Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 719

JUAN DE ESTEYNEFFER (1664-1716) Florilegio medicinal de todas las enfermedadas. En casa de J. Oosterwyck [1719] [38] 521 pp. 19.5 cm.

Esteyneffer was a native of Iglau in Moravia. After entering the Society of Jesus in 1686, he studied pharmacy at Brno and became what today we would call a nurse practitioner. He was initially sent to northern Mexico to attend the older and retired missionaries. However, as he explains in the introduction to the present work, he found it was just not possible to visit all the missions where he was needed. So he prepared this book to assist those missionaries who worked in northern Mexico and what is now the southwestern United States. Esteyneffer's handbook successfully combined European medical knowledge with Indian herbal medicine. The book was easy to use and prescribed well-known remedies and common herbs of the region. The work is organized into three parts: medicine, surgery, and pharmacology. The first part discussed some eighty-six diseases with appropriate therapeutic recommendations. The surgical section dealt with tumors, ulcers, wounds, fractures, and dislocations. The final part was a pharmacopoeia and contained instructions for compounding the remedies. After its publication in 1711, the work became quite popular and was republished as late as 1887. Many authorities believe that this book standardized herbal medicine throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The portrait usually present is wanting in the University of Iowa Libraries' copy.

Cited references: Cushing E96; Waller 2818

Gift of Margaret Scott Hunt in memory of Dr. John Scott Hunt