Medical literacy comes to the new world.

• Position: Medical Literature

Medical care in New Spain (early Mexico) was influenced heavily by Catholic religious orders and missionaries during the Spanish colonization of the Americas beginning in 1492 and continuing into the 19th century. Caring for the sick was part of the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy (charitable acts of mercy for bodily needs) outlined in the Bible and carried out by priests and lay members of the church. Tending to the medical needs of the poor and underserved fell naturally into the hands of these religious missionaries as a part of their "works of mercy," and they became the main source of medical care for many indigenous peoples.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Members of the Jesuit and Augustinian religious orders ministered to those in remote regions of New Spain where access to formally trained physicians was rare or nonexistent. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the first medical books in New Spain were written by religious missionaries and by doctors who joined the religious life later in their lives. Many were infused with words of faith and dedications to the Virgin Mary, in addition to details on diagnosing and treating illnesses.

The fusion of faith, religion, and medicine was inevitable: Medicine and religion were intertwined over hundreds of years as a result of medical treatment administered by priests of religious orders, the early medical guides written by them, and the merging of Catholic and indigenous religious traditions. It certainly is not surprising that faith and healing played such an important role in everyday life.

Friar Augustin Farfan, a member of the Augustinian religious order, authored two important medical texts: Tratado Breve de Medicina (A Brief Treatise on Medicine), published in 1579, and Tratado Breve de Anethomia y Chirugia, y de algunas enfemedades (A Brief Treatise on Anatomy and Surgery, and of some illnesses), published in 1592.

A Spanish physician by profession, Pedro Garcia Farfan was admired as an excellent surgeon and served as a family doctor to King Philip II of Spain. By 1568, he had joined the Augustinian Order, became known as Augustin Farfan, and traveled to the new Spanish colony. Tratado Breve de Medicina was one of the earliest medical guides of New Spain and was instrumental in helping treat many new diseases that afflicted indigenous peoples as a result of the introduction of these illnesses by Spanish settlers.

Medicina consists of four parts and an alphabetical index of diseases...