Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

themselves with brawling and altercation, as if they were excited by
Phoebus his fury. Matthiolus saw some boys who by eating Henbane
seed were so desipient 117 that many thought they were deluded by
the Devil.’
1662 Van Helmont Jan Baptiste (1579–1644). ‘Oriatrike 118 , or physick
refined: the common errors therein refuted and the whole are
reformed and rectified’ Lodowick-Loyd: London. This was a
translation of his 1648 work ‘Ortus Medicinae: id est Initia physicae
inaudita. Progressus medicinae novus, in morborum ultionem, ad
vitam longam’ [The dawn of medicine: That is, the beginning of a
new Physic. A new advance in medicine, a victory over disease, to
[promote] a long life].
‘Let us take from of the itinerants’ hospitals, from the camps, or
from elsewhere, 200, or 500 poor people, with fevers, pleurisy, etc.
and divide them in two, let us cast lots, that half of them fall to me,
and the other half to you. I shall cure them without blood-letting or
perceptible purging. You will do so according to your knowledge (nor
do I even hold you to yout boast of abstaining from phlebotomy or
purging) and we shall see how many funerals each of us will have:
the outcome of the contest shall be the reward of 300 florins,
deposited by each of us: thus shall your business be concluded.’ …
let the trial be made for the public good, in order to know the truth, for
the sake of your life and soul and for the health of all the people,
sons, widows, and orphans.’ (Rose, 1982). The first proposed
randomised controlled trial (Holland) involving adverse events, but it
was not performed.
‘The sixth book of practical physick of occult or hidden diseases; in
nine parts
Part I. Of diseases from occult qualities in general
Part. II. Of occult, malignant, and venemous diseases arising
from the internal fault of the humours
Part III. Of occult diseases from water, air, and infections, and of
infectious diseases
Part IV. Of the venereal pox
Part V. Of outward poisons in general
Part VI. Of poisons from minerals and metals
117 Desipient = dissolute
118 Oriatrike = I cannot find a translation, but as it is supposed to be an English translation of ‘Ortus Medicinae’
it should mean the birth or development of medicine.