par Moreau, Elisabeth
Référence RSA – The Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting (13-15 April 2021)
Publication Non publié, 2021
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : Renaissance physicians extensively discussed the nature, composition, and active powers of drugs in relation to Galenic pharmacology. As natural bodies, drugs were considered as having a constitution which defines their material qualities and the properties of their substance. In this framework, efficient drugs were seen as transforming the constitution of the affected body parts by restoring the balance of their qualities or by acting through specific powers. In this talk, I will explore how Galenic physicians explained medicinal properties in relation to the body’s composition and physiological processes. To this purpose, I will examine the pharmacological theory of the Italian physician Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603). By considering his work On the Faculties of Drugs [De medicamentorum facultatibus] (1593), I will assess his reception of ancient and medieval medical texts on this theme in order to delineate late Renaissance explanations of drug composition and action.

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