ABSTRACT
During the first Modern Era (15th-17th c.), bodily health and expressions of physiognomy were explained under the doctrine of humors. This doctrine -based on Corpus Hipocraticum-established a close relation between humors (blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile), qualities (dry, moist, warm, and cold) and the elements (water, air, earth, and fire). One of these humors -black bile-, commonly a hallmark of the melancholic temperament, was associated to the complexion and nature of American Indians. This accusation was legitimized by the empirical examination of the physiognomy of a subject that was melancholic, sad and pusillanimous. In this article, we describe, based on the analysis of colonial texts (16th-17th c.), how the essential premises of the humor theory were transferred to the New World and in particular and how the Indian complexion was defined through the examination of subjects plagued by black humor and phlegm. With this, we determine the way these individuals -referred as 'Indians'- were inscribed in medical knowledge, during the global spread of the Hippocratic-Galenic postulates.
Subject(s)
Humans , History, 15th Century , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , Physiognomy , Temperament , Indians, South American/history , Humoralism , Depressive Disorder/historyABSTRACT
The term scrofula was used for a long time to designate a chronic swelling of cervical lymph nodes. This paper outlines the prevalent ideas on the nature, pathogenesis and the treatment of this disorder, from classical Greek medicine up to the 18th century. A Hippocratic treatise regarded scrofula as produced by an accumulation of phlegm, with a consequent imbalance or dyscrasia of the body humors. It was believed that it could heal spontaneously; but it could also soften, open through the skin and have an obstinate course. The treatment consisted mainly on local applications, incision to evacuate the soft content, or extirpation of the abnormal mass. In France and England, crowds of scrofulous patients were touched by the kings who were supposed to have a hereditary miraculous power to cure the disease. A Medieval text mentioned that scrofula could also affect other parts of the body. In the 17th century, scrofula was reputed as a frequent condition and was attributed to blood acrimony which coagulated in spongy organs. It was associated to phthisis or consumption due to the lethal outcome in some patients and to a cheese-like appearance of the pulmonary and the scrofulous lesions.
Subject(s)
Humans , History, 15th Century , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , Tuberculosis, Lymph Node/history , Tuberculosis, Lymph Node/pathology , King's Evil/history , Tuberculosis, Lymph Node/therapy , Therapeutic Touch/history , History, Ancient , History, MedievalABSTRACT
Com base em estudos e documentos de arquivo, explora-se o modo como as práticas médicas europeias que relacionavam dieta e saúde, no início do século XIX, foram transpostas para África, especificamente Moçambique. Examina-se a evolução das teorias europeias sobre o papel preventivo e terapêutico da alimentação, destacando-se as concepções da medicina humoral e a sua reconfiguração pela ciência iluminista. Descreve-se o hospital moçambicano, considerando as categorias de doentes assistidos e as doenças prevalecentes na região. Focam-se as alterações introduzidas na alimentação hospitalar, aproximando-a da europeia. Analisam-se essas modificações em articulação com os desenvolvimentos do discurso médico europeu, reconstruído pela fisiologia e pela química, em torno do corpo e dos alimentos.
Based on studies and archive documents, this work investigates the way European medical practice that interrelated diet and health in the early nineteenth century was transported to Africa, specifically Mozambique. The development of European theories about the preventive and therapeutic role of diet is examined, highlighting the conceptions of humoral theory and its reconfiguration by the science of the Enlightenment. The Mozambican hospital is described, taking into account the categories of patients cared for and prevailing diseases in the region. Focus is given to the changes introduced to hospital food to bring it closer to European habits. These changes are analyzed in the light of developments in European medical discourse about the body and foodstuffs, reconstructed by physiology and chemistry.
Subject(s)
History, 19th Century , Humans , Diet/history , Feeding Behavior , History of Medicine , Hospitals/history , Europe , MozambiqueABSTRACT
La sepsis como complicación temible del trauma ha acompañado al hombre a través de la historia en especial en la antigüedad. En el presente trabajo se analiza la evolución histórica del controlquirúrgico de la sepsis desde el Antiguo Egipto hasta la Edad Media. Se describe cómo los diferentes tratamientos tuvieron una evolución paradójica: empezando desde una relativa cura apiógena de los egipcios y alejandrinos, hasta el irrefrenable deseo de ver supurar la lesión, típico en la EdadMedia. También se exponen las causas de la ambigüedad de los griegos a la hora de promover o limitar la supuración, sustentadas en el humoralismo clásico, y cómo esta concepción fue la semilla del dogma galénico la pus es buena y laudable, dogma que marcó la pauta del cuidado de las heridas durante más de mil años, y que fue responsable, junto con la pérdida de valiosos conocimientos quirúrgicos en el Medioevo, del establecimiento de la cauterización como tratamiento de elección para muchos tipos de lesión. Finalmente, se presentan las razones epistemológicas del fracaso del intento de derrumbar el dogma galénico durante el siglo XIII.
Sepsis, as a fearsome complication of trauma, has accompanied mankind throughout history, particularly in the Antiquity. In this article the historical evolution of surgical sepsis control and of the importance of suppuration is reviewed, from the Ancient Egypt through the Middle Ages. The evolutionof different therapeutic approaches for wounds is described, from the non-suppurative healing of the Egyptians and Alexandrians to the irrepressible desire of seeing wound suppuration that was common in the Middle Ages. The causes of the ambiguity of Greeks concerning the promotion or limitation of suppuration are presented. They were based on the classical theory of Humoralism. This conception became the framework of the Galenic dogma expressed as the good and laudable pus, which served as the basisfor wound care during more than one thousand years. It was responsible, together with the loss of valuablesurgical knowledge during the Middle Ages, of the establishement of cauterization as the treatment of choice for different types of lesions. The epistemological reasons for the failure to overthrow the Galenic dogma duringthe XIII Century are also discussed.