The Use of Bathing in Medicine: Now Available!

 

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This little work details some of the herbs used in a medicinal setting pertinent to bathing throughout time, with a special focus on the practices of ancient Greece and Rome. It compares these usages to practices in vogue in then-modern (18th century) England.

The processes detailed are often presented in such a manner that some of the recipes used in both hot and cold bathing- especially aromatics and astringents pertinent to the theory of the four humors proposed initially by Galen but still believed in until relatively modern times with the rise of early standardized systems in organic medicine.

Fully illustrated.

37 pages.

Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum: Now Available!

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Of all of the works I have edited this might be the most amusing. Written in the Medieval era, it was translated into English surprisingly early by John Harington in 1608.

Its content is one part herbal, one part dietary guide, and one part social tract. It praises sanitation, hand washing, and moderation in drinking, but also encourages the reader to clean their teeth by burning leek and henbane and directing the smoke into their mouth with a funnel (a potentially dangerous practice- henbane is a potent deliriant.)

With references to the four humors and bloodletting, it certainly gives a decent look at the general medical practice of the era; perhaps one part good suggestions to two parts utter madness. Nonetheless, the herbal and philosophical content makes it perfectly occult in manner.

24 pages.