Article ID: CBB026237588

Galenizing the New World: Joseph-François Lafitau's ‘Galenization’ of Canadian Ginseng, CA 1716–1724 (2020)

unapi

This essay situates the French Jesuit missionary Joseph-François Lafitau's (1681–1746) ‘discovery’ of Canadian ginseng within its social, commercial and religious contexts, and illustrates how the missionary's upbringing and education in France shaped the way he perceived nature in the New World. It elucidates the manner in which Lafitau ‘Galenized’ Canadian flora, fauna and peoples. It explores the role of Lafitau's dual enculturation in both a mercantile household and later the Society of Jesus in his application of Galenic categories to Canadian nature. The essay then examines the tensions between localism and universalism in Galenic medicine in the eighteenth century. It links these dichotomies to Lafitau's Galenization of Canadian ginseng. Finally, it suggests that since the Jesuits were prohibited from trading goods they had purchased, they sold medicinal plants they had cultivated themselves, which played a central role in financing the Society's missions in a manner they believed to be morally acceptable.

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Authors & Contributors
Fleck, Eliane Cristina Deckmann
Doyoung Koo
Hye-sim Sŏl
Heasim Sul
Sweetman, Will
Statman, Alexander
Concepts
Materia medica
Medicine
Missionaries and missions
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Ginseng
Pharmaceutical botany
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
19th century
Medieval
20th century
16th century
Places
China
Spain
Canada
Beijing (China)
Paraguay
Americas
Institutions
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Paris. Jardin Royal des Plantes
Académie Royale des Sciences (France)
Royal Society of London
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