Riha Ortrun
Karl-Sudhoff-Institut für Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften, Leipzig.
Medizinhist J. 2006;41(2):137-55.
(To what extent) are medieval surgical texts realistic? Were they written as guidelines for everyday work, or are they documents of scientific education? Both is true, as the example of the famous Red Powder shows: all ingredients are based on medical theory, and we can be rather sure that most medieval surgeons knew the recipe. Nevertheless, we have great difficulties in comparing medieval and contemporary "experience". Neither can we identify the drugs (e. g. castoreum), nor the diseases they were used for (at least not for certain), nor do we know what was regarded as improvement or success. Instead, we may reconstruct some medieval patterns of interpretation and perception in the field of medicine. Thus, this article may be read as a contribution to the current discussion in the history of mentalities and in cultural studies.
中世纪的外科文献有多写实？它们是作为日常工作的指南而写，还是科学教育的文献？两者皆有，以著名的红粉为例：所有成分都基于医学理论，而且我们可以相当确定大多数中世纪外科医生都知道这个配方。然而，我们在比较中世纪和当代的“经验”时遇到了很大困难。我们既无法识别药物（如海狸香），也无法确定它们所用于治疗的疾病（至少不能确定），我们也不知道什么被视为改善或成功。相反，我们可以重建医学领域中一些中世纪的解释和认知模式。因此，本文可被视为对心态史和文化研究当前讨论的一份贡献。
