Fasciculus Medicinae

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Fasciculus Medicinae is a collection of six different medical writings from the Middle Ages. It survived in only two handwritten copies before being printed in Latin in 1491, with many editions published in the next 25 years. Johannes de Ketham was the owner of one manuscript, not its author or compiler. The texts cover a wide range of medieval medical knowledge, including urine diagnosis (uroscopy), astrology, bloodletting, wound treatment, plague, anatomy through dissection, and women's health. The work is notable for being the first illustrated medical book printed. Its ten full-page woodcut illustrations include a urine chart, a diagram of the veins for phlebotomy, a pregnant woman, Wound Man, Disease Man, and Zodiac Man. In 1495 an Italian edition appeared under the title Fasiculo de Medicina. The large woodcut pictures influenced artists for years, and their influence can be seen even in 1751 in William Hogarth's Four Stages of Cruelty, which borrows from the dissection scene.