The strangeness of a medical simple: the use of mummy powder in Rodrigo de Castro’s gynecological treatise

Abstract

In the collective imagination, the word “mummy” evokes a feeling oscillating between fascination and repulsion, since it designates, for all purposes, a preserved corpse. For this reason, it is not without surprise that, in the second part of Rodrigo de Castro’s gynecological treatise, a simple occurs under the Latin designation of mumia. This article deals with this topic, starting with the identification of the origin of the word “mummy” and tracking its semantic evolution, up to its most current meaning today. Using information provided by two 16th century commentators on Dioscorides, Amato Lusitano and Andrés de Laguna, it seeks to establish its triple meaning in pre-modern medical texts, as well as to verify the reasons that supported its use for medical purposes and the main virtues attributed to it. It will then be possible to survey the occurrences of this simple in the De uniuersa muliebrium morborum medicina (Pars secunda, siue Praxis), by Rodrigo de Castro, and verify the purposes for which it was used, according to what was, after all, the general practice of his time. A final part equates the main reasons that led to this simple no longer being used for medicinal purposes.