Ortus sanitatis (Inc.3.A.1.8[37]) Ortus sanitatis (Inc.3.A.1.8[37])

The Ortus sanitatis, ‘Garden of health', compiled by Jacob Meydenbach in the late fifteenth century, is an encyclopaedia of natural history. In addition to information about plants, it has sections on mammals, fish, birds, and rocks, and concludes with a description of the diagnostic qualities of urine. The aim was to provide information about using the elements of the natural world to cure diseases. The volume is heavily illustrated and many of the plants and animals are easily recognised.

The Ortus sanitatis, ‘Garden of health', compiled by Jacob Meydenbach in the late fifteenth century, is an encyclopaedia of natural history. In addition to information about plants, it has sections on mammals, fish, birds, and rocks, and concludes with a description of the diagnostic qualities of urine. The aim was to provide information about using the elements of the natural world to cure diseases. The volume is heavily illustrated and many of the plants and animals are easily recognised. The full-page woodcut illustration here at the opening of the section on fish shows various recognisable specimens of marine life, plus a mermaid and merman.