Źródła wiedzy panien apteczkowych: tradycje słowiańskie czy śródziemnomorskie?

Abstract

Sources of knowledge for women taking care of the household medicine cabinets at the manors of Polish nobility: Slavic or Mediterranean traditions? In the 19th century, the medicine cabinets at the manors of Polish nobility became a legitimate presence in the Polish provinces: defi ned in encyclopaedias and dictionaries and included in the laws on pharmacies. Their caretakers (“panny apteczkowe”) obtained their knowledge from home silva rerum, herbal books or their copies. The women taking care of the household medicine cabinets grew herbs themselves or bought them from rural herbalists with whom they exchanged information about the healing effect. It remains an open question whether the knowledge of medicinal plants considered folk belongs to our Slavic tradition or to the Greco-Latin civilisation.