The University of New Mexico's Institute for Medieval Studies presents a weekend seminar of free lectures and discussion on “Herbs in Medicine and History: From the Middle Ages to New Mexico,” February 6-7, in Room 122 of Northrop Hall on the main campus.
The seminar will survey the history of the use of herbs in medicine, consider the past and present cultural contexts for the practice of herbal medicine and analyze the scientific basis for this form of medicine.
Among the lecturers will be distinguished experts on the history of medicine, the founder of a Mexican institute of curanderismo and a representative of a leading homeopathic company. The public is invited to attend either the whole event or individual sessions.
“The topic has special relevance in New Mexico, which has its own living tradition of herbal medicine practiced by curanderos and curanderas , and which is home to Heel Inc., a world leader in the manufacture of homeopathic pharmaceuticals, based in Albuquerque since 1979,” said Timothy Graham, director of the Institute for Medieval Studies.
The lecturers will discuss the evolution and rational basis of the herbal medicine practiced in the Middle Ages, notably in medieval university towns; the curanderismo movement and its Aztec roots in Mexico and New Mexico; and the scientific use of herbal constituents in modern medicine.
“The special value of the seminar will lie in the unusual opportunity it offers for direct communication between the humanities and the sciences, and between past and present,” said Graham.
Scientists and humanities scholars will exchange ideas and observations directly on the cultural traditions associated with herbal medicine and on current issues connected with the use of herbs in modern pharmacy.
Members of the public will have the opportunity to participate in and learn how medieval traditions from both Europe and the New World continue to resonate in modern medical theory and practice.
The seminar is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the Office of the Dean of the School of Medicine, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, The Ayurvedic Institute, Heel Inc., The Herb Store, La Montanita Co-Op, Wild Oats Market, and KUNM. For more information on this seminar or other events offered by the Institute for Medieval Studies, call 505-277-2252 or visit the Institute's website at www.unm.edu/~medinst.
The lectures:
Friday, February 6, 7 p.m.
John M. Riddle, “Herbs in Medicine and History”
Following welcoming remarks by UNM Vice Provost for Research Terry L. Yates, Riddle, professor of history and botany at North Carolina State University, will deliver a keynote lecture to highlight the rational basis behind the practice of medicine in the Middle Ages. Riddle explains that while medieval physicians continued to apply the same pharmaceuticals in similar ways as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians did, there were also significant medical innovations during the Middle Ages, particularly in response to newly emerging diseases such as measles, leprosy and bubonic plague.
His lecture will demonstrate that many of the drugs we use today were employed in essentially similarly during the Middle Ages. Riddle will also discuss the role played by oral tradition in handing down medical remedies from one generation to another.
Saturday, February 7, 9 a.m.
Walton O. Schalick, “How Does My Garden Grow? Gardens, Medicine, and Pharmacology in the Middle Ages”
Schalick, a practicing pediatrician and professor of history of medicine at Washington University,
St. Louis, will survey the increasing interest in plants and herbals that emerged during the Middle Ages,
particularly during the 13th century. Focusing especially on Paris, he will show how medical authors drew on classic works from the great school of medicine at Salerno in Italy, on new translations of Arabic materials and on disparate folk remedies. The result of these Parisian authors' research was a growing awareness of the complexities of herbal taxonomy, complexities that pharmaceutical practitioners used to great advantage. It was during the 13th century that the medical universities emerged.
Schalick's lecture will show how the early faculty both shaped and responded to the herbal market place around them, examining in the process the careers of academic physicians, apothecaries and itinerant herbalists.
Saturday, February 7, 10:15 a.m.
Linda E. Voigts, “‘Dwale ... to make a man to sleep while men carve him': A Surgical Anesthetic from Late Medieval England”
Voigts, Professor emerita of English at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, will discuss the preparation and administration of a herbal soporific, “dwale,” in late medieval England. Dwale is mentioned in more than 40 English vernacular manuscripts. It was used as an anesthetic in both surgery and cautery. Its ingredients, which included gall, poppy, henbane, hemlock and vinegar would have had a narcotic effect upon patients. Dwale offered an interesting alternative to the surgical sponge, widely advocated as an anesthetic on the European Continent in the medieval period. Voigts's lecture will throw important light on the early evolution of the science of anesthesia.
Saturday, February 7, 11:30 a.m.
Arturo Ornelas, “Contemporary Curanderismo in Mexico and Its Medieval Roots”
Ornelas of Universidad de Morelos, Mexico, will discuss similarities and differences found in the use of medicinal plants in medieval Western and traditional Mexican medicine. Ornelas has played a major role in reviving the tradition of curanderismo in Mexico. His lecture will describe the curanderismo project that has been under way at his home in Cuernavaca for the last 18 years. This
project has recovered traditional knowledge, developed programs based on research and participatory involvement and forged links with the community. The project has led to the cultivation and propagation of traditional medicinal plants and has produced a significant program of public education. It has earned national respect in Mexico, has established important links with various universities and scientific institutes and brought traditional herbal lore into the spotlight.
Saturday, February 7, 2 p.m.
Alyssa Wostrel, “Modern Homeopathy: Medicine of the Millennium”
Wostrel, Director of Sales and Marketing at Heel Inc., will discuss the theory and practice of homeopathic medicine, which – in contrast to traditional Western allopathic medicine – is based on the principle of “like treating like.” Her lecture will describe the nature of the body's response to the minute doses of active ingredients in homeopathic remedies and will consider why “inflammation means healing.” She will focus especially on homotoxicology, a branch of homeopathy first developed in Germany by Dr. Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg some 70 years ago. She will show how homotoxicology provides the connecting link between allopathic medicine and homeopathy and how it has resulted in the development of numerous treatments providing patients and practitioners with effective remedies for both acute and chronic diseases.
Saturday, February 7, 3:15 p.m.
Panel Discussion: “Herbs and Medicine, Then and Now,” moderated by David A. Bennahum
The weekend event will conclude with a panel discussion chaired by Bennahum, professor of Internal Medicine at UNM's Health Sciences Center. The lecturers will be joined on the panel by experts from the UNM faculty. The audience is encouraged to take part in the discussion.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277-5920
Posted by kwentworth at January 26, 2004 03:31 PM