The "Experience-Based Medicine" of the Thirteenth Century

McVaugh, Michael

doi:10.1163/157338209x425524

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…This is in line with Galenic medical theory and practice. 17 We also highlight that the production of theriac was at its heart an artistic endeavour, conducted by professional craftspeople. We emphasize sensory experience, rather than physiological or medical effect, due to safety concerns.…”

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confidence: 88%

Making and taking theriac: an experimental and sensory approach to the history of medicine

2022

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This paper explores historically used medicaments by making them, or rather reworking them, in a modern laboratory and assessing them for taste, flavour and odour using sensory analysis and a trained panel of sensory assessors. Our test subject is the famous panacea theriac andromachalis, which is subjected to the methods of experimental history of science to create experimental data. We emphasize the importance of the sensory experience, in both the making and the taking of theriac. From antiquity and well into the nineteenth century, medical practitioners and patients held that the sensory qualities of medicaments were of significance. But sensory information is notoriously difficult to transmit textually, and today we know very little about the sensory characteristics of theriac, and other medicines of the past. This is a problematic lacuna in our knowledge of how actors perceived and used them. By choosing the reworking and sensory framework, we can approach early modern pharmacy both as a craft and as a creative process. Thus our study emphasizes the artisanal, or craft, aspect of medicine making. It indicates how the art of medicine making was integrated with and connected to a medical practice which relied heavily on direct sensory assessments of medicaments, disease and patients. Our purpose is, however, not to try to find out how historical medicine makers and patients ‘really felt’ when they experienced the act of smelling and tasting medicines. Our aim is rather to discuss what the sensory experience of making and tasting adds to the investigation of textual sources. Thus, by attempting to access information about the experience of medicine through experimental means, we aim to enrich and complement historical understanding of the medicines and medical theories of the past.

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confidence: 88%

Making and taking theriac: an experimental and sensory approach to the history of medicine

2022

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“…In the 12th century, the Andalucian polymath and physician and philosopher Averroes ( Ibn Rushd ) wrote The Book of the Principles of Medicine (The Kulliyat) which recognised observation rather than mere speculation in the diagnostic process ( 9 ) suggesting early practise of evidence-based medicine ( 10 ). Guy de Chauliac defined pain in his Grande Chirurgie (1,363 AD): “ Pain, according to Avicenna, is a feeling of contradictory qualities.…”

Section: Pain In the Medieval Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding pain in modern society: insights from attitudes to pain in the Medieval Period

Paley,

Johnson,

Paley

2023

Front. Pain Res.

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Historical records provide knowledge about the way people lived in the past. Our perspective is that historical analyses of the Medieval Period provide insights to inform a fuller understanding of pain in the present era. In this article, we appraise critiques of the writings of people living with pain during the mid (high) to late Medieval Period (c. 1,000–1,500 AD) to gain insights into the nature, attitudes, lived experience, and sense-making of pain. In the Medieval Period, pain was understood in terms of Galen's four humours and the Church's doctrine of pain as a “divine gift”, “punishment for sin” and/or “sacrificial offering”. Many treatments for pain were precursors of those used in modern time and society considered pain to be a “shared experience”. We argue that sharing personal stories of life is a fundamental human attribute to foster social cohesion, and that nowadays sharing personal stories about pain is difficult during biomedically-focussed time-constrained clinical consultations. Exploring pain through a medieval lens demonstrates the importance of sharing stories of living with pain that are flexible in meaning, so that people can connect with a sense of self and their social world. We advocate a role for community-centred approaches to support people in the creation and sharing of their personal pain stories. Contributions from non-biomedical disciplines, such as history and the arts, can inform a fuller understanding of pain and its prevention and management.

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“…In modern medicine, theoretical reasoning has a minor role. However, in antiquity, the sources of knowledge on the therapeutic effects of various drugs were broadly divided into “experience” and “reasoning.” 5 The need for experiment in medical practice was not a new concept at the time of Rhazes. In his essay On Medical Experiment , Galen (129–210 AD) mentioned an imaginary discussion between a physician who used experience as the only source of his medical knowledge and another who used reasoning alone.…”

Section: Abū Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariyyāal-rāzī (Rhazes 854–925 Ad)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The tradition of the experiment for determining the potency and nature of drugs can be traced back to the ancient Greek, as Galen, in De complexion bus , mentioned six rules to determine the nature of a drug whether it is hot or cold. 5 However, the criteria mentioned by Avicenna is still a huge achievement regarding the methodology of experiment on new drugs. Avicenna methodology can be found in the scientific treatises of his contemporary as well as future medieval physicians.…”

Section: Abū Alī Al-lḥusayn Ibn Abd Allāh Ibnal-ḥasan Ibn Alī Ibn Sīnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the roots of clinical trial methodology in medieval Islamic medicine

Zarvandi

Sadeghi

2019

Clinical Trials

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There is a dominant opinion in the Western sources of history of medicine that the roots of modern clinical trials and methodology of experimental medicine first started in the Renaissance. However, this opinion has been disputed with the thorough study of the rich medical literature of the medieval Islamic era. In the current review, the roots of clinical trial methodology have been traced back to the medieval Islamic tradition and the contribution of Islamic scholars in this field is discussed. The importance of experimental versus theoretical reasoning, the need for a control group, a statistical approach to interpreting trial results, appreciation of uncertainty in medical practice, and the difference between human and animal trials all can be traced back to the rich medieval Islamic medical literature.

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The "Experience-Based Medicine" of the Thirteenth Century

Cited by 12 publications

References 1 publication

Making and taking theriac: an experimental and sensory approach to the history of medicine

Making and taking theriac: an experimental and sensory approach to the history of medicine

Understanding pain in modern society: insights from attitudes to pain in the Medieval Period

Exploring the roots of clinical trial methodology in medieval Islamic medicine

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