In this drawing, a Nahua medical specialist treats a scorpion sting. The text preceding the image prescribes suctioning the poison and rubbing it with tobacco leaves. Missing in this account are the supernatural aspects of the treatment, which the writer Ruiz de Alarcón describes in more detail: after suctioning the poison and rubbing it with tobacco, the healer applies a compression bandage over the wound while the healer re-creates with words and gestures the story of Yappan, a man who was converted into a scorpion by the goddess Xochiquetzal as a punishment for breaking his vow of chastity. The Nahua informants of the Florentine Codex likely omitted the divine aspect of this treatment for fear of Christian censorship, which punished any references to Nahua religious beliefs. Until the recent development of serums, conventional Western treatments for stings were not more effective than Nahua ones.
Image Source
- Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Mediceo Palatino 220 (Florentine Codex), book 11, fol. 92v (3:244v). Courtesy of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
Further Reading
- Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. Aztec Medicine, Health, and Nutrition. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990.
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