Doctrine of signatures
The doctrine of signatures, dating from the time of
Today considered
History
The concept dates from the time of Dioscorides and Galen.[citation needed] Paracelsus (1493–1541) developed the concept, writing that "Nature marks each growth ... according to its curative benefit",[3] and it was followed by Giambattista della Porta in his Phytognomonica (1588).
The writings of Jakob Böhme (1575–1624) spread the doctrine of signatures. He suggested that God marked objects with a sign, or "signature", for their purpose.[4] Plants bearing parts that resembled human body-parts, animals, or other objects were thought to have useful relevance to those parts, animals, or objects. The "signature" could sometimes also be identified in the environments or specific sites in which plants grew. Böhme's 1621 book The Signature of All Things gave its name to the doctrine.[3] The English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) uses the Quincunx pattern as an archetype of the 'doctrine of signatures' pervading the design of gardens and orchards, botany and the Macrocosm at large.
The 17th century botanist William Coles supposed that God had made 'Herbes for the use of men, and hath given them particular Signatures, whereby a man may read ... the use of them.'
A theological justification was made for this philosophy: "It was reasoned that the Almighty must have set his sign upon the various means of curing disease which he provided".[5]
For the late medieval viewer, the natural world was vibrant with images of the Deity: '
Up to the end of the sixteenth century, resemblance played a constructive role in the knowledge of Western culture. It was resemblance that largely guided exegesis and the interpretation of texts; it was resemblance that organized the play of symbols, made possible knowledge of things visible and invisible, and controlled the art of representing them. (The Order of Things, p. 17)
Signatures of some plants used in herbalism
The concept of signatures is reflected in the common names of some plants whose shapes and colors reminded herbalists of the parts of the body where they were thought to do good, as for instance:
- Hedge woundwort, thought to have antiseptic qualities[6]
- Liverwort, either Marchantiophyta or Hepatica – used to treat the liver[7]
- pulmonary infections[8]
- Toothwort, Dentaria – used for tooth ailments
Concepts similar to the doctrine of signatures may be found in folk or indigenous medicines, and in modern alternative medicines.[citation needed]
In literature
The phrase "signatures of all things" appears in the beginning of episode 3 in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. The character Stephen Dedalus walking along the beach, thinking to himself "Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot". The Canadian poet Anne Szumigalski, 1922–1999, entitled her third full-length collection Doctrine of Signatures.
Scientific skepticism
The signatures are described as
Another explanation is that the human mind, in trying to find patterns to explain phenomena, while lacking adequate scientific knowledge, resorts to anthropomorphism.[11]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Simon, Matt (14 August 2014). "Fantastically Wrong: The Strange History of Using Organ-Shaped Plants to Treat Disease". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
- ^ Robertson, John. "Aristolochia, birthwort". The Poison Garden. John Robertson. Archived from the original on 15 March 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Doctrine of Signatures". Science Museum. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
- ^ S2CID 207742334. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
- ^ White (1896), p. 38.
- ^ McDougal, Kevin (2013). "Hedge Woundwort". Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
- ^ Stern (1991), p. 338.
- ^ "The Tudors" (PDF). Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
- ^ Irvine, Alexander (1860). The Phytologist: A Botanical Journal, Volume 4. William Pamplin. p. 308.
As late as 1657 we find William Coles, who was a herbarist ... speaking of Spleenwort, or Miltwort, tells us that the learned Crollius, amongst the signatures of parts, doth set down Ceterach to have the signature of the spleen, and that therefore it is profitable for all diseases thereof;
- ^ S2CID 28292316. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
- ISBN 978-0415614153.
Bibliography
- Stern, Kingsley R. (1991). Introductory Plant Biology (5th ed.). Wm. C. Brown Publishers. ISBN 0-697-09947-4.
- White, Andrew Dickson (1896). A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. Vol. 2. D. Appleton and Company.
Further reading
- Boehme, Jakob (1651) Signatura Rerum (The Signature of All Things). Gyles Calvert.
- --- Translation by J. Ellistone.
- Buchanan, Scott Milross (1938) The doctrine of signatures: a defense of theory in medicine.
- Cole, W. (1657) Adam in Eden or Nature's Paradise. J Streater for Nathanial Brooke.
- Conrad, L.I.; M Neve, V Nutton and R Porter (1995). The Western Medical Tradition, 800 BC – 1800 AD. Cambridge University Press.
- Porter, Roy (1997) The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present. HarperCollins.