The Concept of Contagion in Medicine, Literature and Religion

This study highlights the relationship between medicine, literature and religion. Dr Jarcho describes what the Ancient Greeks and Romans wrote and may have thought about contagion and what caused the spread of disease. He then considers Moslem ideas on the subject, and follows these with writings by saints, theologians and controversialists in both religious and non-religious contexts. His final section presents detailed writings of Leonicenus (1428-1524), a physician and classical scholar, and those of Frascatorius (ca 1478-1533), an astronomer, cartographer and philosopher.