Mexican Medicine Comes to England

• Published in: Viator (Berkeley) 1995-01, Vol.26, p.333-354
• Main Authors: Varey, Simon, Chabrán, Rafael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0083-5897; 2031-0234
• DOI: 10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.301147

"Mexican Medicine Comes to England." The great Spanish Renaissance physician and naturalist, Francisco Hernández (1515-1587) wrote descriptions of over 3,000 native Mexican plants and their medicinal applications, but his work was published posthumously only in selections and translations during the seventeenth century. One country that had no cordial relations with Spain and virtually no relations at all with Mexico at the time was England, yet it was there that translations of Hernández began to appear from 1659 to 1725, some in obscure places, others more conspicuous, all of them neglected until now. The reasons for English interest in Hernández's work include the arrival in England of similar or identical plants from Jamaica, along with continuing attempts at new forms of botanical classification, the search for new drugs, and sheer intellectual curiosity. All of these reasons somehow contradicted official policy, which, paradoxically, brought together scientists and physicians, apothecaries and naturalists, Spanish authors and English readers, in informal circles of affinity.