Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 717

CHRISTOPH VON HELLWIG (1663-1721) Curieuser und vernünfftiger Urin-Artzt. Verlegts Ernst Ludwig Niedt 1725 2nd ed. [6] 198 [10] pp. 16.2 cm.

From time immemorial urine has been relied upon as a major diagnostic aid in one way or another. It was long recognized that a deviation from normal coloration pointed to a diseased condition somewhere in the body, and a collection of urine jars and color charts was once a standard item of equipment for anyone with any pretension to the art of healing by whatever means: divination, necromancy, astrology, magic, or medical science. Astrology, of course, has never died out completely, and the present work is an interesting example of the examination of urine and treatment of whatever disease or condition is indicated by means of astrological determinations. Hellwig wrote literally dozens of such popular pseudo-medical works, and this is one of his best-known and most widely-used. Bound at the end of this volume is a work by Thomas Brian (fl. 1637), Der englische Wahrsager, a work similar to Hellwig's, which appeared originally in English as The Pisse-Prophet. These two works often appeared together.

Cited references: Wellcome III, p. 240 (4th ed., 1748)

Gift of Robert N. Larimer, M.D