or Constantine the African (c. 1020-1087), born at Carthage
(in Africa, hence his soubriquet of Africanus) as a Jew, but later converting
to Christianity, was a translator of medical texts from Arabic into Latin
(Jordan, 1996). He studied at the University of Salerno in Italy, Western
Europe’s first organized medical school, and later entered the monastery of
Monte Cassino as a Benedictine monk (Walsh, 1908). He spent nearly twenty years
of his life at Monte Cassino, and it was during this period that most of his
writing was completed. Among the 30-odd works attributed to him are
translations of Hippocrates, Galen, Isaac Judaeus, and Haly Abbas (Lagasse, Goldman, Hobson & Norton, 2007). He
viewed the brain as the seat of mental illness and recommended hydrotherapy as
a treatment for mental illness (Darton, 1999). The use of water as a treatment
for madness continued for centuries, and Tuke (1882) gives details of the use
of holy wells throughout medieval Britain for this purpose (Hills, 1901;
Simpson & Roud, 2000).
Constantinus Africanus examining a urine
sample
References:
Darton, K. (1999). Notes
on the history of mental health care. Mind: London. Retrieved from http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Factsheets/History+of+mental+health/Notes+on+the+History+of+Mental+Health+Care.htm
Hills, F.L. (1901). Psychiatry –
ancient, medieval and modern. The Popular
Science Monthly 59, 3, 31-48.
Jordan,
W.C. (Ed.) (1996). The Middle Ages: an
encyclopedia for students. New York, NY:
Charles Scribner’s
Sons.
Lagasse, P., Goldman, L., Hobson
A., & Norton, S.R. (Eds.) (2007). Constantinus Africanus. In The Columbia
encyclopedia. (6th edition). New York, NY: Columbia University
Press.
Simpson, J., & Roud, S. (2000). A dictionary of English folklore. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Tuke, D.H. (1882). Chapters in the history of the insane in the
British Isles. London, England: Kegan Paul,
Trench & Co.
Walsh, J.J. (1908). Constantine Africanus. In The Catholic encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved
from New Advent http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04295b.htm
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