The lesser writings of John Arderne / by D'Arcy Power.

  • D'Arcy Power
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The lesser writings of John Arderne / by D'Arcy Power. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mend ‘the seed of an herb that is called passiantes and it hath rede floures & bereth seed lyke Saxifrage & it groweth in feeldy places & in Gardines ’ and it is useful ‘ayenste the suffocacione of the matrice, after M. J. of Gadesdone ’—suffocation of the matrice being hysteria in modern language. Treatise on gout. The virtues of juniper causes Arderne to give a list of diuretics, and this leads him directly to a somewhat detailed account of gout. Diuretics, he says, ‘profytene moste in alle the akynges of joyntes for they putten out the mater of the gowte by the uryne in certeyne (pro certo).’ Their action is greatly aided by clysters. Gout comes of wines, especially if they be mixed, and from cold. It is best treated by local blood-letting, purging with a mild electuary, and diet. In certain cases it is useful to ‘ putte a ventose, with a manere that is called boxynge, of the nye partes and it shal be done per methatisme that is to sey it schalbe done withinne xxiiii ourys after the begynnynge of the sykness’. Later in the attack the patient may be purged with pillules “de benedicta Harmodactilata ’ (Colchicum) ‘or these pillules made of the maystrys of Salertitane the weche they yaff to the Erle Symond & Archybysschoppe of Romalde the weche avaylen ayene artitikys, podagre, sciatikys, selertes with oute perell they helpene the ligne, gynger, mastichena macerat., Anyse, Ache, Saxifrage, brassica sem. Speragus, rosys, Gromell seed, Sal gemme ana Zii. Aloes the quantyte of alle these, Scamonye sc. i. They schalbe made & medlyd with the juse of herbe yve or of ffenell yf thou lakke yve. Only the juse of herbe yve profiteth moche ayene the arthetikes. Every day a mane may yeve sykirly of thes pillules ix or xi late whane a mane goth to bedde. The conservynge also with the circumstaunsys that perteyne to the yevynge of the seyde pillules is that the wynde be sowth & esy & that the mone be not in non of thes sygnys that is to seye in Aries, in Tauro, nother in Capricorne. Also it is to be-warre that the pacyent soowpe note in that nyght that he purposyth to take the seyd pillules & after that he hath resseuyd heme he may slepe ther-one, yf he wole, oone oure or more yf the pillules be note fressch to werke. And from the tyme that he feleth rumbelynge in the wombe (belly) he schall meve him from oo side to another & in no wyse slepe tyll he is purgyd.’ _ The prescription and advice is taken from Gilbertus Anglicus (Compen- dium, fol. 315 verso). The Earl Simon no doubt was Simon de Montfort, of whom the rhyme ran in Arderne’s day : Salve Symon Montis Fortis Tocius flos miliciz Duras penas passus mortis Protector gentis Anglie. Sciatica. Arderne distinguished between a sciatica in its acute form, or sciatica passio, and sciatica that cometh of cold and gout in the bones called ‘boneshave’. For cure of the boneshave he uses the oil of the yolks of eggs or the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, ‘a good remedye & moche commendyd of the lechys of Salernen.’ In this connexion he gives details XXIII I
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