RESUMO
The public opinion and the scientific community incorrectly believe that the English term "lunatic" was originally related only to insanity, but it also referred to epileptic people. The aim of this article is to clarify the original meaning of the English word "lunatic" by analyzing the evolution of the relationship between psychiatric and neurological diseases and by pointing out the influence of the moon in the history of medicine, in popular traditions, and in English literature. The article also contains a detailed and accurate review of the modern scientific literature on the relationship between moon and epilepsy/psychiatric disorders.
Assuntos
Epilepsia/história , Lua , Nomes , Psiquiatria/história , Transtornos Psicóticos/história , Europa (Continente) , História do Século XV , História do Século XVI , História do Século XVII , História do Século XVIII , História do Século XIX , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , História Antiga , História Medieval , HumanosRESUMO
The article aims to reconstruct the perspective of bodily pathology underpinning Shakespeare's Macbeth. In the play, Scotland's body politic is frequently depicted as a macro-system suffering from a complexional imbalance of digestive origins. More specifically, Scotland comes over as a huge stomach strangled by a carcinogenic foreign body in need of being "raze[d] out". Since traditional purgative drugs such as "rhubarb" and "cynne" turn out to be totally inefficient to cure the body of Scotland, the resolution to adopt a drastic medical measure becomes more than urgent. The conclusion of the play coincides with the most terrible form of political surgery: Shakespeare's reiterated use of verbs such as "pluck" and "purge", commonly used in Renaissance herbals and handbooks, suggests that Macbeth's physical body is suffering from a kind of "blockage", for which herbal treatments are no longer sufficient. Nothing less than a surgical operation is needed to "purge" the corrupt entrails of the State dominated by Macbeth's tyranny.