Healing and society in medieval England : a Middle English translation of the pharmaceutical writings of Gilbertus Anglicus / edited with an introduction and notes by Faye Marie Getz

Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, 1991. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in a near fine, very slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and sharp-cornered. Series; Wisconsin publications in the history of science and medicine ; no. 8. Physical description; lxxiii, 378 pages : facsimiles ; 24 cm. Notes; Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral--University of Toronto), 1981. Summary; When knowledge of Arabic and Greek medical texts began to penetrate 13th-century European universities, academic medicine suddenly had to master a new literature and terminology, a new pathology, and a new therapeutics. Sometime before 1250, Gilbertus Anglicus (Gilbert the Englishman) produced the ""Compendium of Medicine"", a primary text of this medical revolution. In the early 15th century, Gilbert's work was translated into Middle English from Latin. Faye Getz first identified this important vernacular manuscript at the Wellcome Institute in London. This edition presents the entire text for the first time, with an extensive introduction to the learned, practical, and social components in medieval medicine and to the text's historical and textual settings. The Middle English text consists mainly of medicinal recipes, with guides to diagnosis, medicinal preparation, and prognosis. Recipes are grouped according to the diseases for which they were useful, beginning with the head and moving down, from headaches to hemorrhoids. The text names over 400 ingredients, from gutted puppies to gold fillings, making it one of the largest sources of pharmaceutical and medical vocabulary every studied in Middle English. The editor provides a guide to the printed version of the original Latin, using the Latin text to help identify unknown or little-understood English words, which are presented in a glossary. She also summarizes the text in modern English. Subjects; Gilbertus Anglicus. - Compendium medicinae. English (Middle English). Gilbertus Anglicus active (1207-1240). - Compendium medicinae. English (Middle English). Gilbert the Englishman. Medieval. Medicine - History - To 1500. Pharmacy. Materia Medica. Medicine, Medieval - England - Social aspects. Pharmacology - England - History - Social aspects. Medicine, Medieval - England. History, Medieval - England. Pharmacy - history - England. Medicine, Medieval - Social aspects - England. Pharmacology - Social aspects - England - History. Pharmacology - England - History. Pharmacy - England - History. History of Medicine, Medieval - England. Dates covered: (1200-1250). Genres; Bibliography. Illustrated.