Ebook: De Materia Medica

Pedanius Dioscorides the Greek wrote this DE MATERIA MEDICA approximately two thousand years ago. In 1655 John Goodyer made an English translation from a manuscript copy, and in 1933 Robert T. Gunther edited this, Hafner Publishing Co., London & New York, printing it. This was probably not corrected against the Greek, and this version of Goodyer's Dioscorides makes
no such attempt either. The purpose of this new edition is to offer a more accessible text to today’s readers, as the ‘english-ed’ copy by Goodyer is generously endowed with post-medieval terminology and is presently out of print. [...] Dioscorides’ treatise is not offered as a primary resource for medical treatment. Readers should in the first instance obtain medical advice from qualified, registered health professionals. Many treatments considered acceptable two thousand years ago are useless or harmful. This particularly applies to the abortifacients mentioned in the manuscript, most of which contain toxins considered dangerous in the required doses. With all this in mind, I believe the information in this document is still of interest and benefit to us, after all this time. [From the preface by T. A. Osbaldeston (whose admission that this "translation" bear little relation to the original text is somewhat troubling...)]