1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910639899003321

Autore

Allen Meagan S.

Titolo

Roger Bacon and the incorruptible human, 1220-1292 : alchemy, pharmacology and the desire to prolong life / / Meagan S. Allen

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2023

ISBN

9783031128981

9783031128974

Edizione

[1st ed. 2023.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Collana

Palgrave Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Medicine, , 2524-7395

Disciplina

069

610.92

Soggetti

Alchemy - History - To 1500

Alchemy - Religious aspects - Christianity - History - To 1500

Medicine - History - To 1500

Medicine - Religious aspects - Christianity - History - To 1500

Medicine, Medieval - Great Britain

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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.

Sommario/riassunto

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. .