Resumen de « Che manza fichi, semina rogna »: problèmes d'identification d'une dermatose au Moyen Age
Che manza fichi, semina rogna : Problems of Identifying a Dermatosis in the Middle Ages - The evolution of medical concepts and of nosology often render the identification of diseases difficult in medical literature. This is notably the case with texts on dietetics, more concerned with suggesting rules for good health than with describing symptoms. Thus the mention of a specific affection, the rogna, in Libreto de tutte le cosse che se magnano by Michèle Savonarola, raises doubts as to the identification of the disease. Is it a case of scabies or of some other dermatosis ? To answer the question, one must endeavor to define the meaning of rogna and of its Latin equivalent, scabies. To this effect, a list of classical and medieval authors who have mentioned this particular affection has been constituted, since in the Universities medical knowledge was founded upon the reading of, and commentating on, the authorities. This approach, however, does not lead to a definite conclusion as to the meaning implied by the term rogna, the etiology of scabies being obviously far from clear in the fifteenth century.
