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Saint Anthony's Fire from Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century / Alessandra Foscati.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Premodern Health, Disease, and Disability ; 2Publisher: Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2019]Copyright date: ©2019Description: 1 online resource (264 p.) : 4Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9789048533312
Subject(s): Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I: The Burning Disease : Different Names for the Same Disease or Different Diseases with the Same Name? -- Part II: St Anthony the Abbot , Thaumaturge of the Burning Disease, and the Order of the Hospital Brothers of St Anthony -- Part III: The Discovery of Ergotism (Saint Anthony's Fire?) -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- About the Author -- Index
Summary: After the discovery of the ergotism epidemics (poisoning caused by ingesting the fungal toxin of rye) and its etiology, eighteenth-century physicians interpreted medieval chronicles in their medical texts in order to recognize the occurrences of ergotic diseases through retrospective diagnosis. They assumed that St. Anthony's fire and ignis sacer ("sacred fire") recorded in medieval texts represented the same disease, ergotism. This interpretative method, lacking a textual basis in the sources, has been incorrectly followed by historians till now. This book examines this historical prejudice through textual analysis, comparing diverse medieval and early modern sources. A striking semantic complexity emerges that changes the concept of St. Anthony's fire and modifies our understanding of diseases in general. This research illuminates aspects of the history of medicine, society, and hospitals.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9789048533312

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I: The Burning Disease : Different Names for the Same Disease or Different Diseases with the Same Name? -- Part II: St Anthony the Abbot , Thaumaturge of the Burning Disease, and the Order of the Hospital Brothers of St Anthony -- Part III: The Discovery of Ergotism (Saint Anthony's Fire?) -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- About the Author -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

After the discovery of the ergotism epidemics (poisoning caused by ingesting the fungal toxin of rye) and its etiology, eighteenth-century physicians interpreted medieval chronicles in their medical texts in order to recognize the occurrences of ergotic diseases through retrospective diagnosis. They assumed that St. Anthony's fire and ignis sacer ("sacred fire") recorded in medieval texts represented the same disease, ergotism. This interpretative method, lacking a textual basis in the sources, has been incorrectly followed by historians till now. This book examines this historical prejudice through textual analysis, comparing diverse medieval and early modern sources. A striking semantic complexity emerges that changes the concept of St. Anthony's fire and modifies our understanding of diseases in general. This research illuminates aspects of the history of medicine, society, and hospitals.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 02. Mrz 2022)