Secrets Veritables de La Medecine Cheualine.
[Southern France, Bressant], c. 1659-1663.
Folio and 4to (275 x 195 mm.). MANUSCRIPT. 195 [r. 184], [23] leaves. In a single cursive hand, marginal annotations in the same hand, two manuscript slips laid in and one secured to the book block with pins.
Loose unbound sewn quires, uncut; in a modern stiff paper portfolio with a manuscript title label.
This comprehensive handbook of equine medicine witnesses the 17th-century evolution of the professional figure of the maréchal or maréchal-ferrant — from simple farrier to veterinarian with specialized medical and surgical expertise. THE FIRST VETERINARY SCHOOL IN THE WEST WOULD NOT BE ESTABLISHED UNTIL A CENTURY AFTER THE COMPILATION OF THIS MANUSCRIPT.
In 107 chapters on horse pathology, hygiene and maintenance, the author distills all he could learn from his late father and “from the most expert masters who made horse medicine their profession” (pp. 193-4, tr.). Fifty-nine chapters are marked, in Bressant’s hand, with the Latin word vidi (“I have seen [this]”).
The manuscript addresses the diagnosis and treatment of, i.a., respiratory infections (strangles, glanders), intestinal diseases (diarrhea, worms, hemorrhoids), reproductive issues, kidney and liver problems caused by saddle pressure, canker sores caused by rough bits and infections caused by rusty spurs. Chaps. 67-107 are devoted to ailments and injuries of legs and hooves. Humoral theory informs many of the diagnoses and bloodletting is often the suggested treatment. Bressant recommends the use of BLUE VITRIOL POWDER IN THE TREATMENT OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS and a syrup with peach tree bark and honey to alleviate cough. A remedy for headache includes pulverized mushrooms, and an ointment with crushed Spanish flies, turpentine, mercury and vinegar cures scabies.
The final fourteen leaves include fifty-one additional recipes for human use. They include remedies for skin redness and smallpox marks, instructions to prepare lipstick and teeth whitener and “secrets” for fabricating fake tortoise shell, pearls and gemstones. One recipe mentions the powder of sympathy, only introduced to France in 1657.
A marginal note reports the successful treatment of two horses belonging to one “M. de Montferand” in 1659, suggesting our author may have been in the service of a seigneur de Montferrand — perhaps François III de Montferrand, who died without direct heirs in 1660. The transfer of his estate near Bordeaux to a different branch of the family may have catalyzed Bressant’s dismissal and the compilation of this book. In good condition.
¶See Leclainche’s Histoire de la médecine vétérinaire 209-17 & 223-5 and Auliard’s “Les maréchaux à l’époque médiévale: forgerons ou vétérinaires?” in Médiévales 33 (1997) 161-73.
Price: $9,800.00