A new study reveals that 16th-century medical manuals were popular DIY guides for laypeople, who actively experimented with and personalized home remedies. Researchers used proteomics to analyze protein traces from fingerprints left on these manuscripts, linking scientific data with historical context.
This hands-on approach to knowledge, evidenced by extensive marginal notes, represents a significant cultural shift toward practical experimentation during the Renaissance. The interdisciplinary study marks the first application of proteomic analysis to such historical recipes.
The main topics covered are: historical DIY medicine in the Renaissance, the use of proteomics in historical analysis, and the cultural shift toward practical, experimental knowledge.
Forget “eye of newt and toe of frog/wool of bat and tongue of dog.” People in the 16th century were more akin to DIY scientists than Macbeth’s three witches when it came to concocting home remedies for everything from hair loss and toothache, to kidney stones and fungal infections. Medical manuals targeted to the layperson were hugely popular at the time, according to Stefan Hanss, an early modern historian at the University of Manchester in the UK. “Reader-practitioners” would tinker with the various recipes, tweaking them as needed and making personalized notes in the margins. And they left telltale protein traces behind as they did so.
Hanss is part of an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, chemists, historians, conservators, and materials scientists who have analyzed trace proteins from the fingerprints of Renaissance people rifling through the pages of medical manuals. The team reported their findings in a paper published in The American Historical Review. It’s the first time researchers have used proteomics to analyze Renaissance recipes, enhanced further by in-depth archival research to place the scientific results in the proper historical context.
“We have so many recipes of that time, [including] cosmetic, medical, and culinary recipes, as well as handwritten recipes passed down for generations,” Hanss told Ars. “It’s really a key element of Renaissance culture, and [the manuscripts] are all covered with scribbled marginalia of [past] users. Experimentation was everywhere. It’s not only about book-learned knowledge but hands-on practical knowledge. It’s a key change in the way people constructed knowledge at that time.”
As previously reported, a number of analytical techniques have emerged over the last few decades to create historical molecular records of the culture in which various artworks were created. For instance, studying the microbial species that congregate on works of art may lead to new ways to slow down the deterioration of priceless aging art. Case in point: Scientists analyzed the microbes found on seven of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings in 2020 using a third-generation sequencing method known as Nanopore, which uses protein nanopores embedded in a polymer membrane for sequencing. They combined the Nanopore sequencing with a whole-genome-amplification protocol and found that each drawing had its own unique microbiome.
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