Historical continuity or different sensory worlds? [Elektronisk resurs] what we can learn about he sensory characteristics of early modern pharmaceuticals by taking them to a trained sensory panel

• Early modern medicine was much more dependent on the senses than its contemporary counterpart. Although acomprehensive medical theory existed that assigned great value to taste and odor of medicaments, historicaldescriptions of taste and odor appears imprecise and inconsistent to modern eyes. How did historical actors move from subjective experience of taste and odor to culturally stable agreements that facilitated communication about the sensory properties of medicaments?This paper addresses this question, not by investigating texts, but by going straight to the sensory impression, which certain substances convey.The aim is not to overwrite or rectify historical descriptions but to investigate whether modern methodologies for sensory assessment can be enlisted to understand the past. We draw on history of science for framing and research questions, pharmaceutical science for knowledge of pharmaceuticals and preparations,and food and meal science for assaying proceduresand protocols. We show that sensory evaluation can yield precise descriptions that would not have been alien to early modern medicine makers. However,there are problems with translating descriptions of taste between different historical contexts. By comparing contemporary descriptions of sensations with eighteenth-century ones, the article discusses how sensory descriptions are highly dependentoncontext, and subject to historicalchange. 

Ämnesord

Humanities and the Arts  (hsv)

History and Archaeology  (hsv)

Humaniora och konst  (hsv)

Historia och arkeologi  (hsv)

Genre

government publication  (marcgt)

Indexterm och SAB-rubrik

Early modern medicine

sensory analysis

history of pharmacy

reproduction

reworking history of taste

history of olfaction