Continuity and change in the Mediterranean medical tradition: Ruta spp. (rutaceae) in Hippocratic medicine and present practices.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ruta is a genus of Rutaceae family. It features mainly shrubby plants, native to the Mediterranean region and present in traditional medicine of this region since Antiquity. The three most diffused species Ruta chalepensis L., Ruta graveolens L., and Ruta montana (L.) L., are morphologically poorly differentiated and were probably interchangeably used during Antiquity. AIM OF THE STUDY: Hippocratic and contemporary medical applications of the Ruta genus in the Mediterranean were compared to check if they result from a continuity of use from the ancient times to nowadays. RESULTS: Ruta spp. was mainly employed in medical preparations by Hippocratic physicians as an abortifacient and emmenagogue. In addition to gynaecological conditions, in several treatises of the Corpus HippocraticumRuta spp. were also recommended as a specific remedy against pulmonary diseases. Ruta spp. leaves and also roots and seeds, were administered for internal use by Hippocratic physicians after having been soaked in wine or mixed with honey or its derivatives. Contemporary traditional uses of Ruta spp. have been assessed in detail in the whole Mediterranean area. CONCLUSION: Nowadays, Ruta spp. is used to treat different conditions but, as a general rule, the external uses are preferred as the toxicity of the plant is widely acknowledged.

Edema in the Corpus Hippocraticum.

In this paper, we analyze the collection of ancient Greek treatises ascribed to Hippocrates (460; between 371 and 350 BC), in order to determine whether or not edema can be traced. As a result of reading these works on the Greek text, we recognize some symptoms of edema in those called oidêma (swelling) and udrôps (dropsy) in the oldest treatises of the Corpus; in some cases, it seems also possible to recognize its description as the uremic coma. The dysfunction of edema had not been identified as such, however, even though the phenomena associated with the above symptoms received a specific explanation, which was fully hypothetical. This theoretical explanation also justifies the therapies prescribed for the treatment of the phenomena among which edema appears. Significantly enough, the treatment changed during a period which corresponds to that of Hippocrates' life: it changes from the four-quality system to that one of the four humors, but not necessarily under the influence of Hippocrates himself.

Berengario da Carpi.

Berengario da Carpi was magister of anatomy and surgery at the University of Bologna from 1502 to 1527. Eustachio and Falloppia defined him as 'the restaurator of anatomy'. He was a great surgeon, anatomist and physician of illustrious patients including Lorenzo II dei Medici, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Galeazzo Pallavicini, Cardinal Colonna, and Alessandro Soderini. He had strong links to the intellectuals of his time (Forni, Bonamici, Manuzio, Pomponazzi) as well as with the Medici family. He was respected by the Popes Julius II, Leo X and Clement VII. His main contributions are the Isogogae Breves, De Fractura calvae sive cranei, and the illustrated Commentaria on the Anatomy of Mondino de Liucci, a textbook utilized for more than 200 years, which Berengario aimed to restore to its initial text. The Commentaria constitutes the material for the last part of this paper which concludes with a personal translation of some passages on 'The kidney', where the author gives poignant examples of experimental ingenuity.

The "letter... to a cypriot physician" attributed to Johannes Argyropoulos (ca. 1448-1453).

In four Byzantine medical manuscripts, appears a letter entitled Solution of some problems and questions studied by one among the philosophers and physicians of the [school] of Cyprus and attributed to the well known philosopher and teacher Ioannes Argyropoulos (1393/4 [?] or ca. 1415 - 1487). In this paper, we examine this text, its authenticity and its contents, arriving at the conclusion that it is a sort of compendium of a medical teaching held by Argyropoulos during his stay in Constantinople, ca. 1448 - 1453. As such, it documents the medical activity of the last Byzantine period, little known from other sources.

Medicinal plants for the treatment of urogenital tract pathologies according to Dioscorides' De Materia Medica.

The De Materia Medica of the Greek Dioscorides reports about 200 plants used for the treatment of pathologies of the urogenital tract during the 1st century AD. On the basis of explicit and implicit affirmations by Dioscorides, a theoretical system concerning the specific properties of these plants has been attempted. Comparison of the species reported by Dioscorides and Pliny the Elder for renal affections does not support the thesis of a close relationship between De Materia Medica and the Naturalis Historia.

[The integration of Greek pharmacology into Arabic world]. / L'integration de la pharmacologie Grecque dans le monde Arabe. Une vue d'ensemble.

The paper is a first study of the assimilation of ancient Greek pharmacology in the Arabic world. In a first part, it inventories the Greek works in the field, with their relative importance (tables 1 & 1). The second part is a study of the translations of these treatises, with, first, an inventory of their various Syriac and Arabic versions and, second, a reconstruction of the dynamic of this enterprise (table 3). The third part studies more specifically the integration of the most important work in that field, the De materia medica of Dioscorides. From the methodological point of view, the study is conducted on the Arabic sector, as well on the Greek one, with a special attention to the various aspects of the phenomenon, pharmacological, textual, artistic and others. The conclusion is that the integration of Greek pharmacology in the Arabic world reproduced the general tendencies of the Byzantine world, with an association of both Dioscorides' and Galen's works in the field.

[Arabic manuscripts of medicine in the antique market: ten years of sales at a London auction house]. / Les manuscrits Arabes de médecine sur le marché actuel des antiquités: dix ans de vente auprès d'une maison Londonienne.

In the Arabic classic medicine a great number of manuscripts survives, partly preserved in Libraries all around the world, and partly sold by Auction Societies, like Christie's and its Department of Islamic Art in London. The author lists here some important manuscript which has been on sale in recent times.