NANCEL, Nicolas de.

by Nicolas de Nancel

£2,850 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition of this important and complete work on the Plague which contains much of medical and social interest as it was written from the authors first hand experience of the Plague that was still taking place in the city of Tours. Nicholas de Nancel (1539-1610), while still very young, studied under Petrus Ramus, the celebrated mathematician in Paris in 1548, and is perhaps best know today for his ‘Life of Ramus’ (Paris 1599). He occupied a chair at the college des Presles from around 1554 when Ramus was principal. The civil wars caused him to leave Paris and he accepted the chair of Greek at the University of Douai in 1562, but returned two years later. He practised medicine briefly in Soissons, before moving to Tours in 1569 where he married a wealthy widow. At Tours he observed first hand the effects of the plague from which he wrote this most interesting treatise. The work is divided into three parts; the first defines what the plague is, its various forms, origins and causes (including theological and astrological), and the various signs of the plague. The second work concerns all the various precautions one can take to prevent from catching the plague, medical, food and diet (natural wines were considered acceptable but fortified wines too ‘chauds’), sleep, mental health (passions de l’esprit), exercise, various cordials, topical medicines and finally amulets and precious stones. The third books concerns cures for the Plague, including specific cures for various sy

• Binding: Hardcover

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