Officially Prescribed. Prescriptions in Gdańsk Epidemic Literature of the 16th and 17th Centuries Cover Image

Urzędowo przepisane. Recepty w gdańskiej literaturze epidemicznej XVI i XVII w.
Officially Prescribed. Prescriptions in Gdańsk Epidemic Literature of the 16th and 17th Centuries

Author(s): Bartłomiej Siek
Subject(s): History, Local History / Microhistory, Health and medicine and law, Source Material
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Early Modern Gdańsk; epidemic literature; prescriptions; history of medicine

Summary/Abstract: In the epidemic-related texts printed by Gdańsk publishing houses in the 16th and 17th centuries, we can also find prescriptions. Over time, they gave way to short tax notes on anti-epidemic drugs attached to official forms. Ten publications from 1564–1663 were analyzed, and by comparing their contents, a list of 47 prescriptions and 144 drug names was compiled. The significant difference in the number of prescriptions and drugs was linked to the specificity of the Gdańsk pharmacy market in that period. On the example of works by Bartholomaeus Wagner, Jacob Schadius, Valerius Fidler, Johann Mathesius and prints signed by official city physicians, the evolution of anti-epidemic publications in Gdańsk was characterized and compared with the Gdańsk taxes then in force. The publications by Bartholomaeus Calckreuter and Gerbrand Hajo were cited as a context.

  • Issue Year: 2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 63-78
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish