Document Detail


Doctor's order: an early modern doctor's alchemical notebooks.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18548902     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
This is a case study on a series of at least thirty-four sixteenth-century notebooks from the Sloane collection, which reconsiders early modern notetaking techniques and the organisation of knowledge. These notebooks were written by an anonymous compiler, a physician who read widely in the alchemical and medical literature available in his lifetime, the late sixteenth century. In the alchemica, he devotes individual volumes to specific alchemical substances, which are connected with each other by means of a complex system of cross-referencing; they are constantly revised and change appearance according to the physician's latest ideas about alchemical medicines. As a result, the notebooks not only preserve received information (a task otherwise performed by commonplace books in this period)--they also represent an equivalent to the alchemical workshop, where the combination of different textual elements generates knowledge.
Authors:
Anke Timmermann
Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Early science and medicine     Volume:  13     ISSN:  1383-7427     ISO Abbreviation:  Early Sci Med     Publication Date:  2008  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2008-06-13     Completed Date:  2008-06-26     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9610931     Medline TA:  Early Sci Med     Country:  Netherlands    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  25-52     Citation Subset:  QIS    
Affiliation:
Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Alchemy*
History, 16th Century
Manuscripts, Medical / history*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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