Roger Bacon and the Incorruptible Human, 1220-1292: Alchemy, Pharmacology and the Desire to Prolong Life
1. Introduction -- 2. Roger Bacon and the Unnatural State of Man -- 3. Learning to Prolong Life -- 4. The Corpus Equale -- 5. Medicines and their Effects on the Body -- 6. Debate and Authority in the Reshaping of Medicine -- 7. Franciscan Understanding of the Ideal Human Body -- 8. Conclusion.
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cham
Springer International Publishing
2023.
Cham Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan 2023. |
| In: | Year: 2023 |
| Edition: | 1st ed. 2023. |
| Series/Journal: | Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine
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| Further subjects: | B
Medicine—History
B Philosophy—History B Science—History B Europe—History—476-1492 B Religion—History |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Erscheint auch als: 9783031128974 Erscheint auch als: 9783031128998 Erscheint auch als: 9783031129001 |
| Summary: | 1. Introduction -- 2. Roger Bacon and the Unnatural State of Man -- 3. Learning to Prolong Life -- 4. The Corpus Equale -- 5. Medicines and their Effects on the Body -- 6. Debate and Authority in the Reshaping of Medicine -- 7. Franciscan Understanding of the Ideal Human Body -- 8. Conclusion. This book examines Roger Bacon’s alchemical theories, and explains how he believed that the key to extending life lay not in the curricula as taught in the medical faculties of the universities, but in the study of alchemy. Though twelfth- and thirteenth-century alchemy was generally concerned with the transmutation of metals, Bacon’s alchemy was a much larger area of study, and encompassed the generation and corruption of all material things in the sublunary world. It was this aspect of alchemy, which Bacon referred to as speculative alchemy, that explained how the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth interacted with each other to make the basis of reality as man could know it. Thus, the study of alchemy in conjunction with humoral medicine could explain not only how the human body worked, but how it interacted with the materials around it, illuminating the method of prolonging life to extreme lengths. . |
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| ISBN: | 3031128982 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12898-1 |