TheDoctrine of Signatures, also known as the Doctrine of Correspondences, states that herbs or animals have physical or behavioral traits that mirror the ailment it can successfully treat.[1] It dates from the time ofDioscorides andGalen and was popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries.[1] A theological justification, as stated by botanists such asWilliam Coles, was that God would have wanted to show men what plants would be useful for.
This theory is a possible explanation for the ancient discovery of medicinal properties, however, there is not definitive proof as to whether the medicinal property or the connection in physical/behavioral traits was realized first.[2] The theory later became a scientific basis for trying new remedies solely based upon their qualities in an attempt to find new medicines. While there are some homeopathic remedies that are still used today which have been connected to this theory, there are also remedies from this theory which have been found harmful.[1][3] For instance,birthwort (so-called because of its resemblance to the uterus) was once used widely for pregnancies, but is carcinogenic and very damaging to the kidneys, owing to itsaristolochic acid content.[4] As a defense againstpredation, many plants contain toxic chemicals, the action of which is not immediately apparent, or easily tied to the plant rather than other factors.
The concept dates from the time ofDioscorides andGalen.[citation needed]Paracelsus (1493–1541) developed the concept, writing that "Nature marks each growth ... according to its curative benefit",[5] and it was followed byGiambattista della Porta in hisPhytognomonica (1588).
The writings ofJakob Böhme (1575–1624) coined the term doctrine of signatures within his bookThe Signature of All Things (or Signatura Rerum) published in 1621.[5] He suggested that God marked objects with a sign, or "signature", for their purpose,[6] specifically that "...to that Signature, his inward form is noted in the form of his face; and thus also is a beaft [beast],an herb, and the trees; every thing as it is inwardly (in its innate vertue [virtue] and quality) fo it is outwardly figned [signed]..."[7]. Plants bearing parts that resembled human body-parts, animals, or other objects were thought to have useful relevance to those parts, animals, or objects. The "signature" could sometimes also be identified in the environments or specific sites in which plants grew.
The English physician-philosopher SirThomas Browne in his discourseThe Garden of Cyrus (1658) uses theQuincunx pattern as an archetype of the 'doctrine of signatures' pervading the design of gardens and orchards, botany and the Macrocosm at large.
The 17th century botanist William Coles supposed that God had made 'Herbes for the use of men, and hath given them particular Signatures, whereby a man may read ... the use of them.'[5] Coles'sThe Art of Simpling andAdam in Eden, stated thatwalnuts were good for curing head ailments because in his opinion, "they Have the perfect Signatures of the Head". RegardingHypericum, he wrote, "The little holes whereof the leaves of Saint Johns wort are full, doe resemble all the pores of the skin and therefore it is profitable for all hurts and wounds that can happen thereunto."[6]
A theological justification was made for this philosophy: "It was reasoned that the Almighty must have set his sign upon the various means of curing disease which he provided".[8]
For the late medieval viewer, the natural world was vibrant with images of the Deity: 'as above, so below,' aHermetic principle expressed as the relationship betweenmacrocosm and microcosm; the principle is renderedsicut in terra.Michel Foucault expressed the wider usage of the doctrine of signatures, which renderedallegory more real and more cogent than it appears to a modern eye:
Up to the end of the sixteenth century, resemblance played a constructive role in the knowledge of Western culture. It was resemblance that largely guidedexegesis and the interpretation of texts; it was resemblance that organized the play of symbols, made possible knowledge of things visible and invisible, and controlled the art of representing them. (The Order of Things, p. 17)
20th century mentions of the doctrine of signatures include 5 cited publications in the 1996 Economic Botany Index (1947-1996).[2]
The concept of signatures is reflected in the common names of some plants whose shapes and colors reminded herbalists of the parts of the body where they were thought to do good, as for instance:
Concepts similar to the doctrine of signatures may be found in folk or indigenous medicines, and in modernalternative medicines.[citation needed]
The phrase "signatures of all things" appears in the beginning of episode 3 in James Joyce's novelUlysses. The character Stephen Dedalus walking along the beach, thinking to himself "Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot". The Canadian poetAnne Szumigalski, 1922–1999, entitled her third full-length collectionDoctrine of Signatures.
The signatures are described aspost hoc attributions andmnemonics,[13] of value only in creating a system for remembering actions attributed to medical herbs. There is no scientific evidence that plant shapes and colors help in the discovery of medical uses of plants.[13]
Another explanation is that the human mind, in trying to find patterns to explain phenomena, while lacking adequate scientific knowledge, resorts toanthropomorphism.[14]
Citations
As late as 1657 we find William Coles, who was a herbarist ... speaking of Spleenwort, or Miltwort, tells us that the learned Crollius, amongst the signatures of parts, doth set down Ceterach to have the signature of the spleen, and that therefore it is profitable for all diseases thereof;
Bibliography