STENO MUSEET


		An attractive new herb garden
		In the Steno Museum's terraced court a medical herb garden is laid out. It contains a large number of various medicinal plants, including spices and poisonous plants. Since ancient times medicinal substances have been prepared from plants. This knowledge has survived in medical books and herbals. The first publications in Danish appeared in the first half of the 16th century, and Henrik Smid's book "En skøn lystig ny Urtegaard" (An attractive new herb garden) from 1546 became especially well-known. It influenced Danish pharmacy for generations and gives us a good idea of the nature of medical treatment of that time.


		Henrik Smid
	Henrik Smid's manual of medicine	Henrik Smid was born around 1495 and died from plague in 1563. Among other things he was Christian II's physician-in-ordinary for several years. He believed that disease was a punishment from God, but that God also had given man the plants as a means of cure. Therefore Henrik Smid wanted to teach common people about the healing plants. Most of the medicinal herbs mentioned in his book are to be found in the garden.

The Steno Museum, C.F. Møllers Alle 2, Build. 1100, DK-8000 Århus C
Phone: +45 89 42 39 75, E-mail: stenomuseet@si.au.dk