2023-08-23 11:31:27
It should not surprise us that in Don Quixote we find many allusions to medicine since Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) had a large library -it is estimated that there were more than two hundred volumes- in which there were no shortage of medical books, he was the great-grandson of a medical graduate, son of a surgeon-barber and brother of a nurse. In addition, among his friends were renowned doctors such as Francisco Díaz, author of a treatise on urology, and Antonio Ponce de Santa Cruz, professor at the University of Valladolid.
Moreover, it is precisely with an illness that the novel begins: “from little sleep and much reading, his brain dried up in such a way that he lost his mind.”
Did you know that ‘Don Quixote’ begins with the description of a disease? Photo: Istock
Physicians without academic training
In the Spanish Golden Age, the practice of medicine was carried out by a large number of professionals, with better or worse academic preparation. Along with the doctors there were, among others, Latino surgeons, romantic surgeons, algebraists, potters, lithotomists, bleeding barbers and midwives, a large plethora of pseudo-physicians without academic training.
Thus, for example, in chapter XXIV of the first part of Don Quixote, the figure of the sacapotras appears, a professional who was dedicated to treating hernias, operating on cataracts and repositioning dislocated joints. Allusion is made to him when the ingenious gentleman is indignant at the situation that Queen Malasima has cohabited with this type of health “professional”.
Algebraists, although the word may seem related to mathematics, were professionals dedicated to treating fractures and reducing dislocations. In chapter XV of the second part, when the bachelor Samson Carrasco -disguised as the Knight of mirrors- was defeated by Don Quixote, he had to look for an algebraist to put his battered bones back together. It seems that the origin of the word algebra derives from the Arabic al-jabr which means to put in place, fix or fit something that was out of place.
Different types of surgeons
During the 16th and 17th centuries, surgeons were in charge of treating bruises and ulcers, while cauterizing wounds and opening tumors. They were the doctors who, literally, worked with their hands, a nuance that is important to underline, since in front of them were the clinical doctors, who “limited themselves” to asking, observing, diagnosing and treating the patients.
But not all surgeons were the same, there were Latinos, romanticists and barbers. Latino surgeons were those who, despite not having completed a medical degree, had followed some type of university course, performed surgical operations, and were authorized to prescribe medications.
The romantic surgeons, for their part, were one step below: they did not know Latin, they had not followed any university course and their training had been carried out in an artisanal way with a teacher who had taught them the trade –similar to other trades-.
Once the skill was acquired, the apprentice was required to prove that he was an old Christian, he had to present the baptismal certificate and the information on purity of blood, and a certificate of having practiced surgery for three years with an approved surgeon.
Next, he had to pass an exam. It was carried out at the home of the proto-medical examiner, who carried out an initial theoretical exam -he opened a random chapter of a book and the candidate had to answer the questions that were asked- and a practical exam, in a public hospital and with two examiners. Once these procedures were completed, the surgeon was legally qualified to perform surgery.
Lastly, on the lowest rung were bleeding barbers, phlebotomists, and those surgeons who were authorized to perform bleeding and extract teeth. Among them there were notable differences, some of them – party barbers carried out a stable job in one locality, while others carried out their trade on an itinerant basis, moving from one city to another.
Thus, for example, in chapter XXI of the first part we can read: “in that area there were two places, one so small that it did not have an apothecary or a barber, and the other, which was next to it, and so, the barber the older one served the younger, in which a patient needed to bleed himself and another to make his beard, for which the barber would come.
The only graduate in medicine in the entire novel
Of all the characters related to health that appear in Don Quixote, the only one who has a medical title is Dr. Pedro Recio de Agüero, a native of Tirteafuera and a graduate of Osuna, a small provincial university that, paradoxically, at that time lacked of medical school.
It was this doctor, Dr. Recio, who subjected Sancho Panza to all kinds of food deprivation during his rule on the island of Barataria. However, Sancho was not intimidated by the doctor and attacked him harshly: “and with clubs, starting with him, I will not have a doctor left in the entire island, at least those who I understand are ignorant; I will place wise, prudent, and discreet doctors on my head and honor them as divine persons.”
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