FÁRMACOS CHINESES USADOS NA MEDICINA PORTUGUESA NO SÉCULO XVIII18 世紀在葡國醫學中使用的中國藥劑
This article analyzes the presence of drugs of Chinese origin in Portuguese medicine throughout the eighteenth century, arguing that the notion of "Chinese medicinal substances" cannot be applied in a linear or chronologically precise manner. The author maintains that, due to historical networks of...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
January 2007
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40021/3728 |
| Summary: | This article analyzes the presence of drugs of Chinese origin in Portuguese medicine throughout the eighteenth century, arguing that the notion of "Chinese medicinal substances" cannot be applied in a linear or chronologically precise manner. The author maintains that, due to historical networks of circulation—particularly overland and maritime routes, as well as Arabic mediation and the very integration of species with analogous uses—many products would have reached Europe through earlier channels, or would have undergone pharmacological reconfigurations over time.
Methodologically, the study draws on the reading and comparison of eighteenth-century Portuguese documentary sources (medical materials and therapeutic repertoires), framing them alongside Chinese documentation concerning the intensification of medical-pharmaceutical exchanges during periods such as the Tang dynasty and the circulation of knowledge facilitated by translators and travelers. The analysis pays particular attention to the role of the Jesuits and the emergence of European sinologies in the development of scientific interest and in the translation/codification of knowledge about natural products and their therapeutic applications.
It concludes that eighteenth-century Portuguese documentation allows for the identification of examples of Chinese drugs used in a Western medical context, but rarely permits a precise determination of when and through which specific mechanisms these products entered European pharmacopoeias. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |