Por que a Homeopatia incomoda? / Why Homeopathy bothers?

Escolhemos o título acima porque, como praticantes de uma atitude médico-filosófica que vê o ser humano como uma unidade e integrado ao todo, jamais conseguimos nos furtar ao diagnóstico sistêmico. É hábito do homeopata o diagnóstico em sua totalidade, das partes integradas ao todo, buscando o porquê em tudo, até em um simples artigo de um simples jornal de uma simples cidade que integra o nosso pequeno planeta, diga ele respeito ou não à homeopatia. Inicialmente a homeopatia começou incomodando as religiões, pois quando Hahnemann experimentou substâncias em humanos, observou o aparecimento de sintomas físicos e psíquicos, estes últimos eram tidos até então como instâncias da alma e portanto propriedade dos religiosos. Além de destruir o tácito acordo entre medicina e religião, onde médicos cuidavam dos males do corpo e os religiosos dos males da alma, resgatou também a unidade que é o ser. Foi a primeira prova testemunhal na medicina ocidental da comprovação dessa unidade. (AU)

Sobre el primer libro de plantas medicinales escrito en el Continente Americano: El Libellus Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis de México, 1552. Una revisión / On the first book of medicinal plants written in the American Continent: The Libellus Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis from Mexico, 1552. A review

Resumen: El "Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis" (Librito de las Hierbas Medicinales de los Indios) fue elaborado por los sabios indígenas Martín De la Cruz y Juan Badiano, 31 años después de la caída del imperio azteca. El primero es su autor, el segundo tradujo el manuscrito del Náhuatl al latín. Contiene numerosas recetas para tratar enfermedades humanas y 185 dibujos a color de las plantas utilizadas. En 1939 se publicó por primera vez como "Un Herbario Azteca". Empero, también contiene enfermedades y prácticas médicas europeas del siglo XVI. Presentamos una revisión actualizada de este hermoso códice, su historia, concepción, creadores y botánica; además, la química y farmacología de cinco plantas ahí citadas. El Libellus es una ventana en el tiempo que permite la investigación científica del antiguo conocimiento etnofarmacológico en Mesoamérica y documentar su persistencia, desaparición o transformación. Sin embargo, esto requiere superar desafíos lingüísticos, pero también derivados de su contexto histórico, antropológico, cultural, botánico y médico.

Abstract: The "Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis" (Little Book of Indian Medicinal Plants) was composed by the indigenous sages Martín De la Cruz and Juan Badiano, 31 years after the Aztec Empire fall. The former was the author, and the latter translated the manuscript from the Nahuatl language to Latin. It contains numerous recipes for treating human diseases and 185 colored drawings of the prescribed plants. In 1939 it was first published as "An Aztec Herbarium". However, it also contains XVI century European diseases and medical practices. We present an updated review of this beautiful codex, its history, conception, creators, and botany; as well as, the chemistry and pharmacology of five plants therein cited. The Libellus is a window in the time that allows the scientific research of ancient ethnopharmacological knowledge in Mesoamerica and document its persistence, disappearance, or transformation. However, this requires overcoming linguistic defies, but also derived from its historical, anthropological, cultural, botanical, and medical context.

Hippocrates' complaint and the scientific ethos in early modern England.

Among the elements of the modern scientific ethos, as identified by R.K. Merton and others, is the commitment of individual effort to a long-term inquiry that may not bring substantial results in a lifetime. The challenge this presents was encapsulated in the aphorism of the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates of Kos: vita brevis, ars longa (life is short, art is long). This article explores how this complaint was answered in the early modern period by Francis Bacon's call for the inauguration of the sciences over several generations, thereby imagining a succession of lives added together over time. However, Bacon also explored another response to Hippocrates: the devotion of a 'whole life', whether brief or long, to science. The endorsement of long-term inquiry in combination with intensive lifetime involvement was embraced by some leading Fellows of the Royal Society, such as Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke. The problem for individuals, however, was to find satisfaction in science despite concerns, in some fields, that current observations and experiments would not yield material able to be extended by future investigations.

Islamic Medicine in the Middle Ages.

The Islamic culture flourished between the 9th and 13th centuries. Scholars from this era made significant contributions in mathematics, science and medicine. Caliphs and physicians built hospitals that provided universal care and the foundation for medical education. Physician-scientists made significant advances in medical care, surgery and pharmacology. Notable authorities include al-Razi (865-925 CE) who wrote the Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb (The Comprehensive Book on Medicine), a 23-volume textbook that provided the main medical curriculum for European schools into the 14th century. Ibn Sina (980-1037 CE), an extraordinary Persian polymath, wrote al Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), an encyclopedic treatment of medicine that combined his own observations with medical information from Galen and philosophy from Aristotle. Mansur (1380-1422 CE) wrote the first color illustrated book on anatomy. Other important physicians compiled information on the use of medication from plants, advanced surgical techniques, including cataract extraction and studied physiology, including the pulmonary circulation. These books and ideas provided the basis for medical care in Europe during its recovery from the Dark Ages.

Islamic Civilization in Spain - a Magnificient Example of Interaction and Unity of Religion and Science.

Islam and its followers had created a civilization that played very important role on the world stage for more than a thousand years. One of the most important specific qualities of the Islamic civilization is that it is a well-balanced civilization that brought together science and faith, struck a balance between spirit and matter and did not separate this world from the Hereafter. This is what distinguishes the Islamic civilization from other civilizations which attach primary importance to the material aspect of life, physical needs and human instincts, and attach greater attention to this world by striving to instantly satisfy desires of the flesh, without finding a proper place for God and the Hereafter in their philosophies and education systems. The Islamic civilization drew humankind closer to God, connected the earth and heavens, subordinated this world to the Hereafter, connected spirit and matter, struck a balance between mind and heart, and created a link between science and faith by elevating the importance of moral development to the level of importance of material progress. It is owing to this that the Islamic civilization gave an immense contribution to the development of global civilization. Another specific characteristic of the Islamic civilization is that it spread the spirit of justice, impartiality and tolerance among people. The result was that people of different beliefs and views lived together in safety, peace and mutual respect, and that mosques stood next to churches, monasteries and synagogues in the lands that were governed by Muslims. This stems primarily from the commandments of the noble Islam according to which nobody must be forced to convert from their religion and beliefs since freedom of religion is guaranteed within the Islamic order. The Islamic civilization in Spain encompasses many fields that left a profound imprint in the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. The cultural climate of Spain in the era of Muslim rule (711-1492) brought about a prospering of different aspects of science and culture. Numerous schools and libraries were established and books were procured due to which the majority of the people were literate. Literature and art flourished. Buildings were constructed and Islamic art with its specific qualities was cultivated. As a result of that movement, Cordoba became the civilization capital of both Spain and the West in general. Many schools were established in it, such as medical and technical schools in addition to the general education and other vocational schools. Hospitals, chemical plants and observatories were also built. The university in Cordoba was a beacon of thought, education and culture, and it made Cordoba the home of science and of a great number of scholars and scientists in medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics and botany. Scholarly disciplines such as philosophy and logic were also studied and busy translation activities were underway. For that reason travelers and people in quest for knowledge and science from different European countries used to come to Cordoba. This scientific and civilizational movement was not limited to Cordoba alone, but also spread into other cities of Spain, such as Granada, Toledo and other cities under Islamic rule. Relevant historical sources state that young men from Europe, particularly from Italy and France, competed to enroll some of the Islamic universities in Andalusia. One of the students of the university in Cordoba was Gerbert, who later became known as Pope Sylvester II. He introduced science of mathematics and Arabic numerals in Italy. The same historical sources also read that Europe was acquainted with Aristotle's manuscripts via the city of Toledo which was a center of bustling translation work from the Arabic into the Latin language. It was in Toledo that many works of Plato and Galen were translated, as were the philosophy manuscripts by Ibn Sina, al-Farabi, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Bajjah and Ibn Rushd, and the medical manuscripts by Ibn Sina and al-Razi. These manuscripts quickly spread all over Europe and became a mandatory literature at great European universities. Ibn Sina's Al-Qanun fi al-tibb was considered the fundamental reference book in studies of medicine in Europe for nearly six centuries and was called The Canon of Medicine. This paper cites numerous examples of interaction and unity of religion and science in the times when Islamic culture and civilization flourished in the Iberian Peninsula, the era that lasted for almost eight centuries.

'A portion of truth': Demarcating the boundaries of scientific hypnotism in late nineteenth-century France.

In fin-de-siècle France, hypnotism enjoyed an unprecedented level of medico-scientific legitimacy. Researchers studying hypnotism had nonetheless to manage relations between their new 'science' and its widely denigrated precursor, magnétisme animal, because too great a resemblance between the two could damage the reputation of 'scientific' hypnotism. They did so by engaging in the rhetorical activity of boundary-work. This paper analyses such demarcation strategies in major texts from the Salpêtrière and Nancy Schools ­ the rival groupings that dominated enquiry into hypnotism in the 1880s. Researchers from both Schools depicted magnétisme as 'unscientific' by emphasizing the magnetizers' tendency to interpret phenomena in wondrous or supernatural terms. At the same time, they acknowledged and recuperated the 'portions of truth' hidden within the phantasmagoria of magnétisme; these 'portions' function as positive facts in the texts on hypnotism, immutable markers of an underlying natural order that accounts for similarities between phenomena of magnétisme and hypnotism. If this strategy allows for both continuities and discontinuities between the two fields, it also constrains the scope for theoretical speculation about hypnotism, as signalled, finally, by a reading of one fictional study of the question, Anatole France's 'Monsieur Pigeonneau'.

Reasons for relativism: Feyerabend on the 'Rise of Rationalism' in ancient Greece.

This paper argues that essential features of Feyerabend's philosophy, namely his radicalization of critical rationalism and his turn to relativism, could be understood better in the light of his engagement with early Greek thought. In contrast to his earlier, Popperian views he came to see the Homeric worldview as a genuine alternative, which was not falsified by the Presocratics. Unlike socio-psychological and externalist accounts my reading of his published and unpublished material suggests that his alternative reconstruction of the ancient beginnings of the Western scientific tradition motivate and justify his moderate Protagorean relativism.

Albert Heim (1849-1937): The Multifaceted Geologist Who Influenced Research Into Near-death Experiences and Suggestion Therapy.

Swiss geologist Albert Heim is well known for his pioneering contributions to several aspects of geology, and for his role in establishing the breeding of different kinds of Swiss mountain dogs. In the field of near-death research, it is also recognized that he performed a pioneering study into near-death states of falling mountaineers. It seems hardly known, however, that Heim also influenced suggestion therapy significantly-in particular, the treatment of warts by suggestion. This article provides an overview of Heim's contribution in the latter field of study.

A Powerful Antidote, a Strange Camel and Turkish Pepper: Iberian Science, the Discovery of the New World and the Early Modem Czech Lands.

This article analyses the reception of knowledge about new world nature, and, more specifically, the reception of Iberian scientific knowledge of nature in the Americas, in the early modem Czech lands. It shows how the process of the reception of information about nature in the new world differed among the urban classes, intellectuals and the nobility; particular attention is paid to herbals, cosmographical works and travel reports. On the one hand, the study reveals that the efforts of Central European intellectuals to interpret new world nature were limited by the lack of necessary data and experience, which led to some misinterpretations and simplifications. On the other hand, it shows these Central European scholars to be fully-fledged members of an information network, whose works share many of the same characteristics as Iberian and, in general, early modem European science.

[Witch hunt and hypotheses loss]. / Von Hexenverfolgung und Hypothesenverlust.

At this time randomized controlled studies (RCT) in clinical trials usually have high quality. But this quality is only true for the included patients (intrinsic validity). It is common to generalize the results to more or less similar patients. This inductive method is prohibited in epistemology what is known for 250 years (D Hume, K R Popper). Therefore the external validity for the data of RCT is low. To solve this problem additional clinical and pathophysiological based data are necessary to generalize the results. Unfortunately RCT show less quality in their premises. This is partly due to the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. A loss of universality of the hypothesis for RCT decreases basically the extrinsic validity. The articles describe this problem with examples.

[SCIENCE AND DREAMS IN THE MIDDLE AGES: IL "DE SOMNIIS" DI BOEZIO DI DACIA]. / LA SCIENZA DEI SOGNI NEL MEDIOEVO: IL "DE SOMNIIS" DI BOEZIO DI DACIA.

Boethius of Dacia's opera "De somnis" can be defined as a brief treaty that partially follows the traditional quaestio scheme. It includes a passage that seems to copy Etienne Tempier's proposition number sixty-five, which condemns the importance attributed to astrology by many medieval authors. Boethius moves off Aristotle's "De somno et vigilia" idea of physiological dreams to assert a new kind of oneiric phenomena linked to constellations, that, according to the author, aren't divinely inspired, whereas they are to be considered as natural events. Boethius isn't the only philosopher who writes about this particular type of dream as another medieval author, Albertus Magnus, in his "Speculum Astronomiae", describes astrology and its relationship to medicine.

[ZHU Lian's New Acupuncture Academic System and acupuncture science initialization].

Acupuncture scientization was a consensus of most of acupuncture scholars who had long-term perspectives in the 20th century, among them Ms. ZHULian was the important one. Ms. ZHU Lian built a systemic new acupuncture" academic structure in practice and theory aspects. At the same time, as the main architect of Institute of Acupuncture-moxibustion of China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ms. ZHU Lian was the first one who began to carry out the acupuncture clinical trail and laboratory experiment in modern way, which meant "acupuncture therapy" was transformed into "acupuncture science" by Ms. ZHULian's endeavor.

[Practice and diversion of acupuncture-moxibustion scientization in modern times: taking ZHU Lian as the center].

By following the acupuncture scholar ZHU Lian's academic thought in modern times, and comparing with other contemporary acupuncture scholars, it is found that since the Republic of China, there has been an obvious practice tendency of scientization among academic thoughts of acupuncture, especially in ZHU Lian. This tendency of scientization continues until the early stage of New China. Accompanied with the process of acupuncture high education, academic thoughts represented by acupuncture-moxibustion textbook are different from scientization that is represented by ZHU Lian, and the basic path of acupuncture-moxibustion education and academic theory changed from here.

[Globalization and its historical location. Some remarks with the example of Ernst Haeckel]. / Globalisierung in ihrer historischen Verortung. Einige Anmerkungen am Beispiel Ernst Haeckels.

Globalization, regarded here as the extensive and profound transformation process of modernity, manifests itself to us in the way it impacts the here and now. However, it also has a prehistory with regard to both its anthropogenic effects on nature and intellectual controversies. This prehistory is important for understanding how we deal with this phenomenon. Due to the important roles science plays in the process of globalization and the, in no way insignificant, repercussions it has on the sciences themselves, this article aims to present in detail a prehistory that pointedly illustrates how we perceive our modernity, also with regard to its discrepancies which result from the various underlying conditions. In its attempt to analyze the question of contemporary perception in an exemplary way, the article below looks back at the intellectual situation prevailing around 1900. It aims to clarify lines of influence and controversial issues connected with Ernst Haeckel, particularly in terms of the mutual interconnectedness and influence of intra-academic changes and cultural reflections.

Science in the service of colonial agro-industrialism: the case of cinchona cultivation in the Dutch and British East Indies, 1852-1900.

The isolation of quinine from cinchona bark in 1820 opened new possibilities for the mass-production and consumption of a popular medicine that was suitable for the treatment of intermittent (malarial) fevers and other diseases. As the 19th century European empires expanded in Africa and Asia, control of tropical diseases such as malaria was seen as crucial. Consequently, quinine and cinchona became a pivotal tool of British, French, German and Dutch empire-builders. This comparative study shows how the interplay between science, industry and government resulted in different historical trajectories for cinchona and quinine in the Dutch and British Empires during the second half of the 19th century. We argue that in the Dutch case the vectors of assemblage that provided the institutional and physical framework for communication, exchange and control represent an early example of commodification of colonial science. Furthermore, both historical trajectories show how the employment of the laboratory as a new device materialised within the colonial context of agricultural and industrial production of raw materials (cinchona bark), semi-finished product (quinine sulphate) and plant-based medicines like quinine. Hence, illustrating the 19th century transition from 'colonial botany' and 'green imperialism' to what we conceptualise as 'colonial agro-industrialism'.

[Jakub Barner (1640-1683) and his Chymia philosophica (1698): side notes on the publication of the Polish translation]. / Jakub Barner (1640-1683) i jego Chemia filozoficzna (1698). na marginesie publikacji polskiego przekladu.

The translation of Chymiaphilosophica by Jakub Barner is the second publication in Polish historiography of a printed source work on early modem chemistry (alchemy) written by a Polish citizen, well known and influencial across Europe (the first such translation comprised the treatises of Michael Sendivogius). This admirable initiative of unquestionable value to Polish historians of science resulted in an elegantly published volume, with an extensive introduction and useful appendices. The language of the translation is pleasant to read, retaining the spirit of the original by means of a moderate use of archaisms and generally accurate selection of proper terminology. A closer comparison of some fragments of the translation reveals, however, that it omits essential words, phrases and even entire sentences. The translation itself is occasionally incorrect as well, completely changing the meaning of the author's text and distorting his intentions, thereby undermining the reliability of the Polish translation as a whole. In the factual layer, identifying both chemical substances and (especially) the names of the authors cited by Barner often appear to be doubtful or problematic. Apart from numerous obvious mistakes, as well as leaving many surnames unidentified even when it was very difficult, the translators and/or editors of the Polish text created some non-existent authors as a result of errors produced while copying their surnames from the original text or due to unfounded assumptions that some chemical or botanical terms are names of chemical authors. There is also no consistency in the spelling of surnames (usually left in the Latin form, sometimes spelled with wrong inflection, but also modernised). In the biographical introduction there are also numerous factual errors and some bizarre mistranslations. Not only did its author fail to correct invalid information of earlier biographers of Barner, relying only on the most obvious and accessible publications, but also perpetuated these "historiographical myths" and even created new ones. Neither did he consult any sources apart from some other of Barners published books. Writing from the positivist perspective and on the basis of outdated literature, he also sustained the categorical distinction between alchemy and chemistry, already rejected in contemporary historiography, thus presenting the role and position of Barner in the history of science not quite adequately. If one adds to that the very numerous "typos" throughout the book, it may be regarded as a negative example of poor source editing in almost every respect, even though it makes a pleasant reading.

[Scientific revolution and embryology: rejection or transformation of antiquity? A comparison between the procreation teachings of Cesare Cremonini, William Harvey und René Descartes]. / Wissenschaftliche Revolution und Embryologie: Ablehnung oder Transformation der Antike? Ein Vergleich zwischen den Zeugungslehren Cesare Cremoninis, William Harveys und René Descartes.

In this paper I address the issue of the theoretical and epistemological status of embryology at the rise of the so-called "Scientific Revolution" (also in the first half of the seventeenth-century) and raise the question, in what sense and to what extent the historiographical concept of "Scientific Revolution" is applicable to the domain of embryology. To achieve this aim I compare the theories of three protagonists of the medical, scientific and philosophical debate of that age, namely Cesare Cremonini, William Harvey and René Descartes, who had very different views on the world structure and human nature and a very different concept of science, but who shared, as concerns embryological issues, an epigenetic conception of the development of the embryo. Their theories are discussed and compared in light of following questions: 1) What do Cremonini's, Harvey's and Descartes's embryological theories exactly aim to?; 2) In developing their theories, do these thinkers deal explicitly or implicitly with the Aristotelian and the Galenic embryological paradigm?; 3)Do they refer polemically to the Aristotelian and the Galenic tradition and what theoretical and/or rhetorical function have these polemical references?; 4) Do the embryological theories of Cremonini, Harvey and Descartes reflect the century-long dispute between "(Aristotelian) philosophers" and "(Galenic) doctors"?; 5) How is represented embryology as a 'scientific' and/or 'theoretical' domain? And what relationship between concepts of 'truth', 'research', 'tradition' and 'scientific progress' is implied or proposed in the embryological works of these three thinkers? What kind of use do Cremonini, Harvey and Descartes make of the argumenta ex ratione and of those ex experientia?