Lessico
Simeon Sethi
Simeon Sethy
Non mi è
stato possibile reperire alcuna notizia biografica relativa a questo studioso,
eccetto quella in francese di Eloy.
Lind
(1963) riferisce quanto segue a proposito degli scritti di Sethi: “Simeon Sethi, in J. L. Ideler, Physici et Medici Graeci Minores, etc., II, (1841), under the title:
Symeonis Magistri philosophica et
medica. See
also his Syntagma...De
Cibariorum Facultate, L. G. Gyraldo Interprete (Basle, 1538;
another edition, 1561); a copy in the British Museum has copious notes by
Richard Bentley (Paris, 1658).”
Ho trovato solamente citazioni relative alle sue osservazioni sulla natura e ne riporto tre.
Mint: Simeon Sethi saith, It helpeth a cold Liver, strengthneth the Belly and Stomach, causeth digestion, staieth Vomit and the Hiccough, is good against the Gnawings of the Heart, provoketh Appetite, taketh away Obstructions of the Liver, and stirreth up Bodily Lust: But thereof too much must not be taken, becaus it maketh the Blood thin and wheyish, and turneth it into choller, and therfore Chollerick persons must obstain from it. (quoted by The English Physitian Nicholas Culpeper 1616-1654 - Blending herbalism with a touch of alchemy, Nicholas Culpeper gives us insightful, often amusing glimpses of contemporary medicine in the early 1600's. Mixing up a potent potpourri of cures, we find defenses not only against disease and infirmity, but against witchcraft, lustfulness, melancholy, intemperate dreams, vipers, serpents, mad dogs and the plague.)
William
Turner
(c.1508-c.1568) quotes an earlier author called Simeon Sethy (or Sethi) who
wrote that: 'hemp sede if it be taken out of mesure taketh mens wittes from
them.' Turner himself says it is the powder of the dried leaves that makes men
'drunk'. William Salmon, writing in 1693, says that cannabis seeds, leaves,
juice, essence and decoctions were readily available in druggists' shops at
the time, thus showing that cannabis was a widely used medicine.
(www.cannabis.net/hist/)
Le
citazioni che seguono sono tratte dal Magiae naturalis di Giambattista
Della Porta
(Natural Magick (1584) Transcribed from 1658 English Editon, Printed for
Thomas Young and Samual Speed, at the Three Pigeons, and at the Angel in St
Paul's Church-yard):
1) "...Simeon Sethi says, that partridge newly killed are not to be ate,
but after a day or two, that they may lose their hardness..."
2) "...Simeon Sethi says, that if any man shall dip a wick in cutles Ink, and verdigrease,
those that stand by will seem partly brass color, partly black, by reason of
the mixture..."
Dictionnaire
historique
de la médecine ancienne et moderne
par Nicolas François Joseph Eloy
Mons – 1778
