Descrizione
Sommario
Pedro de la Piñuela, a Mexican Franciscan missionary to China, composed ca. 1697 a rare book on the medical “virtues of herbs and stones“, of which two copies are still to be found in Paris and Rome. This article first presents the figure of the author and then sketches Early Modern pharmaceutical literature and practice both in Europe and among missionaries in America and Asia, with a special focus on the intercultural transfer of medical knowledge. In this double context, Piñuela’s Bencao bu is quite unique since it is written in Chinese and introduces its readers to medical herbs and remedies which are either unknown in China or whose therapeutic properties are not fully known in China. Quoting from the Bencao bu, the article gives some examples of remedies, including tobacco and the “snake-stone”. Finally, this contribution highlights the consumption of chocolate among the missionaries as gleaned from Piñuela’s correspondence.
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