Peña J C
Hospital Mocel y Hospital Angeles del Pedregal, México D.F., México.
Am J Nephrol. 1999;19(2):148-54. doi: 10.1159/000013441.
Medicine in Mesoamerican cultures began in the year 1500 BC and ended with the conquest and destruction of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1521 by Spain. Mesoamerica started with the Olmec civilization followed by the Teoitihuacanes, Toltecs, and Mayas and perished with the Nahoa Empire. The medicine used by the Aztecs (ticiotl) is undoubtedly the sum of all Mesoamerican medicine. The medical history of the ticiotl was recovered in the years that followed the conquest from the works of Bernardino de Sahagún and Francisco Hernández and the Cruz-Badiano codex. All these works describe the use of plants and herbs in the treatment of diseases, including, edema, urinary retention, kidney stones, and podagra. The Aztec doctors (titicih) were also well acquainted with innumerable diseases and were excellent healers of wounds and fractures. The works of modern historians confirm the theory of the ticiotl medicine and its application by the titicih and define the differences between the hippocratic-galenic medicine and the ticiotl medicine. The latter used a complex and philosophically elaborated medical theory based on the polarity cold/warm, different from the four-humor theory. They demonstrate that every culture is capable to understand and 'invent' the meaning of disease and its cure, even when it is different from our modern medical views.
中美洲文化中的医学始于公元前1500年，随着1521年西班牙对墨西哥-特诺奇蒂特兰的征服与破坏而终结。中美洲始于奥尔梅克文明，随后是特奥蒂瓦坎人、托尔特克人和玛雅人，随着纳瓦帝国的灭亡而消亡。阿兹特克人使用的医学（ticiotl）无疑是所有中美洲医学的总和。在征服后的几年里，通过贝尔纳迪诺·德·萨哈贡、弗朗西斯科·埃尔南德斯的著作以及《克鲁兹-巴迪亚诺抄本》，ticiotl的医学史得以重现。所有这些著作都描述了植物和草药在治疗疾病中的应用，包括水肿、尿潴留、肾结石和痛风。阿兹特克医生（titicih）也熟知无数疾病，并且是出色的伤口和骨折治疗者。现代历史学家的著作证实了ticiotl医学及其由titicih应用的理论，并界定了希波克拉底-盖伦医学与ticiotl医学之间的差异。后者使用了一种基于冷/热极性的复杂且经过哲学阐述的医学理论，不同于四体液理论。他们表明，即使与我们现代的医学观点不同，每种文化都有能力理解并“发明”疾病及其治愈方法的意义。
