A history of geology and medicine

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Imprint:

London : The Geological Society, 2013 and ©2013

Subject:

Geology - History
Rocks - Therapeutic use
Earths, Medical and surgical uses of
Materia medica
Hydrotherapy
Balneology
Environmentally induced diseases
Medicine - History

Contributor:

Duffin, Christopher J., editor
Moody, Richard, editor
Gardner-Thorpe, Christopher, editor

ISBN:

9781862393561 and 1862393567

Series:

Geological Society special publication

Description:

vi, 490 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits, maps ; 26 cm

Bibliographic Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents:

Geology as medicine and medics as geologists / C.J. Duffin -- Lithotherapeutical research sources from antiquity to the mid-eighteenth century / C.J. Duffin -- Cryptopalaeontology / E. Liñán, M. Liñán and J. Carrasco -- The stomatological use of stones cited in the Kitab al-tasrif treatise (Abulcasis, 1000 CE) / J. Carrasco, and M. Liñán -- The gem electuary / C.J. Duffin -- Medicinal terra sigillata: a historical, geographical and typological review / A. Macgregor -- Materia medica in the seventeenth-century Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo / W.D.I. Rolfe -- History of pharmaceutical use of pumice / C.J. Duffin -- Pharmaceutical use of gold from antiquity to the seventeenth century / R. Console -- Bezoar stones, magic, science and art / M.D.S. Barroso -- Some early eighteenth century geological Materia Medica / C.J. Duffin -- Religiosity and magic in some lithoiatric practices of European folk medicine / M. Aliverti -- Britain's spa heritage: a hydrogeological appraisal / J.D. Mather -- Groundwater -- medicine by the glassful? / N.S. Robins and P.L. Smedley -- Sunday stone: an enduring metaphor of mining diseases and underground mining conditions / J.H. Pearn and C. Gardner-Thorpe -- The influence of geology in the development of public health / B.P. Bergman -- From flesh to fossils -- Nicolaus Steno's anatomy of the Earth / Bek-Thomsen, J. -- Diagnosing fossilization in the Nordic Renaissance: an investigation into the correspondence of Ole Worm (1588-1654) / E. Hoch -- Education forms the tender mind / C. Gardner-Thorpe -- James Parkinson's 'system of successive creations' / C. Lewis -- From obstetrics to oryctology: inside the mind of William Hunter (1718-1783) / J.J. Liston -- John Jeremiah Bigsby, MD: British Army physician and pioneer North American geologist / L.G. Wilson -- Five eighteenth-century medical polymaths / G.C. Hull -- John Whitaker Hulke, surgeon and palaeontologist / S. Wills -- Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle's contribution to the popularity of pterodactyls / D.M. Martill and T. Pointon -- Physicians and their contribution to the early history of earth sciences in Austria / D.C. Angetter, B. Hubmann and J. Seidl -- Medical geologists during the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration / H. Guly -- Vomiting stones: mental illness and forensic medicine in 18th century Italy / A. Porro, C. Cristini, B. Falconi, A.F. Franchini and L. Lorusso -- Geology, conservation and dissolution of corpses by Paolo Gorini (1813-1881) / L. Lorusso, B. Falconi, A.F. Franchini and A. Porro

Summary:

"The historical links between geology and medicine are surprisingly numerous and diverse. This, the first ever volume dedicated to the subject, contains contributions from an international authorship of geologists, historians and medical professionals. Rocks, minerals, fossils and earths have been used therapeutically since earliest times and details recorded on ancient papyri, clay tablets, medieval manuscripts and early published sources. Pumice was used to clean teeth, antimony to heal wounds, clays as antidotes to poison, gold to cure haemorrhoids and warts, and gem pastes to treat syphilis and the plague, while mineral springs preserved health. Geology was crucial in the development of public health. Medical men who made important contributions to geology include Steno, Worm, Parkinson, Bigsby, William Hunter, Jenner, John Hulke, Conan Doyle, Gorini and various Antarctic explorers."-- Back cover

Collection:

BGC Monograph Stacks

Call Number:

RS166 .H57 2013

Available

c.1