1 Mauricio Trabanino January 26, 2010 Block- E

Archaic Adequacy
The year was 1853; Queen Victoria was suffering labor for the eight time. On a desperate attempt to ease her excruciating pain, she accepted an experimental substance called chloroform. Upon inhaling a small dose, she proceeded to give birth to her eighth son Leopold in a painless way ( K e n n e d y p p ( i . e . , 1 3 4 - 1 3 5 ) ) .A new age of technology and advanced medicine had begun. Although great advances in medicine were being made in the 19th century, the Florilegio Medicinal de TodaslasEnfermedades,in its three volumes, remained the most important source of medical reference in New Spain until the 20 th century. Ever since Jesuit Priest Juan de Esteynefer wrote it in 1712, the book marked its ground in medical reference books. He was inspired to write it after witnessing much suffering and lack of medical attention in New Spain, what is now Mexico ( U S A . g o v, 2 0 0 8 ) . His revolutionary work was an immediate success and was published in three volumes: LibroPrimero, an anthology of medicine providing information on causes and symptoms of diseases; Libro Segundo, an epitome of medicine and surgery; and.LibroTercero, drug catalog and preparation recipes. Its efficacy resulted in the reference source being reprinted four times during the 1700 s, 1800 s and even the early 1900 s. Florilegio Medicinal was not only a book based on European knowledge of medicine, it was also a collection of known New World diseases and the complete medicinal botany of New Spain. The diseases acknowledged by the Florilegio Medicinal, LibroPrimero, remain stunning even to this day. The amount of anatomical terms used in medical analysis are very advanced, at the time it was written it would have shamed the anatomical knowledge of many European doctors. Detailed descriptions of the diseases, illnesses, and their symptoms made the book popular among the medical practitioners. When the headache results from flatulence take a towel or cloth wet in warn water and wash over forehead and eyelids. To ease pain release urine to relieve tension. (deEsteyneffer, Juan. Florilegio Medicinal. 54). What seems as a ridiculous assessment and treatment for a headache is actually one of the many methods described in pages 47 through 55 in the Florilegio Medicinal. Other reasons for headaches include inhaling dust, anger, sight of blood, and eating cow or pig meat, among many others. The treatment may seem primitive and ineffective considering that at a point, the civilized world was using Bayer s famous Aspirin to relieve headaches and various pains (Bellis). The book uses leeches to remove bad blood in extreme cases of pain. Florilegio Medicinal was up to date with the practice because bloodletting was still popular even in advanced places such as France, where over 40 million leeches were imported in the nineteenth century (Cules, John). Although Libro Segundo: Surgery, was not the most advanced book comparing it to today s standards, it was very useful and even advanced back in the time were knowledge of surgery was scarce and limited. The variety of

2 surgical treatments of various types of cancer and body wounds can be demonstrated by FlorilegioMedicinal s index on Volume 2: Surgery. A careful examination of pages 44 and 45 reveals to us the variety of illnesses treated by surgery. These include various types of dangerous cancers, amputations, body wounds such as ripped muscles or a punctured eye, various types of ulcers, andhernias. There is, however, the issue of general hygiene during surgical procedures of the time. Apart from vague references to washing ones hands and rinsing instruments in water, the Florilegio Medicinal instructed no real surgical hygiene. This sometimes led to infections and the unfortunate death of the patient. Although in Mexico where doctors travelled through all the country visiting patients, hygiene that could be achieved was limited due to the fact that surgeries and medical procedures all took place in the patient s home be it a huge mansion or a fly-filled shack. Even hospitals of the time did not contain proper hygiene and were avoided by sane people (Machine, Research). It was a very different scheme from advanced surgery in Europe where Joseph Lister s antiseptic principles were starting to be employed, making surgery safer and hospitals actually useful (Lister). Surgically, FlorilegioMedicinal, was everything a Mexican doctor could want, it even mentioned the use of Opium and Alcohol as anesthetics (de Esteyneffer, Juan. Florilegio Medicinal. 353). The revolutionary portion of Esteyneffer s work came in Volume 3: Drugs and Preparation, for not only did he incorporate the known European herbs and medicines, but he also incorporated all knowledge he learned from the locals of New Spain about the medicinal botany of the area. Pages 518 through 521 demonstrate the variety of drugs that could be prescript. Among them: Suleiman s Water, medicinal syrups, Oxisacharrun, pills, and inhaled powders. Most medicines were inhaled or swallowed because syringes were not yet available to the region but were already being used in the United States of America and Europe to administer drugs (Cue, John Ph.D.). Pharmacological knowledge in his book was known to come even from Aztec doctors. Although Alcohol was prescript on various situations, its use as a harmful drug is deducible by looking at the numerous illnesses relating to the liver (de Esteyneffer, Juan. Florilegio Medicinal. 41-43). Florilegio Medicinal was the most popular medical guide of 19 th century Mexico. Its incredible success is due to the fact that it could diagnose a vast realm of illnesses and effectively treat them in very little time; therefore medical practitioners of the time were able to accomplish more work in less time. The treatments in the book offered something quite unique from other guides; all drugs, recipes, and treatments could be executed by using ingredients found locally. Medicine production was therefore efficient and inexpensive, something very important to the peasant majority of the patients treated. The famous medicines of the day could only be acquired in the big cities and by big money. It is no wonder the book was used by countryside healers in Mexico in the 1970 s ( U S A . g o v, 2 0 0 8 ) . Who knows, maybe Florilegio Medicinal is still used in Mexico today

Wo r k s C i te d

Mauri cio Trab an in o

D e E s t e y n e f f e r, J u a n . F lo r i le g i o M e d i c i n a l de T o da s la s E n f e r m e da de s . M e x i c o : 1 7 1 2 . P r i n t K e n n e d y, M i c h a e l. A B r i e f h i s t o r y o f S c i e n c e , D i s e a s e , a n d M e d i c i n e . M i s s i o n n V i e j o , C A : A s k le p i a d P r e s s , 2 0 0 4 . p p(i.e., 134-135). Print M a c h i n e , R e s e a r c h . " M e d i c i n e , 1 9 t h C e n t u r y. " F a r l e x E n c y c lo p e d i a . H e l i c o n P u b l i s h i n g , 2 0 0 9 . We b . < h t t p : / / e n c y c lo p e d i a . f a r le x . c o m / m e d i c i n e , + 1 9 t h - c e n t u r y > . L i s t e r, J o s e p h . "A n t i s e p t i c P r i n c i p le o f t h e P r a c t i c e o f S u r g e r y. " ( 1 8 6 7 ) : P r i n t . B e l l i s , M a r y. " H i s t o r y o f A s p i r i n . " A b o u t . c o m I n v e n t o r s . A b o u t . c o m , 1 9 9 7 . We b . 2 6 J a n 2 0 1 1 . h t t p : / / i n v e n t o r s . a b o u t . c o m / l i b r a r y / i n v e n t o r s / b la s p i r i n . h t m Cule, John Ph.D. The Timetables of Medicine: An Illustrated Chronology of the History of Medicine from Prehistory to Present Times. China: Black Dog and Leventhal2000. Print U S A . g o v. ( 2 0 0 8 , S e p t e m b e r 1 5 ) . E a r l y m e d i c a l g u i d e s i n N e w Sp a i n . R e tr i e ve d f ro m h t t p : / / w w w. n l m . n i h . g o v / e x h i b i t i o n / e x v o t o s / g u i de s . h t m l