Nature: Warm quality. Optimum: The heaviest and most ponderous. Usefulness: Good for the chest, for the lungs, and for a cough. Dangers: It is harmful to the stomach and is less nourishing than wheat. Neutralization of the Dangers: By consuming it with anise. The Tacuinum Sanitatis is a medieval handbook based on the Taqwim as-sihhah, an 11th century Arab medical treatise by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. Listing its contents organically rather than alphabetically, it sets forth the six essential elements for well-being: sufficient food and drink in moderation, fresh air, alternations of activity and rest, alternations of sleep and wakefulness, secretions and excretions of humours, and finally the effects of states of mind. In addition to its importance for the study of medieval medicine, the Tacuinum is also of interest in the study of agriculture, cooking and society. From the Theatrum of Casanatense, 14th century. |