Medical Knowledge: Daniel Sennert’s Views on Scurvy and the Role of Dissertations for Their Dissemination Early Science and Medicine

This article explores how scurvy, a disease resulting from vitamin C deficiency, was understood and treated in the Holy Roman Empire from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. It focuses on Daniel Sennert’s work on scurvy of 1624 and 1631, which significantly influenced medical education and practice. By examining Sennert’s work and subsequent dissertations supervised by scholars like Werner Rolfinck, the study highlights the role of academic disputations in disseminating medical knowledge. The article reveals that scurvy affected not only seafarers but also impoverished Europeans around the Baltic, integrating traditional cures with emerging scientific theories, thus forming a comprehensive network of medical communication.

Keywords: Daniel Sennert; scurvy; scorbut; dissertations; medicine; pharmacology; traditional medicine; cochlearia; Wittenberg; transmission of knowledge