Scrinium Classical Antiquity

PAGEL, W., Paracelse. Introduction à la médecine philosophique de la Renaissance. Arthaud, n.p., 1963. 403p. ills.(B&W line drawings). Paperback with dust wrps. Head spine a little bit worn and repaired with adhesive tape. Small tear in free endpaper. Pages a bit yellowed due to paper quality. Series: Collection Signe des Temps XX. Translated by Michel Deutsch. ‘Si un livre mérite de se trouver non seulement entre les mains de tout médecin cultivé, mais aussi dans la bibliothèque de l’humaniste d’aujourd’hui, c’est bien cet ouvrage sur Paracelse.’ (CHRISTIAN DEDET in Esprit, 1965, p.595). From the library of Professor Carl Deroux. € 22.50 (Antiquarian)

PHILLIPS, E.D., Aspects of Greek Medicine. Charles Press, Philadelphia / Croom Helm, London (...), 1987. Reprint ed.1973. 240p. ills.(B&W photographs). Cloth wrps. Wrps with small tear, repaired with acid adhesive tape at the inside. Gift intention on free endpapers. Else fine. ‘Greek medicine’ is a welcome addition to the volumes of the series ‘Aspects of Greek and Roman life’, which have been appearing since the mid-1960s under the general editorship of Professor H.H. Scullard. As the title suggests, this volume is a survey of Greek medical thought during the approximately one thousand years which separate the incidental references to physicians and healing in the Homeric epics from the vast and professionalized medical corpus of Galen of Pergamum. The author’s intention, as he states in his Preface, is to rest ‘every particular statement made (…) directly on some piece of ancient evidence which will be found in the Notes’. This procedure has been carefully carried out and is particularly successful in the large section of the work which deals with the treatises of the ‘Hippocratic corpus’ (pp.38-121). (…) the book is a storehouse of information (…). E.D. Phillips has produced a work that is a concise and interesting introduction to the medical practices of the Greek world of antiquity for a wide and perhaps otherwise-occupied audience gathered from both classical and scientific fields.’ (A.E. HANSON in The British Journal for the History of Science, 1976, p.72). € 37.50 (Antiquarian)

PIGEAUD, A. and J., (eds.), Les textes médicaux latins comme littérature. Actes du VIe colloque international sur les textes médicaux latins du 1er au 3 septembre 1998 à Nantes. Institut Universitaire de France, Université de Nantes, 2000. 392p. Sewn. Series: Centre Caelius, Pensée médicale et tradition. A.o.: M.F. BUFFA GIOLITO: Topoi della tradizione letteraria in tre prefazione di testi medici latine (pp.13-33); A. FERRACES RODRÍGUEZ: Le 'Ex herbis feminis': traduction, réélaboration, problèmes stylistiques (pp.77-91); F. LUTHI: Le 'De Medicina', une littérature chirurgicale? (pp.127-141); G. MAGGIULLI: 'Dinamidia' come genere letterario? (pp.141-153); I. MAZZINI: Presenza e funzione della lingua e della letteratura poetiche profane in alcune opere mediche in versi del mondo antico (pp.173-187); N. PALMIERI: Rhétorique et pédagogie dans les commentaires à Galien (pp.221-241); S. SCONOCCHIA: Le 'Compositiones' di Scribonio Largo come letteratura (pp.257-281); F. STOK: Retorica ed etimologia nei trattati di Celio Aureliano (pp.281-297); J. VONS: Un vocabulaire médicalisé pour une 'ars vivendi': dermatologie ou cosmétologie des femmes chez Pline l'Ancien (pp.341-355); J. PIGEAUD: Les textes médicaux comme littérature (pp.377-391). From the library of Prof. Carl Deroux. € 50.00 (Antiquarian)

PLAMBÖCK, G., Dynamis im Corpus Hippocraticum. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz / Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden, 1964. 52p. Sewn. Series: Abhandlungen der geistes- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Jahrgang 1964, 2. ‘Einen ergebnisreichen Streifzug durch die in der Hauptsache voraristotelische Geschichte des Begriffs ‘dunamis’ stellt diese kleine aber anspruchsvolle Abhandlung dar.’ (PETER WÖLFLING v. MARTLITZ in Gnomon, 1966, p.443). € 16.00 (Antiquarian)

PORMANN, P.E., (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hippocrates. Cambridge University Press, 2018. XIX,441p. Paperback. Series: Cambridge Companions to Philosophy. Hippocrates is a towering figure in Greek medicine. Dubbed the 'father of medicine', he has inspired generations of physicians over millennia in both the East and West. Despite this, little is known about him, and scholars have long debated his relationship to the works attributed to him in the so-called 'Hippocratic Corpus', although it is undisputed that many of the works within it represent milestones in the development of Western medicine. In this Companion, an international team of authors introduces major themes in Hippocratic studies, ranging from textual criticism and the 'Hippocratic question' to problems such as aetiology, physiology and nosology. Emphasis is given to the afterlife of Hippocrates from Late Antiquity to the modern period. Hippocrates had as much relevance in the fifth-century BC Greek world as in the medieval Islamic world, and he remains with us today in both medical and non-medical contexts. (Publisher's information). € 32.75 (New)

POWELL, O., Galen. 'On the properties of Foodstuffs'. (De alimentorum facultatibus). Introduction, Translation and Commentary. With a foreword by J. Wilkins. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (...), 2003. 1st ed.XXV,206p. Hardbound with dust wrps. Spine gilt titled. 'Galen's important work 'On the Properties of Foodstuffs' (De alimentorum facultatibus) dissects in rigourous but also highly engaging detail the characteristics of the commonest types of human food and their effects on the human body, combining theoretical discussion with anecdotal evidence, and covering grains and pulses, plants, and finally animals in its three separate books. This is a difficult text to deal with, not least because of the obscurity of many of the food names Galen uses, the complexity of his vision of the workings of human physiology and the confusion which arises from the lack of any standard technical vocabulary in Greek. Owen Powell's translation (and his introductory discussion on Galen's physiological theory) navigates through those difficulties with wonderful clarity. This volume is thus an important resource for the study of ancient science and mdeicine, and also for our understanding of the uses and representations of food within ancient Greek culture. In addition, it shows up the importance of Galen's writing for our understanding of the literature and culture of the Roman Empire more broadly, ofering a vivid glimpse of the riches which lie in store for those who approach Galen even from well outside the field of orthodox medical history. (...) John Wilkins' foreword (...) focuses on Galen's social and cultural background, with excellent discussion (amongst other things) of the geographical assumptions and biases underlying the work, and of the way in which Galen describes diets adopted within times of famine and poverty in order to explore the limits of normal human eating habits. (...) P.'s introduction, by contrast, is from a medical perspective (...) The juxtaposition with W.'s preface is fascinating. P. offers (...) a reconstruction of Galen's views on the working of food within the human body, while also measuring Galen's views against modern medical knowledge. (...) One of the things this volume reveals most strikingly is the way in which translating Galen necessarily involves one in many of the exercises which were central to Galen's own scholarship: not least filtering through a wide range of ancient sources in order to establish the correct meaning of the terms one is using; and interrogating the validity of the arguments one comes across in those sources (...), as an exercise which is inseparable from the difficult process of establishing meaning.' (JASON KÖNIG in The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2004, p.203). From the library of Prof. Carl Deroux. € 55.00 (Antiquarian)

RAWCLIFFE, C., Medicine and Society in Later Medieval England. Alan Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1995. XVI,241,(XV)p. ills.(B&W as well as full colour photographs). Original black hard bound with dust wrps. Spine gilt titled. Signature and date in pencil on free endpaper. Nice copy. ‘Carole Rawcliffe’s social history of medicine in late-medieval England is a valuable piece of scholarship. It is intended for a wide readership, and serves as a general introduction to medieval medical theory and practice for readers with no previous knowledge of the field, at the same time providing a great deal of new information on the social ramifications of medicine for a more specialised audience. Rawcliffe’s treatment of the topic reveals and benefits from her familiarity with other aspects of medieval society - social stratification in general, and the life style of the nobility and royalty in particular. (…) The book contains nine chapters, a short conclusion, and a brief section on further reading. The first chapter focuses on diseases of the soul. Rawcliffe shows how religious and moral ideas permeated medieval medical theory and practice and affected not only attitudes towards, and the treatment of, various mental disorders, but also diseases of the body like leprose or the plague. The chapter on ideas about the body outlines the principles of medieval physiological theory, which were inherited from Ancient Greek physicians through the Arab world, formed the core of medical teaching at universities throughout the Middle Ages, and were assimilated with various degrees of understanding across all levels of the medical profession and society in general. (…) Chapter eight addresses specifically the conflicting attitudes towards women as they were reflected in contemporary medical theory about female physiology and in attitudes towards women as practitioners. The final chapter focuses on the two most common female professionals: the midwife and the nurse. (…) The special hallmark of this book (…) is the way in which the author makes use of primary sources. (…) Rawcliffe emphasises the importance of records which often remain neglected bu social historians of medicine, and makes use of the kind of records ‘which are customarily the preserve of scholars active in other disciplines’ (p.XIV). (…) By examining evidence gathered from this broad range of material written mainly in the vernacular, Rawcliffe provides the reader with interesting insights into the dissemination of medical ideas, the practice of maintaining and restoring health, and the development, functioning and social significance of the medical profession in late-medieval England. Unlike many other historians of medicine, Rawcliffe also illustrates her discussion with frequent extracts from primary sources. (…) Rawcliffe also makes admirable use of the rich tradition of manuscript illuminations. The volume contains twenty-one colour plates and sixty-four black-and-white illustrations mainly from medieval medical manuscripts (…). The majority of manuscript illuminations are from the fifteenth century and some of them are reproduced here for the first time.’ (PAÏVI PAHTA in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 2000, pp.610-611). € 40.00 (Antiquarian)

SALAZAR, Christine F., The Treatment of War Wounds in Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Brill, Leiden (...), 2000. XVII,299p. ills.(B&W photographs). Original red gilt titled cloth with dust wrps. Dust wrps slightly jammed to upper edge front cover. Initials stamp, date and personal library mark on free endpaper. Else fine. (Rare). “There is a fair amount of ancient evidence for war wounds, and Christine Salazar’s study, which aims to shed light both on the treatment of wounds in medical practice and on the 'treatment' of the wounded in literature, gathers and discusses much of it (…). She begins by setting out systematically, in two chapters, the evidence from medical writers on the kinds of wounds and possible complications a physician might encounter, and the range of surgical and pharmacological procedures open to him. (…) The evidence sited is predominantly of Roman Imperial date; Hippocratic treatises are included (…). Two particularly interesting chapters proceed to investigate the development of medical services in ancient armies (…), the considerable spread of at least some basic medical knowledge among payment, and the nature of ancient medical terminology. The rôle of wounds in literature is the subject of the next four chapters, which between them discuss `wounding`as a code. (…) A chapter bridging the chronological gap between Homer and Alexander provides a good survey of the well-known debate what constitutes a 'beautiful death', but fails to link this at all closely with attitude to the wounded. (…) 'The Treatment of War Wounds' (…) manages to make so many of its parts surprisingly interesting.” (HANS VAN WEES in The Classical Review (New Series), 2001, pp.308-310). € 350.00 (Antiquarian)

SALE, W., Existentialism and Euripides. Sickness, Tragedy and Divinity in the Medea, the Hippolytus and the Bacchae. Aureal Publications, Berwick, 1977. III,142p. Paperback. Upper corner slightly bumped through and through. signature on free endpaper. Very few pen annotations. Else fine. ‘This study, an effort to look at three plays of Euripides in terms of six fundamental concepts of existential psychoanalysis, is presented as a work of ‘literary criticism and classical scholarship.’ After a brief exposition in the first chapter of the basic ideas of existential analysis to be used in the study, the succeeding chapters are devoted to some of the characters in the three plays with the understanding that since the tenets of psychoanalytic theory ‘have proved useful in understanding real people; should we not at least look at what it can tell us about the not-quitte real?’(…) Sale argues his position clearly and with attention to the passages he selects. Such passages are cited in translation, which itself is, of necessity, an initial interpretation. When Greek is cited, it is unhappily (…) in a transliterated form; more disconcerting are the inaccuracies in references (…). If one has reservations about the psychoanalytic interpretation of literature it would be because, like the allegorical interpretation of Scripture, it seems to serve the exegete more than it serves the written work. In the present instance such reservations are strengthened when what was Sale’s original intention (…) still looms large in the work, e.g. an analysis of the neurotic characters in the three plays. (…) Sale presents his arguments in detail, with care, and with commendable objectivity and impartiality. It is in the argument which must proceed by exegesis that the queries arise (…) Throughout this study there are a number of helpful and interesting insights of individual characters, but for me the larger and legitimate problem is always on the horizon: what is the play about? If the answer is that the play is about the psychologically sick, then apart from other questions which can be asked, where is the tragedy? Without question Sale’s study will be read differently by different people.’ (W.M.A. GRIMALDI in The Classical World, 1978, pp.118-119). € 50.00 (Antiquarian)

SCHIPPERGES, H., Der Garten der Gesundheit. Medizin im Mittelalter. Artemis Verlag, München / Zürich, 1987. 2nd ed. 295p. ills.(B&W photographs). Original terracotta cloth with dust wrps. Spine gilt titled. Signature and date in pencil on free endpaper. € 8.00 (Antiquarian)