Kräuterbuch der Klostermedizin: Der 'Macer floridus'. Medizin des Mittelalters

von Reprint-Verlag-Leipzig - ISBN 9783826211300

Gebundene Ausgabe, 272 Seiten
Veröffentlichung Sep 2003 bei Reprint-Verlag-Leipzig
Amazon-Verkaufsrang #96923
Bewertung 5.0/5.0 bei 1 Meinungen
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Autor: Reprint-Verlag-Leipzig
ISBN 9783826211300
ISBN 3826211308 (alt)

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Kritik zu Kräuterbuch der Klostermedizin: Der "Macer floridus". Medizin des Mittelalters

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I must declare an interest! When Johannes Gottfried Mayer's and Konrad Goehl's previous publication "Höhepunkte der Klostermedizin" came out I wrote a review of their work for amazon and I have been corresponding with Konrad Goehl ever since. Konrad was kind enough to adopt some of my very minor suggestions and embarrased me amicably with a completely undeserved mention in the foreword of this new book under review. I am therefore liable to be accused of bias and cronyism.

However, this is one of the rare occasions where "camaradery" and critical appraisal go happily hand in hand. It is my contention that even the less favourably inclined will find little fault with this book, the main part of which consists of the reprinting of K. Goehl's admirable German translation of Macer Floridus, but this time without the Latin original text. My only criticism must be their far too humble title: "Kräuterbuch der Klostermedizin". This a gross misnomer, since, in fact, it is much more than that, namely a wide-scope view of the development of humoral theory, from its humble beginnings in Greek natural philosophy to its apogee in the hyper-nuanced quasi-algorithmic approach of the writers in Arabic.

Just consider the table of contents:
"Die Entstehung der Viersäftelehre in der griechischen Naturphilosophie". (J.G. Mayer), pp.30-41. (Not part of the previous publication)
"Die Grundzüge der Medizintheorie Avicennas". (J.G. Mayer and K. Goehl), pp.42 - 73. (Not part of the previous publication)
"Avicenna, Canon, Liber I", Teilübersetzung von Konrad Goehl, pp. 74 - 124. (Not part of the previous publication)
"Die Pflanzen im :Macer Floridus9 und ihre heutige Bedeutung." (J.G. Mayer), pp. 125-166 (commenting on 77 plants),
"Alphabetisches Verzeichnis der Pflanzen im :Macer Floridus9 nach moderner botanischer Nomenklatur", pp.167 - 178.
"Der :Macer Floridus9, Übersetzung des Kräuterbuchs". (K. Goehl), pp. 178 - 258,
followed by a bibiliography and extensive indexes ("Leiden, Schäden, Gefährdungen"; "Heilmittel"; Zusätze: Ersatzmittel, Kontraindikationen, Zauberwirkungen, Personen (new), Orte, Länder, Völker, Sprachen" (new).

Like relativity theory and quantum mechanics, where macro and micro do not seem to link up, I find a parallel situation in history of medicine: on the one hand there are many excellent general histories of medicine (e.g. by Daremberg, Sigerist, Singer) and on the other hand there are numerous outstanding works editing single authors (e.g. Wellmann editing Dioscorides), while there is a dearth of publications dealing with themed aspects along the middle plain. But in the "Kräuterbuch der Klostermedizin", where with the help of well-chosen inductions, excerpts and texts, even an old hack like myself came away marvelling afresh at such a mundane thing as humoral theory, a large chunk of the history of medicine can be gleaned from actual sources in this wonderful book, and at relatively little expense. Yet as often in life, rather than being content with what you have got, a good thing can make you even more greedy: I just hope that this book will be one of many further successful high-quality publications by this "Autorengespann".