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Chapter Forty Seven - Aspirin

from Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2022

Louis R. Caplan  and
Aishwarya Aggarwal
Louis R. Caplan
Affiliation:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre
Aishwarya Aggarwal
Affiliation:
John F. Kennedy Medical Center
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Summary

Ancient medical practitioners believed in the “doctrine of signatures,” which stated that natural objects that resembled parts of the body could cure diseases affecting those parts. The eyebright plant was used to cure eye diseases due to the similitude of its flowers to blue eyes. The famous Swiss physician Paracelsus was a proponent of this doctrine and stated, “Nature marks each growth, according to its curative benefit.” Herbs were believed to have particular “signatures” given by God for people to identify and use. Although this doctrine had no scientific basis, it led to the discovery of a drug widely used today [1].

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Stories of Stroke
Key Individuals and the Evolution of Ideas
 , pp. 447 - 454
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Notes and References

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