You can find it in anti-aging serums, moisturisers, and other restorative cosmeceuticals. Snail slime, the mucus secreted by snails, has been widely marketed as a great addition to skincare products. Why did this tradition of the wound-healing power of snails catch my eye? Figure 2: Materia medica on the move (slowly) – photograph by author.Īs keen RP readers will know, the use of snails in cosmetics was not limited to pre-modern medicine but is, in fact, growing in popularity today (and you can read more on this in another piece from Katherine Allen). Similar recipes can also be found in earlier sources, such as Pliny’s Natural History and its late antique descendent, the Medicina Plinii, as well as Dioscorides’ De materia medica. 759, contain nearly identical prescriptions, though the former recommends either slugs ( limacis) or snails and the latter specifies that the cut was caused by iron ( Ad neruus ferro precisus). Two other ninth-century manuscripts in the Stiftsbibliothek St Gallen, Cod. ( Cocleas uiuas cum testa sua combustas et tonsas adiecto libano paripondere inponis praecisos neruos sanat) 45r:īurn and pound together live snails with their shells, add an equal amount of frankincense, apply. 1088, a ninth-century manuscript written around Lyon, suggests the following to heal ‘cut tendons’ ( Ad neruos incisos) on f. I have been particularly struck by the use of snails in a number of different treatments for cuts and open wounds. Who knew snails were seen to be such a wonderful panacea?! While several examples have highlighted the use of snails in cosmetic preparations, including Katherine Allen’s post on animal ingredients in the eighteenth century, in my research on early medieval recipes I have come across snails as ingredients in treatments for all sorts of ailments, from headaches and nosebleeds to diarrhoea, spleen pain, and incontinence. In fact, a number of other RP posts have already touched on pre-modern snail-based prescriptions, such as Laura Mitchell’s post on amusing charms, Lisa Smith’s post on Mary Napier’s ‘Snaile Milke’, and Jennifer Sherman Roberts’ post on snail waters. Yet our slimy garden neighbours actually have long been included as ingredients in medical recipes, from classical antiquity to the present day. Surely snails are better suited to escargot than medicine, right? And I must admit that, as a historian of medieval medicine, I can understand how such stereotypes have persisted – despite, of course, disagreeing! At first glance, the treatment for teary eyes listed above – which recommends making a poultice from snails, frankincense, and mastic and applying it to the forehead – may sound more like a potion brewed by the witches of Macbeth than a useful medical prescription. Although the work of many scholars has countered this common perception, the negative stereotypes surrounding medieval medicine remain firmly embedded in the popular imagination.
#Medieval manuscript art snails full
Medieval medicine is often assumed to be full of ‘hocus pocus’: irrational magical and religious cures, bizarre potions and lotions. A digitised facsimile can be accessed here full reference below. The transcription and translation are my own. 359), an early medieval composite manuscript (this section was written in northern Italy in the ninth century) – the snail recipe is the last entry of the group (found on the final two lines).
( Tus et mastice et cocleas cum testas sua simul teris et in folio lauri in duabus partibus fronte impone probatum est) Figure 1: A group of recipes for teary eyes (Ad lacrimas oculorum) in St.
Apply to the forehead in laurel leaves in two parts. Grind together frankincense, mastic, and snails with their shells. A treatment for teary eyes ( Ad lacrimas oculorum):
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