ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ever since the Late Medieval Ages historico-medical literature has attested the use of cranium humanun as an ingredient in pharmacological preparations for the treatment of epilepsy. Some authors suggest the use of pulverized bone obtained from individuals who died a violent death and were not buried. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The skeletal remains of hundreds of male inhabitants from Otranto, killed by the Ottomans in a mass execution on 14 August, 1480, are preserved in the Chapel of Martyrs in Otranto Cathedral (Apulia, southern Italy). The so-called "martyrs of Otranto" were beatified in 1771 and canonized by Pope Francis on 12 May, 2013. A cranial vault with 16 holes of different sizes, with regular rounded shape, was noticed among the skeletal remains, symmetrically arranged behind five large rectangular windows. Eight of the 16 holes, which exposed the diploe without reaching the endocranial surface, are incomplete perforations, while 8 holes are complete perforations; no evidence of bone reaction is visible. RESULTS: The lesions are the result of a multiple trepanation performed by using an instrument equipped with a large rounded tip. This tool could not produce bone discs, but only bone powder. It is impossible to establish with certainty the reasons for these multiple trepanations, but several hypotheses can be advanced, ranging from experimental surgery to a procedure designed to obtain relics. However, saint bones are very likely to have been regarded as having medicinal properties. As a matter of fact the martyrs of Otranto died a violent death and were not buried, and the pulverized bone obtained from their skulls might have been considered a particularly powerful ingredient for pharmacological preparations, as attested in the historico-medical literature. CONCLUSIONS: The skull of Otranto might represent a unique evidence of multiple trepanations carried out to obtain bone powder as ingredient for therapeutic preparations.
Subject(s)
Powders/history , Powders/therapeutic use , Religion and Medicine , Skull/chemistry , History, 15th Century , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , Humans , Italy , MaleSubject(s)
Construction Materials/history , Powders/history , Construction Materials/analysis , Europe , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , History, Ancient , History, Medieval , Powders/analysis , Powders/therapeutic useSubject(s)
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical/history , Eye Diseases/history , Pharmacopoeias as Topic/history , Dosage Forms , History, 15th Century , History, 16th Century , History, 17th Century , History, 18th Century , History, Medieval , Humans , Iran , Ophthalmic Solutions/administration & dosage , Ophthalmic Solutions/history , Persia , Powders/administration & dosage , Powders/history , Suppositories/administration & dosage , Suppositories/historyABSTRACT
Sir Kenelm Digby's A Late Discourse ... Touching the Cure of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy (1658) is usually read in the context of seventeenth-century explanations of the weapon-salve. The salve supposedly worked by being applied to the weapon that made a wound rather than to the wound itself. But Digby's essay was as much an effort to claim priority for a powdered version of the sympathetic cure as an explanation of how the cure worked. A close examination of Digby's claims in the Late Discourse in the context of his own earlier work and of works by his contemporaries shows his priority claim to have been false. It was recognized as such by his most knowledgeable associates. The story of Digby's fabrications offers a case study of the generic and rhetorical terms in which seventeenth-century English thinkers made and challenged natural-philosophical claims.
Subject(s)
Powders/history , Scientific Misconduct/history , England , History, 17th Century , Humans , Ointments/history , Ointments/therapeutic use , Powders/therapeutic use , Wounds, Penetrating/history , Wounds, Penetrating/therapyABSTRACT
As the contents in the two circulated versions of Qian jin yao fang (Essential Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold) ,i. e Bei ji qian jin yao fang (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies) and Xin diao sun zhen ren qian jin fang (Newly Printed Sun's Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold) are different greatly, especially on the literature of prescriptions. Song people made a lot of changes on the contents of powder prescriptions, including the related chapters and its contents, computation unit of materia medica, weights, and processing methods etc. without any remarks, nor notes in its preface. The contents in the Song version were more enriched than the newly carved version with the reasonable arrangement of its texts. As a clinical encyclopedia of traditional Chinese medicine, the Song version is more convenient for reading and using. However, it is a great taboo for the scholars to tamper an ancient work at will from bibliographic viewpoints.
