Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 27

SCRIBONIUS LARGUS (fl. ca. 40 A.D.) De compositione medicamentorum liber, iampridem Jo. Ruellii opera è tenebris erutus, & à situ vindicatus. Apud Andream Cratandrum 1529 [16] 318 [2] pp. 15.2 cm.

This small book contains works by Scribonius Largus, Antonio Benivieni, and Polybus. Scribonius Largus was one of the more important physicians of the early Roman Empire and was the first medical author of note after Celsus. In all probability he was a freedman, perhaps a Greek, who took the name of his patron. He was physician to the Empress Messalina and is known to have accompanied the Emperor Claudius on his expedition to Britain in 43 A.D. This collection of 271 remedies, nostrums, and recipes is here edited by the French physician, Jean Ruel (1479-1537), who made the first Latin translation of Dioscorides. The work is arranged from "head to foot," an arrangement that was especially favored during the late Middle Ages. Scribonius traveled widely and used his journeys to extend his pharmaceutical knowledge and add to his personal pharmacopoeia. He described a primitive type of electrotherapy for headaches and similar nervous afflictions which employed a living black torpedo (ray fish). Scribonius was also the first to mention opium as an extract and is the earliest known writer to mention the Hippocratic oath. An advocate of polypharmacy, many of his remedies are fantastic and of a magical nature. Nevertheless, his work was basically a sound and valuable collection of recipes and remained popular and authoritative for hundreds of years. Antonio Benivieni (see No. 136) achieved lasting fame from his De abditis nonnullis ac mirandis morborum et sanationum causis, the first work on pathological anatomy. Osler observed that "The special interest of the work is that here, for the first time in modern literature, we have reports of post-mortem examinations made specifically with a view to finding out the exact cause of death" (Osler 3951). Polybus (fl. 380 B.C.), Hippocrates' son-in-law, and Hippocrates' sons, Thessalus and Draco, founded the School of Dogmatism, a medical sect which based its teachings on Hippocrates' aphorisms. They emphasized the importance of investigating not only the obvious, but also the underlying and hidden causes of disease, which eventually led to meaningless philosophical speculation. Polybus is reputed to have been a quiet and studious individual who devoted himself to the study of anatomy and physiology. Aristotle attributes at least two works dealing chiefly with physiology to him. In the present work, edited by Joannes Guinterius (see No. 259), Polybus expounds on his regimen for attaining good health.

See Related Record(s): 136 259

Cited references: Durling 4168; Garrison-Morton 1785 (1528 ed.); Osler 3951; Waller 8785; Wellcome 5894

Gift of John Martin, M.D.