Medieval Europe

Zinc was not intentionally made in medieval Europe, though small amounts were obtained by accidental condensation in the production of lead, silver and brass it was imported from China by... 

Thorndike, Lynn. History of medieval Europe. Boston (MA) Houghton Mifflin, 1928. 682p. 

Gilmour, B. and E. Worrall (1995), Paktong The trade in Chinese nickel brass to Europe, in Hook, D. R. and D. R. M. Gaimster (eds.), Trade and Discovery The Scientific Study of Artefacts from Post-Medieval Europe and Beyond, British Museum, London, pp. 279-282. 

Saint-John s-wort was used in ancient Greece and medieval Europe, where it was believed to ward off evil spirits. Its name derives from wort, the Old English word for herb, and the fact that it was harvested in Europe on the eve of St. John s day (June 24th) and burned to purify the air (Fleiligenstein and Guenther 1998). Traditional uses include treatment of depression, insomnia, enuresis, and anxiety. Modern use has focused on its antidepressant effects and possible antiviral effects for treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus (FIIV) (Fleiligenstein et al. 1998) (table 7.3). There has been some interest in its antiglioma effects as well (Couldwell et al. 1993). 

The eighth century Arabian alchemist, Jabir ibn Hayyan (circa 721-815), known in medieval Europe as Geber, was a member of the mystical Islamic movement known as Sufism. Sufis incorporated many... 

Felling, Compromised by Gender, 107 cf. Monica Green, Womens Medical Practice and Medical Care in Medieval Europe , Signs 14 (1989), 434—73. 

In Forman s exposition of the Microcosmos he drew on books espousing Renaissance Neoplatonism and Paracelsianism, traditions that since Ficino s efforts in the late fifteenth century had fostered discursive texts on magic. In medieval Europe magical books passed from hand to hand, sometimes excerpted into recipe books and other collections, sometimes copied in full. Like books of secrets, magical books were cumulative endeavours, in part... 

Many do, but science writer Martin Gardner reports that a greater percentage of Americans today believe in astrology and occult phenomena than did citizens of medieval Europe. Very few newspapers carry a daily science column, but nearly all provide daily horoscopes. 

The family Solanaceae, made up of more than 2,400 species, is especially noteworthy. Many of its members contain the alkaloids atropine (dl-hyoscyamine) and scopolamine (hyosdne). Atropine shows up in mandrake root, henbane and thorn apple it constitutes just over 4.5 percent of the asthmatic preparation called Asthmador. Schultes and Hofmann claim that there are no reports on the effects of atropine alone "which could explain the addition of belladonna as an ingredient of magic brews in medieval Europe. But Hoffer and Osmond recall several historical incidents that attest to its psychoactivity. One story involved a family of five who in 1963 ate tomato plants that had been grafted onto jimson weed, producing 6.36 mg. of atropine per tomato "All five developed deliroid reactions of varying intensity and some had to be treated in the hospital several days. This seems to be the first known instance of hallucinogenic tomatoes. ... 

Harley, J. B., and Woodward, D. (eds.) (1987). The history of cartography, vol. 1 Cartography in prehistoric, ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. Chicago University of Chicago Press. 

The change in medieval Europe was more gradual than the change we... 

The discovery that the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria) was known for its psychoactive properties in Siberia invited the conclusion that this mushroom was used as a psychotropic agent in medieval Europe as well. In fact, there is very little evidence from the Middle Ages to indicate widespread knowledge of the effects of specific mushrooms on human consciousness. However, I believe that past reports on psychoactive mushrooms were causally linked to Amanita muscaria simply because this was the only known psychotropic mushroom in Europe at that time. 

With the advent of modern chemistry and toxicology, we have begun to understand the chemistry behind the actions of poison. However, despite a lack of scientific method, a remarkable amount was known about the effects, uses and treatments of poisoning in the unscientific world of medieval Europe. 

The story of Morienus is told in the first alchemy text that appeared in medieval Europe. This was the Book of the Composition of Alchemy, which was translated from Arabic into Latin in 1144 by an Englishman known as Robert of Chester. 

The Arabs had preserved the writings of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, and had carried on the beliefs and practices of the early alchemists. They had also added a great deal of their own to alchemy, mainly in terms of chemical discoveries and improvements in apparatus. It was not until the 12th century, with the translations made by Robert of Chester and his followers, that medieval Europe learned of the mysterious science of alchemy. 

Hancock, R.G.V., L.A. Pavlish, R.M. Farquhar and W.D. Finlayson. 1995. Analysis of copper-based metals from archaeological sites at Crawford Lake, south-central Ontario, Canada. In Trade and Discovery The Scientific Study of Artefacts from Post-medieval Europe and Beyond. edited by Duncan R. Hook and David R.M. Gaimster British Museum Occasional Paper 109. pp. 283-297... 

Trade and Discovery The Scientific Study of Artefacts from Post-medieval Europe and... 

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