{"id":254866,"date":"2026-01-27T23:02:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254866\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:02:43","slug":"scientists-found-evidence-of-renaissance-medicine-in-an-ancient-tome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254866\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Found Evidence of Renaissance Medicine in an Ancient Tome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story:<\/p>\n

Researchers analyzing proteins from fingerprints and other residue in a 16th-century medicinal guide found evidence of strange ingredients actually being used in the treatment of patients.Remedies were derived from both plants and animals (local and exotic), and they included things like cabbage, ginseng, powdered lizards, and hippopotamus teeth.Many of these potential cures can be explained by the thinking of the time, which involved using substances whose properties could potentially correct \u2018imbalances\u2019 in the body. <\/p>\n

During the early Renaissance period, there was no such thing as a 24-hour pharmacy or easy, over-the-counter remedies like aspirin or ibuprofen. Most people instead relied on either uninformed medical practitioners or remedy books that guided them through the process of making concoctions that were supposed to cure (or at least mitigate the symptoms of) everything from hair loss<\/a> to diarrhea. The allegedly active ingredients? Everything from flowers and weeds to powdered lizards, hippo teeth, and even human feces. <\/p>\n

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library<\/a>, a labyrinthine collection of human knowledge at the University of Manchester in England, houses stacks of rare and historical tomes<\/a> that go back centuries. Among those books are two medical manuals published by German ophthalmologist Bartholom\u00e4us Vothgerr in 1531: How to Cure and Expel All Afflictions and Illnesses of the Human Body (Afflictions) and A Useful and Essential Little Book of Medicine for the Common Man. <\/p>\n

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Researchers who studied the fingerprints and residues left behind in these books analyzed the proteins left behind. Proteomics<\/a>\u2014the study of proteins, their functions, and their interactions\u2014had never before been used to elucidate what was really going on with Renaissance medicine<\/a>, and employing it in this study revealed that people were using some truly bizarre remedies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen studying recipes with different means of contextualization\u2014textual, imaging, and laboratory analyses\u2014we recover[ed] unexpected insights into Renaissance<\/a> medicine,\u201d the team wrote in a study recently published in the journal American Historical Review<\/a>. \u201cThese insights include links between medical and material experimentation and their impact on Renaissance bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surviving copy of Vogtherr\u2019s Afflictions was taken to the Rylands Imaging Laboratory, where high-res photos were taken in visible light before before being viewed in other spectra, such as UV and infrared<\/a>. Wavelengths of light outside the visible part of the spectrum revealed organic residues that suggested people were not only using these medical recipes at home, but also experimenting with them and adding ingredients that were not listed, but might have still had some association with the condition they were trying to treat. <\/p>\n

Sequencing proteins and amino acids in these residues further confirmed how these recipes had been used. Hair loss remedies suggested the use of European beech, watercress, and rosemary, and peptides from these plants were discovered on those pages (beech traces were also found in a section on removing hair mites). Peptides from plants in the same family as cabbage and mustard corresponded to another baldness treatment, which called for ground cabbage and radish oil. Traces of other plants such as chicory, lupines, soybeans, Easter lily, and eucalyptus suggested personal experimentation<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Potential cures for thinning hair went much further than backyard plants. One in particular recommended washing the head with human feces, and residues on that page revealed the protein lipocalin<\/a>, which protects against intestinal inflammation<\/a>. It could have only come from the contents of someone\u2019s chamber pot.<\/p>\n

And it only gets stranger. Exoticism had begun to sweep through Renaissance Europe during Vogtherr\u2019s time, and cures derived from animals\u2014many imported from faraway lands\u2014had become all the rage. Reptiles in particular were seen as a trending medicine, and peptides matching lizards<\/a> and tortoise shells were discovered next to yet another potential cure for hair loss. A further look into the literature of the period found other German regrowth recipes involving lizard oil (preferably French or Italian) or lizard heads that had been dried and pulverized. <\/p>\n

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Hippopotamus teeth were also a valuable commodity, and were thought to cure toothaches, headaches, and hemorrhoids. In fact, the entire creature was seen as a walking apothecary\u2014its ashes were used as skincare, its lard was thought to be a fever reducer, and dentures were carved from its bones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not everything recommended by books like Afflictions was without merit. Some recommendations were for plants that actually do contain powerful antioxidant compounds, such as ginseng. And to be fair to those attempting to give medical advice at the time, even the cures that sound like snake oil were based off contemporary beliefs that certain properties of a plant or animal would correct \u2018imbalances\u2019 within the human body<\/a>. While obviously lacking in the kind of understanding that would come with the invention of the microscope, this interpretation of human health might hint at the beginnings of an understanding of the complexity of human health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cProteomics have the potential to recover unique insights about the degree to which past humans differed materially from bodies today,\u201d the researchers said<\/a>. \u201cThe study of \u201cbiologically active\u201d proteins<\/a>, thus, reminds historians of the world of material vibrancy and dynamism and empowers researchers to write different histories in the age of the Anthropocene.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Ars Technica, SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Den of Geek, Forbidden Futures and Collective Tales. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she can be found drawing, playing the piano or shapeshifting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story: Researchers analyzing proteins from fingerprints and other residue in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[134,524,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-254866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}