Ochoa y Cadena, Francisco (fl. 1867)

Libro de Medecina y Botanica. Dated 8 December 1867. A fair copy of a discursive work by a monk and self-taught herbalist of San Cristóbal, evidently well-acquainted with the local flora and its traditional uses. Its 33 chapters include amateur descriptions of 31 herbs, shrubs and trees and their therapeutic uses, as well as shorter descriptions of animal materia medica. Although arranged for publication the MS has not appeared in print. The well-known bibliophile Canon Augustín Fischer [1825-87] included it in his sale of Mexican books in 1869 (London, Puttick & Simpson, lot 1955). San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.

1867

Pp.90 (=92), 112 bl. ll. 21 x 16 cm. Bound in original limp leather with flap and tie

Particulars of acquisition not known.

Described in: Robin Price, An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983).

Acquired by Phillipps (MS no. 21293), it was recorded by León (1895), no. 541.