Eating Right in the Renaissance

4. External Factors

chapter 4 External Factors This chapter focuses on a broad range of factors that were thought to play a major role in the maintenance of health and on how these factors relate to food. They have a direct bearing on the administration of diet and “hygiene” in its original sense because they can be manipulated and altered to conform to the needs of the individual and his or her complexion . That is, one can seek out better air, get more or less exercise, or have more or less sex in order to alter the humoral balance of the body. In Renaissance terminology, these factors were called the six non-naturals and in their original form included (1) air, (2) food and drink, (3) sleep and watch, (4) motion and rest, (5) evacuation and repletion, and (6) passions of the soul. Since food and drink have been discussed in previous chapters, the original arrangement has been somewhat modified, particularly in the inclusion of what must be considered the purely “natural” factors of gender and age. I have also used more familiar modern terms, for example environment rather than simply air, because the original concept included considerations of pollution, seasonal variations, climate , and region. Sex, interestingly enough, was usually included in the category of evacuations but here receives separate treatment. The original list of six was also somewhat malleable and might have included a variety of other topics, including baths, vomits, clysters, and phlebotomy. These, however, are more strictly therapeutic procedures rather than regular components of the regimen in health. The origin of the term six non-naturals appears to be post-Galenic, 115 116 External Factors 1. There was a brief but intense flurry of interest in this topic, as can be seen in the following articles: Lelland J. Rather, “The ‘Six Things Non-Natural’: A Note on the Origins and Fate of a Doctrine and Phrase,” Clio Medica 3 (1968): 337– 47; Saul Jarcho, “Galen’s Six Non-Naturals: A Bibliographic Note and Translation,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 44 (1970): 372–77; Jerome Bylebyl, “Galen on the Non-Natural Causes of Variation in the Pulse,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 45 (1971): 482–85; Peter H. Niebyl, “The Non-Naturals,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 45 (1971): 486 –92. And recently , Luis Garcia-Ballester, “On the Origin of the ‘Six Non-Natural Things’ in Galen,” in Galen und das Hellenistiche Erbe, ed. Jutta Kollesch and Diethard Nickel (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1993). 2. Fridaevallis, 22: “tantaque omnibus corporibus aeris est necessitas, ut siquidem omnibus aliis abstineat homo, neque cibum sumat neque potum; possit tamen ad aliquot dies superesse.” 3. The literature on choosing the best site for a house, often included in the “Rustic House” genre, is enormous in the Renaissance. Like the dietaries, it has a history stretching back to the ancients. Joachim Camerarius, De re rustica, opuscula nonulla, lectu cum jucunda (Nuremberg, 1577) offers an extensive bibliography on the topic. Estienne’s Praedium rusticum shows his interest in both topics. Interestingly, Paulus Kyr suggests that de- ficiencies in a region can be improved by proper plantings around a house. Cold flowers such as violets and roses or oranges improve a hot site, just as cold and moist spots can be although there are passages in Galen that specify these external factors.1 The topic itself certainly dates back to the Hippocratic Air, Waters, and Places, and consideration of most of these factors can be found throughout ancient medicine. Sometimes they were listed as five in number: labor, meat, drink, sleep, and “venus” (sex), and many Renaissance authors associated this short list with Hippocrates. As six specific non-naturals, they were attributed to Galen and were certainly discussed regularly from the time of the Arabic authors. They later came to form the cornerstone of medieval and Renaissance dietary theory. ENVIRONMENT It may seem surprising that so much attention was given to air quality in early modern medicine. As has been shown, air brought into the lungs was thought to cool and refresh the blood as well as to charge it with vital spirits. Just as corrupt foods can undermine the entire system, putrid odors, or more importantly miasmas or foul gases that rise up from the earth are responsible for many diseases, including plague. Thus, good air is as important in regimen as any other factor, and it was usually considered more important. All other external substances can be held back or denied for...