First and only edition of a work on the history of medicine by the French doctor Symphorien Champier (1472-1539). The present work is a synthesis of Renaissance pharmacy and therapeutics. Throughout his career, Champier sought to reconcile the authority of the classical medical tradition with the practical realities of contemporary medical practice. The present work, published only a few years before his death, represents the culmination of decades of medical study and clinical experience.
Despite its title, the Castigationes is far more than a critique of pharmaceutical authorities. Arranged in four books, it offers a comprehensive survey of pharmacy, materia medica, and therapeutics. Champier discusses the preparation and proper use of medicinal compounds, the qualities and virtues of simples and compound remedies, purgatives and laxatives, and the treatment of a wide range of diseases affecting the human body. Practical guidance for apothecaries is combined with broader reflections on medical theory, including discussions of bloodletting, regimen, and the medicinal use of wine, illustrating the close relationship between physician and apothecary in 16th-century healthcare.
With some manuscript annotations in the margins. The two parts bond in reverse order. Very slightly browned and some occasional minor spots. The corners of the boards are bumped and the spine is soiled. Otherwise in very good condition. Durling 930; Parkinson 505; USTC 146398; cf. N.G. Siraisi, Avicenna in renaissance Italy: the canon and medical teaching in Italian universities after 1500 (1987), pp. 71-73.