Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

'Good Physic but Bad Food': Early Modern Attitudes to Medicinal Cannibalism and its Suppliers

Sugg, R.

Authors

R. Sugg



Abstract

The subject of medicinal cannibalism in mainstream western medicine has received surprisingly little historical attention. This paper argues that this phenomenon, far from being as marginal as its neglected status might imply, was closely integrated with many underlying medical theories in the early modern period. Moreover, the phenomenon sheds valuable light on the authority of learned medicine, attitudes to cannibalism and to the often emphatically spiritual basis of Paracelsian medicine. This article aims to show that, while widely accepted by patients and practitioners, corpse medicine was legitimised by a mixture of potentially incompatible factors, including rarity, spiritual virtue, learned authority and commercial normalisation. As historical circumstances changed, these factors would ultimately undermine a once mainstream medical treatment.

Citation

Sugg, R. (2006). 'Good Physic but Bad Food': Early Modern Attitudes to Medicinal Cannibalism and its Suppliers. Social History of Medicine, 19(2), 225-240. https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkl001

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2006-08
Deposit Date May 13, 2008
Journal Social History of Medicine
Print ISSN 0951-631X
Electronic ISSN 1477-4666
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 19
Issue 2
Pages 225-240
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/hkl001
Keywords Corpse medicine, Paracelsianism, Eucharist, Soul.

You might also like



Downloadable Citations