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Accepted Paper:
From Jacob Sarmento to William Withering: Enlightenment theories in the folk narratives of water spa healing in contemporary Portugal
António Matos
(University of Lisbon)
Paper short abstract:
Folk views regarding health, sickness and the healing powers of mineral water. Narratives were collected in contemporary Portugal, among users of water sources. These narratives make use of a number of concepts that were developed in the context of the Enlightenment era medical research.
Paper long abstract:
Folk views regarding health, sickness and healing are often permeated by concepts borrowed from medical theories and re-assembled in original systems or narratives. We will substantiate this statement with a study of folk narratives regarding the healing powers of mineral waters. Narratives were collected in contemporary Portugal among users of all kinds of water sources regarded as potentially curative. Those narratives make use of a number of concepts that were developed in the context of the Enlightment era medical research, as illustrated by the medical works of the Jacob Sarmento and William Whitering. Both travelled between Portugal and England for different reasons: Sarmento in order to escape inquisition in his native Portugal, and Scottish born Whitering in order to study Southern Iberia natural elements. Both developed reflections and models in order to account for the mineral properties of waters. Some of those elements area precisely kept frozen, though re-worked, in the folk tradition up to our days.