Doctrine of signatures
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The doctrine of signatures is a philosophy shared by herbalists from the time of Dioscurides and Galen that is still reflected in the common names of some plants whose coincidental shapes and colors reminded the gatherers of such simples of the parts of the body where they could do good: liverwort; snakeroot, an antidote for snake venom; lungwort; bloodroot; toothwort; wormwood, to expel intestinal parasites; and the like. The concept was developed by Paracelsus and published in his writings. During the first half of the 16th century, Paracelsus traveled throughout Europe and to the Levant and Egypt, curing people and experimenting with new plants in search of more treatments and solutions. As a professor of medicine at the University of Basel, he dramatically burned classical medical texts by Theophrastus, Galen, Dioscorides and Avicenna, but not Hippocrates.
The doctrine of signatures was further spread by the writings of Jakob Böhme (1575 - 1624), who suggested that God marked objects with a sign, or "signature", for their purpose.[1] For instance, a plant bearing parts that resembled human body parts, animals, or other objects had useful relevance to those parts, animals or objects. The "signature" may also be identified in the environments or specific sites in which plants grew.
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[edit] Mnemonics
The doctrine of signatures may have grown out of a practical mnemonic aid.
[edit] In Christianity
Christian European metaphysics expanded this philosophy in theology. According to the Christian version, the Creator had so set his mark upon Creation, that by careful observation, one could find all right doctrine represented (see the detailed application to the Passionflower) and even learn the uses of a plant from some aspect of its form or place of growing.
For the late medieval viewer, the natural world was vibrant with the numinous images of the Deity: "as above, so below," a Hermetic principle expressed as the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm; the principle is rendered sicut in terra. Michel Foucault expressed the wider usage of the doctrine of signatures, which rendered allegory more real and more cogent than it appears to a modern eye:
- "Up to the end of the sixteenth century, resemblance played a constructive role in the knowledge of Western culture. It was resemblance that largely guided exegesis and the interpretation of texts; it was resemblance that organized the play of symbols, made possible knowledge of things visible and invisible, and controlled the art of representing them." (The Order of Things , p. 17)
Jakob Böhme (1575-1624), a shoemaker of Görlitz, Germany, claimed to have had a profound mystical vision as a young man, in which he saw the relationship between God and man signaled in all things. He wrote Signatura Rerum (1621), soon rendered in English as The Signature of all Things, and the spiritual doctrine was applied even to the medicinal uses that plants' forms advertised.
[edit] In herbalism
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Although the doctrine of signatures was formalized in early modern times, the theme of natural objects' shapes having significance is a very old one and is not confined to Western thought. The occasional resemblance of mandrake root to a human body has led to its being ascribed great significance (and supernatural powers) since ancient times and in many places.[2]
The doctrine of signatures was given renewed thrust in the writings of the Swiss physician Paracelsus von Hohenheim (1493-1541)[citation needed] and continued to be embraced until the 17th century.[citation needed]
The 17th-century botanist and herbalist William Coles (1626-1662), author of The Art of Simpling and Adam in Eden, stated that walnuts were good for curing head ailments because in his opinion, "they Have the perfect Signatures of the Head". Regarding Hypericum, he wrote, "The little holes whereof the leaves of Saint Johns wort are full, doe resemble all the pores of the skin and therefore it is profitable for all hurts and wounds that can happen thereunto."[1] Nicholas Culpeper's often reprinted herbal takes the doctrine of signatures as common knowledge, and its influence can still be detected in modern herbal lore.[citation needed]
[edit] In homeopathy
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The doctrine of signatures was expounded in mainstream medical texts into the 19th century and has influenced[verification needed] the development of homeopathy.[citation needed]
[edit] Some -wort plants and their signatures
- Lousewort, Pedicularis - thought to be useful in repelling lice
- Spleenwort, Asplenium - thought to be useful in treating the spleen
- Liverwort, Marchantiophyta - thought to be useful in treating the liver
- Toothwort, Dentaria - thought to be useful in treating tooth ailments
- Hedge woundwort, dark red flowers, also has antiseptic qualities
- Lungwort - thought to be useful in treating pulmonary infections
[edit] Scientific recognition
The doctrine of signatures is recognized by scientists as superstition. Because the links are not causal, any links are purely coincidental and can be disregarded. There is no evidence that plant signatures helped in discovery of medical uses of the plants. The signatures are described as post hoc attributions and mnemonics. [3]
Others point out that there may, in some cases, be rational explanations for the apparent success of the doctrine of signatures in predicting the medical properties of certain plants. For example, a thorny plant may be likely to have immune-boosting compounds as well, because both relate to the environment in which the plant grows, i.e., one in which there are many microbial and animal threats and where the plant needs both forms of protection to survive.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Pearce, J.M.S. (May 16, 2008). "The Doctrine of Signatures" (PDF). European Neurology (karger.com). doi:. http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowPDF&ArtikelNr=131714&Ausgabe=237347&ProduktNr=223840&filename=131714.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-08-31.
- ^ E.g., Herb Magic Catalogue, Mandrake Root In Hoodoo Folk Magic, Spell-Craft, and Occultism. Accessed 2008.12.22.
- ^ Bennett, Bradley C. (2007). "Doctrine of Signatures: An Explanation of Medicinal Plant Discovery or Dissemination of Knowledge?". Economic Botany 61 (3): 246–255 doi=10.1663/0013–0001. doi:. http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1663%2F0013-0001(2007)61%5B246%3ADOSAEO%5D2.0.CO%3B2. Retrieved on 2008-08-31.
