Maya Medical Manuscripts

 Collection
Identifier: MSS.0008

  • Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This manuscript contains two manuscripts in one, which consists of a book of medical remedies, with illnesses cross-referenced to plants and various curing recipes. In Maya and Spanish, the two constitute respectively, the original Recetario de los Indios, and the Cuaderno de Teabo. This volume offers insights into the ailments that plagued inhabitants of Mexico in the nineteenth century.

The first text, a portion of the original collection Recetarios by the Yucatan scholar, Juan Pio Perez, consists of pages of concoctions for ailments such as fever, paralysis, bruises, herpes, headaches, burns, consumption, hemorrhages, hiccups, bubo, etc. An index of related plants for the numerous remedies accompanies this text.

The second manuscript entitled, Cuaderno de Teabo, is dated 1803. The text, completely in Mayan, may very well have been transcribed from the original by Bishop Cresencio Carillo y Ancona, the famed cleric-historian of the Yucatan. It was apparently the medical guide for the town of Teabo in the earliest years of the 19th century. Included in this manuscript are numerous remedies for illnesses from fevers to aching bones. A listing of plants utilized in the remedies if found at the end of the text.

Dates

  • 1803

Extent

.42 Linear Feet (1 Hollinger)

Language of Materials

Spanish; Castilian

Abstract

This manuscript contains two manuscripts in one, which consists of a book of medical remedies, with illnesses cross-referenced to plants and various curing recipes. In Maya and Spanish, the two constitute respectively, the original Recetario de los Indios, and the Cuaderno de Teabo. This volume offers insights into the ailments that plagued inhabitants of Mexico in the nineteenth century.

Physical Location

Special Collections & Archives

Title
Finding Aid for the Maya Medical Manuscripts
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Vanderbilt University Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections Library
1101 19th Ave. S.
Nashville TN 37212 United States


 

About this Site

This site contains collection guides, or finding aids, to the archival collections held by Vanderbilt University Special Collections and University Archives, the History of Medicine Collection, and the Scarritt Bennett Center. Finding aids describe the context, arrangement, and structure of archival materials, allowing users to identify and request materials relevant to their research.

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