A reassessment of the efficacy of Anglo-Saxon medicine

Anglo-Saxon England

Volumn 34, Issue , 2005, Pages 183-195

  Brennessel, Barbara ^a   Drout, Michael D C ^a   Gravel, Robyn ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60950363100     PISSN: 14740532     EISSN: 14740532     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0263675105000086     Document Type: Review

References (29)

1. J. H. G. Grattan and C. Singer, Anglo-Saxon Magic and Medicine: Illustrated Specially from the Semi-Pagan Text 'Lacnunga' (Oxford, 1952), p. 92
2. M. L. Cameron, Anglo-Saxon Medicine, CSASE 7 (Cambridge, 1993), p. 74
3. M. L. Cameron, 'Bald's Leechbook: its Sources and their use in its Compilation', ASE 12 (1983), 153-82
4. Cameron, 'Anglo-Saxon Medicine and Magic', ASE 17 (1988), 191-215
5. Cameron, 'Bald's Leechbook and Cultural Interactions in Anglo-Saxon England', ASE 19 (1988), 5-12
6. Cameron, Anglo-Saxon Medicine
7. see also W. Bonser, The Medical Background of Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1963)
8. and G. Storms, Anglo-Saxon Magic (The Hague, 1948)
9. and see in particular C. H. Talbot, Medicine in Medieval England (London, 1967), pp. 21-3
10. N. R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957), no. 264, pp. 332-3
11. For additional textual analysis, see A. Meaney, 'Variant Versions of Old English Medical Remedies and the Compilation of Bald's Leechbook', ASE 13 (1984), 235-64
12. and J. N. Adams and M. Deegan, 'Bald's Leechbook and the Physica Plinii', ASE 21 (1992), 87-114
13. O. Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England. 3 vols. RS (London, 1864-6)
14. G. Leonhardi, Klienere angelsächsische Denkmäler I, Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Prosa 6 (Kassel, 1905)
15. M. Deegan, 'A Critical Edition of MS B. L. Royal 12. D. xvii: Bald's "Leechbook"', (unpubl. PhD dissertation, Univ. of Manchester, 1991). A new edition is in preparation by Maria Amalia D'Aronco
16. Cockayne, Leechdoms II, p. 34
17. M. E. Weisse, B. Eberly and D. A. Person, 'Wine as a Digestive Aid: Comparative Antimicrobial Effects of Bismuth Salicylate and Red and White Wine', Brit. Medical Jnl 311 (1995), 1657-60
18. M. Kivanc and B. Kunduhoglu, 'Antimicrobial Activity of Fresh Plant Juices on the Growth of Bacteria and Yeasts', Jnl of Qafqaz University 1 (1997), 27-35
19. G. P. Sivam, 'Protection against Helicobacter Pylori and Other Bacterial Infections by Garlic', Jnl of Nutrition 131 (2001), 1106S-1108S
20. J. H. Kim, 'Anti-Bacterial Action of Onion (Allium cepa L.) Extracts Against Oral Pathogenic Bacteria', J. Nihon Univ. School of Dentistry 39 (1997), 136-141
21. P. Bierbaumer, Der botanishe Wortschatz des Altenglischen, 3 vols. (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1975) I, 40; II, 29; III 3, p. 64
22. R. F. Tylecote, A History of Metallurgy 2nd ed. (London, 1992), pp. 69-88
23. Copper-zinc alloys with up to 40 per cent Zn are classified as brasses; W. F. Smith, Structure and Properties of Engineering Alloys (New York, 1981), pp. 225-41
24. W. A. Oddy and I. M. McIntyre, 'St Mel's Crozier - Technical Examination and Report on Conservation in 1971-2', The Jnl of the R. Soc. of Antiquaries of Ireland 103 (1973), 35-46. We are grateful for the generous assistance of Leo Biek, Justine Bayley, R. I. Page and Catherine Mortimer
25. P. T. Craddock, '2000 Years of Zinc and Brass', Brit. Museum Occasional Paper 50 (1998)
26. J. Bayley, 'Metals and Metalworking in the First Millennium AD', Science and Archeology, ed. J. Bayley (London, 1998), pp. 161-8
27. Testing was performed by John Walsh with the assistance of Prof. Laura Muller. Alloy 260, also called 'cartridge brass', is 70 per cent Cu and 30 per cent Zn. Alloy 463, Naval brass, is 60 per cent Cu, 39.25 per cent Zn, and 0.75 per cent Sn. Additional assistance with metallurgy was provided by Raquel M. D'Oyen, Roy Simons, Gregory B. Olsen and Rick Kraemer
28. Cockayne, Leechdoms I, pp. 40-1
29. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for ASE for some of this language. As an example of such understanding, see Christine Franzen's discussion of how the 'Tremulous Hand of Worcester' glossed remedies for bladder stones and dimness of the eyes in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 76. These ailments were, as Franzen's correspondent Margaret Pelling notes, possible 'common preoccupations which were also of particular concern to his "occupational group"'. C. Franzen, The Tremulous Hand of Worcester: a Study of Old English in the Thirteenth Century, (Oxford, 1991), p. 199. The authors would like to thank Wheaton College, which has supported this research over many years through the Wheaton Research Partners program. This project was sparked in 1994 by a suggestion from David I. Drout, MD, and the first set of experiments was supported by a grant from the Mars Foundation. Research travel was supported by the Davis International Foundation, and we also would like to thank Prof. Gale Owen-Crocker and Prof. Elaine Treharne for their support and patience. Prof. Betsey Dyer and John Walsh (who did the pioneering experiments), Regina Sekkes, Monica Voudris, Sarah Auclair, Emily Mallick and Amanda Hovey also contributed a great deal to the effort. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, and Provost Susanne Woods and the Wheaton Committee on Faculty Scholarship facilitated faculty and student presentation of this material at scholarly meetings