Interesting medieval remedies, including the gout cure of roasting an owl into powder, are published online by the University of Cambridge Libraries.
Another unusual recipealso aims to combat gout, stuffing puppies with snails and sage his royal fire roast. , which instructs the reader to use rendered fat. Used to make ointments.
More than 180 medieval manuscripts will be digitized, cataloged and preserved over the next two years as part of the Cambridge Library project's Curious Cures.
A manuscript containing some 8,000 unedited medical recipes, mostly from his 14th or 15th century, with some earlier examples, the oldest being his 1,000 year old. the previous one.
Texts are from the collections of the University Library, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University.
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PA)James Freeman, who leads the £500,000 Wellcome-funded project, said: reader.
"There are still many things to do to deal with the ailments we suffer today: headachestoothaches, diarrhea, coughs, and sore limbs.
"They shows how people in the Middle Ages used the knowledge available at the time to manage their health – just like us.
It is also a reminder of the pain and instability of life in the Middle Ages before antibiotics, antiseptics and painkillers, as in ``Other treatments include salting owls. It is baked until it becomes powdered, mixed with boar fat to make an ointment, or applied to the body of a patient to cure gout. Described as a net, one recipe recommends taking hare gall bladder and honey, mixing them together, and then applying them to the eyes with a feather. 3-night course”
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PA )A team of project catalogers under the supervision of Dr. Freeman produced detailed descriptions of textual content, material characteristics, origins and provenance, Place recipes in an ingredient, intellectual, and historical context.
The high-resolution digital images, detailed descriptions and full-text transcripts resulting from this project are freely available online in the Cambridge Digital Library, making the collection available to researchers worldwide. will be
"These manuscripts offer a wonderful insight into medieval medical culture, and the recipes they contain bring us to the interactions between patients and practitioners that took place centuries ago.
"Until now, it has been very difficult for researchers and the general public to access and analyze such texts.
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PA)"These recipes list a tremendous number of ingredients, including animals, minerals and vegetables.
"Modern Herbs in gardens and supermarket shelves include sage, rosemary, thyme, bay and mint, but also common perennials walwart, henbane, betony and comfrey.
"Medieval physicians utilized a variety of spices such as cumin, pepper, and ginger in their formulations, generally using ingredients mixed with ale, white wine, vinegar, or milk."
Some entries focused on the violence of medieval life, such as how to determine if a weapon attack broke a skull, how to stop bleeding, and how to fix broken bones. I'm here.
"There is a human story behind each recipe, not just the experience of illness and pain, but also the desire to live and be healthy," Dr. Freeman said.
"Most moving are the remedies that speak of the hopes and tragic disappointments of the people of the Middle Ages. A recipe for finding out if a woman is pregnant: a boy or a girl, and 'deliver the dead child woman.'"
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