De Fame Canina, seu Bulimo. De Cholera Morbus. Methodus Curandi Iliacam. [...] Sur une hydropisie laiteuse.

Description of contents courtesy of Maggs Bros Ltd.

Manuscript in French and Latin, describing in detail the symptoms, causes and cures for a variety of digestive and gastrointestinal illnesses. Comprises seven demy quarto booklets written in black ink in cursive hand. The booklets are loosely stitched, pinned or pasted together, arranged in the following order:

"1. De fame canina, seu bulimo [‘dog-like hunger’, or bulimia]; de cholera morbus [cholera]; methodus curandi iliacam [cure for ’la passion iliaque’, dangerous stomach and intestinal pain]; de diarrhoea.

2. De diarrhoea (continued); de lienteria [lienteric diarrhoea]; de fluxu coeliaco [chronic dysentery]; de colico dolore [abdominal pain]; de lumbricis [worms]; de tenesmo [painful sense of urgency].

3. De tenesmo (continued); de fluxu haemorhoidum [haemorrhoids]; de tetero [jaundice].

4. De tetero (continued); de schirro inflammatione et abcessu hepatij [inflammation and abscesses of the liver]; de obstructionibus lienis pancrealis mesenterij [mesenteric pancreatitis]; de hydrope [edema].

5. De hydrope (continued); suitte de la cure de la nephretique [cure for nephritis, or kidney inflammation]; de ulcere et inflammatione renum et vesica [kidney and renal ulcers and inflammation]; de diabete; curation [cures for diabetes]; de morbis vesica de ischuria et stranguria [bladder disease, retention and persistent urination]; de dysuria [painful urination]; de incontinentia urina [incontinence].

6. De incontinentia urina (continued); du scorbut [scurvy]; de phrenitide [brain inflammation].

7. De hydrope (continuation of discussion of remedies); ‘Experiences faites sur la liqueur qu’on tire du ventre de quelques hydropiques’ [account of experiments made on the liquid drawn from edema sufferers]; ’sur une hydropisie laiteuse’ [an account of a medical examination carried out on a young woman suffering from edema]".

...

"[The manuscript] draws together medical knowledge from a variety of sources embodying the overlap between long-established modes of thinking and empirical, experimental schools of thought. The practical, mechanical language of blockages, obstruction and physical causes is combined with references to humours, bile & phlegm, 'l'esprit', the atmosphere and 'miasmas'."

...

"Remedies offered for the illnesses here encompass everything from quinine (for cholera, and others) to nasturtium, rhubarb and restharrow (for jaundice), tisanes borrowed from contemporary medical guides (for nephritis), chicory water (for incontinence), as well as minor invasive procedures (puncturing swelling to release the build-up of fluid in edema sufferers)."

...

"In other cases the author discounts established cures, writing on scurvy, for example, 'qu'on ne soit pas surprise si je ne parle point de ces antiscorbutiques si fort vantes par les autheurs' - 'do not be surprised if I do not spend time on the anti-scurvy remediesso strongly recommended by other authors'."

The dealer's description can be made available in full on request. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org.

18th century

7 booklets

Purchased from Maggs Bros Ltd, March 2019.