The Badianus Manuscript, (Codex Barberini, Latin 241) an Aztec Herbal of 1552, was discovered at the Vatican Library in 1929 by Professor Charles U. Clark.
  
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The manuscript was bound in 16th century crimson velvet and is the earliest treatise on Mexican medicinal plants and native remedies which has ever come down [...]

“Since man first became conscious of himself, he has been eager to understand the two most striking mysteries surrounding him: The enigma of the natural phenomena, and the secret of his own existence.  What is the motive force within him that thinks, wills, loves, and hates?  What takes place in his system that subjects him [...]

Excerpts taken from Magic and Medical Science in Ancient Egypt, by Paul Ghalioungui (1963)
Although most of the medical papyri we know come from about the Renaissance, it is certain that they are only copies, often third- or fourth-hand ones, of older works.  Occasionally stray pages were copied on the papyrus scrolls by scribes with no [...]

The introduction and quotes for this story were taken from Discourses on the Sober Life, by Luigi Cornaro.
Louis Cornaro’s 16th century book, Discourses on the Sober Life, has also been alternatively titled, “How to Live 100 Years.”  It is one of the greatest books ever written on hygiene.
Cornaro was a Venetian nobleman who was born [...]

(Gerolamo Cardano; Jerome Cardan)
The information and quotes contained in this story were taken from the book, Doctor Cardano; Physician Extraordinaire by Alan Wykes, published by Frederick Muller Ltd. in 1969.
Gerolamo Cardano was born in the year 1501. He was an inventor, an astrologer, a philosopher and was the first to propound the mathematical theory of [...]

The majority of this article and all of the quotes are taken from The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations (1925), by Walter Addison Jayne, M.D.
The various superstitious practices of the ancients may seem strange to us, but some of the drugs and therapies that were used then have been rediscovered over the last several hundred [...]