatment was conducted on June 7th of the lunar calendar, in the 11th year of the Keicho Era (1606) in Edo (present-day Tokyo). The disease was thought to be diarrhea caused by the infection of bacteria and round worms. Gensaku , effectively prescribed Sho-ko-en, Kakko-shoki-san with Gorei-san, and Jinryo-byakujutu-san to Ho-shun-in over a 4-day period. All of these prescriptions were basically based on those in "Manbyo-kaishun", archaic medical text written in the Ming Dynasty in China, though they were derived from different origins.

In the Tudor times in England medicine was influenced by Renaissance and ideas of humanism. Medical humanists were searching for and discovering genuine ancient manuscripts in the interest of establishing a "pure" classical terminology and achieving an elegant Latin style uncontaminated by Arab intermediaries. The theory of disease, diagnosis and treatment were all dominated by Galen and his theory of humours. Advances in anatomy and physiology did not bring about any change to the status quo. Apart from university-trained doctors, medical skills were offered by surgeons, apothecaries and various quacks, empirics and mountebanks. There was a selection of medical books translated into and written in the vernacular English they could choose from, apart from books written in Latin and translated into it.

Being a famous physician of the Ming dynasty, Xiong Zong-li engaged in the writing, collation, and revision of medical works by combining his medical know-how of his family after his robust age. He published over 20 kinds of medical works and became an expert specialized in publication of medical books which were circulated domestically and abroad. He made great contributions to the development of TCM.

This paper examines Paracelsus and Paracelsianism in the light of the ideas of Max Weber concerning the social consequences of the Reformation, with special reference to his theories of Entzauberung and secularization. He linked these tendencies both to the rise of capitalism and the growth of experimental science. The detailed case study of Paracelsus' account of diseases linked with saints, in common with his interpretation of many other conditions, demonstrates that he self-consciously extended the boundaries of medicine and eroded the role of magic and witchcraft associated with the church. On the other hand, Paracelsus adopted the Neoplatonic worldview, was immersed in popular magic, and evolved a system of medicine that self-consciously revolved around magic. These factors seem to place a distinct limit on his role in the demystification of knowledge. However, the magic of Paracelsus entailed a decisive break with the entrenched elitist and esoteric tradition of the occultists and hermeticists. It is argued that this reconstructed magic re-establishes the credentials of Paracelsus as a significant contributor to the disenchantment and secularization of the worldview.

The Atharvaveda (AV) is by all accounts a curious compendium of medicine in its various stages of evolution and contains the most primitive as well as some of the most highly developed stages of therapy. In AV the word Brahma was used in the sense of Physician. The name Atharvan is almost synonymous with Bhesaja or medicine. The AV represents the charm system of the Ayurveda of the Vedic age. The refrain of AV is that, charms and amulets are more efficacious than herbs and medicine. Kãyaçikitsa (general medicine) is one of the eight branches of Ayurveda, which has exhaustive mention in the AV and helps to establish the continuity of medical tradition in the Vedic period. Hence some scholars had mentioned Ayurveda as Upaveda or Upãnga of AV. AV mentions a large number of diseases both major and minor some where in clear terms and some where vaguely. The term used in AV for disease is Yaksma. Classification of the diseases based on a etiological factors is not found in AV. Thus this article depicts the views expressed in AV i.e. regarding causative factors, classification and number of medical disorders with special reference to Yakşma (Consumption).

In the history of traditional Chinese medicine, some literati mastered medicine. By analyzing several typical representatives. It can be seen that the reasons for such phenomenon are: 1) the theories of medicine and literature are interlinked on the basis of literature; 2) a good doctor and good prime ministers have the same social status and reputation; 3) morally good doctors fulfill the duty of loyalty, filial piety and comfort much more than good prime ministers on ethics; 4) healthy care and health preserving are action aspiring for fundamentality of life. Thus, this is the result from literati's crudition and edification of traditional Chinese culture.

In this paper I describe the context and goals of Francisco Vallés In IV librum Meteorologicorum commentaria (1558). Vallés' work stands as a landmark because it interprets a work of Aristotle's natural philosophy specifically for medical doctors and medical theory. Vallés' commentary is representative of new understandings of Galenic-Hippocratic medicine that emerged as a result of expanding textual knowledge. These approaches are evident in a number of sixteenth-century commentaries on Meteorologica IV; in particular the works of Pietro Pomponazzi, Lodovico Boccadiferro, Jacob Schegk, and Francesco Vimercati. Vallés' conviction that Meteorologica IV is relevant to medical knowledge depends on his understanding of Aristotle's theory of homeomerous substances and their relation to composite substances. The application of Meteorologica IV to medical topics became commonplace in the following years, and this Aristotelian book became widely known as a bridge between natural philosophy and medicine.

The Baume du commandeur appears in Franch in 1694 in the Histoire générale des drogues [...] written by Pomet. It's a vulnerary drug with also numerous internal uses. Still present in formularies and sometimes used, its invention is attributed to Gaspard de Pernes, commander of Malta Order in Toul, in France. However, some observations induce us to think that the origin of this drug would be in eastern countries: first one of its other names, baume persique, secondly the name of a comparable other formula baume des Turcs, then the geographical origin of the majority of plants and drugs constituting the initially published formula, finally the appurtenance of G. de Pernes to Malta Order. Unfortunately, the transmissions, modifications and improvements of the formula since its beginning make today very difficult to discover the localization and dating of the creation of this famous drug.

Ancient Greek medicine was largely transmitted in the Renaissance in the form of Latin translations. Recent scholarship has carefully delineated the sources used, and the printing history of many texts, but, save for anatomy, less has been done to elucidate how their message was received, and how that message itself changed during the sixteenth century.

Secret remedies are preparations or medicines whose composition is not disclosed by the inventor in order to protect his invention or to deceive the public. Secret remedies have always existed. From time immemorial the communities of apothecaries in Paris or in the provinces were opposed to quack doctors or healers who sold inactive mixtures. The 1352 Royal Edict forbade preparations of secret remedies. However, in the 17th century secret remedies were authorized through commission letters or warrants. In the 18th century regulations were implemented to control secret trade. The famous 11 April 1803 Law called the Germinal Law banned the sale of secret remedies but its severity was softened through successive decrees based on divergent interpretations of the regulations. The final banning of secret remedies was pronounced by a decree on 13 July 1926.

My discussions with ISHM members have disclosed considerable interest in the history of the relations that Turkey and its medicine have had with other countries. Dr Lellouch, the secretary of ISHM, originally suggested that I address the subject of Turkish-French relations by means of an essay in Vesalius. This led me to consider a wider ranging paper on Ottoman-European relations. For completeness, I have briefly covered the Turkish peoples' relations with the Eastern, as well as the Western World. The overall aim of this article is to act as a stimulus for further discussion on the international relations in health sciences between Turks and other peoples.

As an ancient famous philosopher and a figure of encyclopedic pattern, Zhi Xi was conversant with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the art of healthcare in addition to the knowledge of philosophical knowledge and its implication, with special understanding on medical classics and its recipes, pulse taking and drug application. He exerted significant influence on the development of ancient medicine, especially in methodology which can be summarized into 3 points. 1. Advocating seeking truth by suspicious attitude; 2. Emphasizing the combined use of simplicity and erudition and from erudition to simplicity; 3. Nature and natural law, manifesting rather high rational dialectical level. These ideas improved the medical development of later generation.

Evolution of Turkish medicine through the ages from Central Asia to actual time.

This paper briefly introduces 14 ancient Bencao works stored overseas yet not included in Quanguo Zhongyi Tushu Lianhe Mulu, with the information, including the authors, accomplish date, number of volume, categories, quantity of drugs, characteristics of content, store sites, and the condition of returned duplicated edition in China, and etc. Among the 14 works, 2 were accomplished in the Yuan dynasty, 9 in the Ming dynasty and 3 in the Qing dynasty.

The "Xin' an Medicine", beginning from Jin - Tang and flourished in Ming - Qing periods, occupied a significant position in the history of TCM. A detailed textual and research on the origin and development of "Zhang Yi Tie" of Dingtan, She Country, Huizhou, a representative medical family of Xin' an clinical physician, is made here. Maintaining that the title of "Zhang Yi Tie" began in Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, was applied until now. In the period of over 450 years of 15 generations successive ages, Zhang was conversant with acute febrile diseases, intractable miscellaneous disease of internal medicine, with the "powdered medicine" inherited. The clinical characteristics of all generation of Zhang were explored, holding that regional medical schools, representative medical families are one of the important constructive forms in the developmental process of TCM.

Georgian medicine as well as the whole culture of Georgia, is one of the oldest in the world. In more than the 500 medical manuscripts preserved and since described, there are traces of Sumerian medicine. Examples of Chinese, Indian and especially Arabic medicine are also clearly seen. At the same time close relationships with Graeco-Roman medical traditions are beyond doubt. Nursing homes established by Georgian healers, many of whom were canonized by the Orthodox Church are to be found in many churches and monasteries all over the world. They gave fruitful scientific research and practical help.

This article sets out to investigate aspects of the uptake of Renaissance law and medicine from some of the logical and natural-philosophical components of the university arts course. Medicine is shown to have a much laxer operative logic than law, reflecting its commitment to the theory of idiosyncrasy as opposed to the demands made upon the law by the need for a uniform application of justice. Symptomatic of the different uptake are the contrasting meanings of "regulariter" and "generaliter" in the two disciplines. Whereas the law treats the rule as inviolable and the exception as only valid if made explicit in due legal form, medicine is able to conceive of a nature as a field of knowledge broader than that encompassed by its rules of art. Both law and medicine approach evidence in ways which reflect their attempts to keep apart the process of information-gathering from that of interpretation; this is exemplified by the legal computation of competing testimony on the one hand and by the various medical modes of sign interpretation on the other.

The snake and snake venoms have stimulated the mind and imagination of humankind since the beginning of records about society. No animal has been more worshipped yet more cast out, more loved yet more despised than the snake. The essence of the fascination with fear of the snake lies within the creature's venom. Snakes have been used for worship, magic potions and, medicine, and they have been the symbol of love, health, disease, medicine, pharmacy, immortality, death and even wisdom. In the Sumer civilization (B.C. 2350-2150), designs with 2 snakes appeared. In Greek mythology (B.C. 2000-400), statues of Asclepius (God of Medicine), with "Caduceus" (made of two snakes and a staff), and his daughter Hygeia (God of Health), holding a snake and bowl, were created as symbols for medicine and health, respectively. A kind of Caduceus (1 snake and 1 staff) has been used as a symbol by the World Health Organization (WHO) and a snake and bowl as a symbol of pharmacies in Europe. Snakes have also been worshipped by old Indian peoples involved in Hinduism since 6-4th century B.C. In ancient Egypt, snake designs were used in hieroglyphs. In China, dried bodies of about 30 species of snakes are still using as Chinese medicines. In Japan, a painting of the symbol of "Genbu" (snake with tortoise) was found recently on the north wall of the Takamatsuzuka ancient tomb (7-8th century A.D.), however it is a symbol of a compass direction, and has probably less relation to medicine and pharmacy.

There is a lot of medical works written by the noted physician of Ming dynasty, Wang Ji. However, exactly how many works were written by him, remains obscure. By investigation, it is known that altogether he wrote 11 kinds of books in 70 volumes, among them, 2 kinds in 4 volumes were copied manuscripts. On the basis of this, the dates and editions of these manuscripts were made clear. This is of significance to the study of Wang's life story.

A systematic review is made on TCM literatures of Ming - Qing periods on the following aspects, including clinical literature, popularization, variorum, literature studies and features of outward appearance. The causes of the overall development of TCM literatures, and its promotion on TCM scholarship are also discussed. It is pointed out that the TCM literatures, being the main body of TCM literature as a whole, should become the main goal for modern studies. The books mentioned here are arranged in chronological order of its writing dates.

Plenty of medical books were spread to Japan from China in the Ming dynasty. The most influential ones include the six comprehensive books, viz, "Yi Shu Da Quan", "Yu Ji Wei Yi", "Yi Xue Zheng Chuan", "Yi Xue Men", "Wan Bing Hui Chun" and "Nan Bei Jing Yan Yi Fang Da Quan", all spread quite fast. To begin with, they promoted the reprinting of Chinese medical books in Japan in large amount since the 16th century, providing convenient textbooks for Japanese medical teaching. Finally, they help to develop the scholastic thought of "Dao San" in theory and practice. As a result, they also helped to rejuvenate Japanese medicine.

This article proposes a model for linguistic analysis of scientific thought-styles, combining quantitative and qualitative analyses in the variationist frame and focusing on writings of the scholastic period. The first part of the article considers factors that led to the vernacularisation of scientific writings in fifteenth-century England and the sources, underlying traditions and audiences of these writings. The empirical part focuses on two features typical of scholasticism: references to authorities and the use of prescriptive phrases. The results show statistical differences between varieties of writing. A close semantic analysis reveals a pattern which is related to the underlying layers of tradition and to the sociohistorical background of the texts. The material comes from a computer-readable Corpus of Early English Medical Writing 1375-1750, which the authors are compiling at the University of Helsinki.

Slovenes have lived in the territory of today's Slovenia for more than 14 centuries, whilst the history of its medical culture goes back for 2000 years. The advent of Christianity in Slovenia in the eighth century AD marked an important turning point in the development of its medicine. The 500 years of the Habsburg monarchy was later to have a further impact on the development of new medical ideas. During the Renaissance, the names of the Slovene doctors Mattioli, Paracelsus, Scopoli and Hacquet, who worked among Slovenians, were to become known all over Europe. Others of Slovene origin were Perlach, Santorio, Gerbezius, Carbonarius, Plenciz, and Sagar, whose work influenced European medical culture, especially in German speaking countries. However their Slovene nationality was not acknowledged until the second half of the 19th century.

Hakim Ali Gilani was a native of Gilan. He was a distinguished physician and medical writer. He wrote commentary on canon of Avicenna. He came to India during Akbar's time and served two Mughal rulers, Akbar and Jahangir. He was praised very much by the medical historians for his vast knowledge, curiosity and intelligence. A brief account of his achievements has been given in this article.

How has the medical profession changed during the centuries? How has the evolution of the profession been influenced by the balance of different issues, e.g. magic, religion, philosophy, science, technology, ethics, law and/or economics? One needs to examine many historical changes leading from the hierarchized medicine of Ancient Egypt to the Asklepiadic and Hippocratic medicine at the time of Plato, from the newly organized medicine of the Renaissance to the emerging social medicine of the XIX century, from the nosological medicine centered on the evaluation of the symptoms to the medicine which explores the human body through technologies. Furthermore, an overview from the past to the future should analyze the new doctor-patient relationship in a health system of managed care, between market and solidarity, between the efficientistic guidelines of the providers (hospitals, physicians, etc.) and an anthropocentric view of the rights of the citizen-customers. These problems are presented and discussed by many Authors in three issues of Medicina nei Secoli (II/III.1997-I, 1998) as an aid to understanding what it means to be a physician today, from the past to the future.

Hippocrates' influence is known in Lyons as soon as the time of the Renaissance, after the discovery of printing. Symphorien Champier and later chiefly Rabelais translated texts of the Cos master and had them edited by the first printers. Hippocrates' influence is moreover evident in Rabelais' work. In the XIXth century, surgeon major Pétrequin published the first book devoted to Hippocrates's surgery. More recently, Professor Pierre Delore has been a convinced supporter of neo-hippocratic medicine of which he developed the chief principles in his works.

Investigations are made on the study of serial works of Danxi Zhengzhi Xinfa carried out by later scholars. It is claimed that the background works of this is Jin Gui Gou Xuan. Danxi xinfa Benji being the Shanxi edition of Xinfa, while Chen Chong's Anhui edition of Danxi Xinfa is the representative works of Xin fa, Lu he's Danxi Zuanyao, Fang Guang's Danxi Xinfa Fuyu, Gao Zizheng's Danxi Xiansheng Zhi Fa Xin Yao also have their own uniqueness. Mai Yin Zheng Zhi and Danxi Shoujing are apocryp has of Huang Jizhi's Ben Cao Quan Du of the Ming Dynasty and should be, of course, excluded from the series.

So far, the research has not been actively carried out on the oriental medical books of traditional Korean origin, published before Koryo Dynasty. It was attempted in this study for better understanding of current and pre-Koryo Dynasty oriental medicine by introducing and translating those medical books originated from pre-Koryo Dynasty. However the medical formularies of pre-Koryo Dynasty were written and handed down up to the present rather by Chinese and Japanese medical books. And this study was performed based on these books. It was assumed that Koryonosabang was written by an old master of oriental medicine. Backjaesinjibbang was written by a person who lived in the same period and Shillabubsabang, Shillabubsayugwanbimilyosulbang, Shillabubsabimilbang by a monk doctor during Kokuryo, Backjae and the Unified Silla Dynasty, respectively. ...

This paper deals with Xu Lingtai's genealogy from his grand-grand father down to six generations with the short biographical acounts of each generation. From these, one can learn the origin, development of the literary and medical aspects of Xu's family. It also discusses the name, nickname, other names, dates of birth and death, tombs of Xu Lingtain by studies on relics and literatures, intending to solve the puzzles and errors of the above problems.

History of medicine chronologically traces its development from guesswork about the actions of prehistoric man through the centuries to some aspects of the present day. The intellectual and cultural centres of the world have moved over time to time from place to place. In earlier times all knowledge was part of a conglomerate which one polymath might be able to master in a way no longer open to anyone now. The history of medicine through the ages has been presented here under different subdivisions, such as The Past, The Middle Ages, The Twelfth century Renaissance and Medicine and the Renaissance (Newton's century) etc.