"The moon" and "the blood": two emblematic symbols in headache and epilepsy according to scientific traditions of the Salerno Medical school and popular medicine in southern Italy.

ABSTRACT

Before describing the state of knowledge on headache and epilepsy at the Salerno Medical School (SMS), we will briefly summarize in the first part its history through the centuries until the "golden period" of the 12th century when it reached its peak by outshining all others in teaching, studies and research. In the second part we will refer to Saint Donato, healer of epileptics in the south of Italy, whose worship is still alive today. The finding of common symbols in conceptions of headache and epilepsy, both in the scientific tradition of the School and in popular medicine, represents a link which is explicable by the wide dissemination of the school's doctrines.