Vienna

We all know of a library - one which we visit for the first time it resonates with us for a while.. well, this one is definitely one of those, however, it is one that resonates forever. You can't overlook one of the most important historic sites in Austria: The National Library of Austria. It is unquestionably one of the world's most beautiful libraries around with high ceilings and a dome that is a medieval fresco adorned with original paintings leaving one falling in love with the medieval architecture. Above all, however, it is the largest baroque library in Europe and its construction was ordered by Emperor Charles VI with the intent in mind that it would be used as the Imperial court library until the early 1900s with a large selection of over 200,000 books dating from 1500 to 1850 in the spacious room that is filled with marble statues.

The 24-inch terrestrial globe in the photos as can be seen in photos is designed by a universal scholar, cosmographer, cartographer, publisher, and encyclopedist known in particular for his atlases and globes Vincenzo Coronelli 1650-1718 who was the greatest globemaker in history.

The globe is number 29 of 30 constructed of its kind, and its scientific importance lies in the actuality of cartographic representation, which at the time Coronelli had based on the latest data available at the time, latest maps, charts and expedition reports.

In a world without antibiotics, what methods were employed by ancient people in order to treat infections, illnesses and injuries?

Well, it is known that one of the most common treatments were herbs and substances extracted from natural sources in the ancient times as curing with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself. The link between man and his search for drugs in nature dates from the far past, of which there is ample evidence from various sources: written documents, preserved monuments, and even original plant medicines.

Knowledge of herbal and medicinal plants usage is a result of endless decades of battles against illnesses due to which man discovered to pursue drugs in barks, fruit bodies, and other areas of the plant.

Modern day science has accepted their recipes and treatment procedures taking into account modern pharmacotherapy and the range of plants known by ancient people experimented and used up to today in our processes for medical applications.

The recognition in the growth of recipes related to the utilisation of these medicinal plants as well as the development of knowledge which has significantly increased the ability of contemporary pharmacists and physicians to take action against the uncertain challenges they face in treatment options.

It can be assumed that this ancient medicinal manuscript (below) was written in Constantinople circa 500 AD containing full recipes for herbal medicine and related medicinal substances that were widely used for more than 1,500 years. It is one of the most famous manuscripts of late antiquity.

The author of this manuscript was a Greek pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides and was a physician in the Roman Empire, born in Çukurova in Turkey in the ancient Roman city of Anzarbus.

The manuscript contains over 383 images of medicinal plant which are alphabetically arranged along with their corresponding recipe written by Dioscorides explaining their medical application and instructions on how to prepare them as medicine.

The excerpt below is the recipe describing the preparation of the Physalis Alkekengi commonly known as the Chinese lantern plant, whose fruit is used to prepare a diuretic juice in order to treat jaundice also known as icterus, a yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin and whites of the eyes due to high bilirubin levels.

This medicinal manuscript is available for view at the National Library of Austria.