ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various social, political, and intellectual contexts in which medical professionals of the Latin West began to discuss the concept of poison, refashion the notion of venenum, and move toward a stronger dichotomy between medicine and poison. It describes the typical discussions related to poison that emerged from Salerno, one of the earliest and most influential medical centers of learning in the Latin West. The chapter emphasizes how concept of venenum was relatively common to find explanations of disease that referred to a poisoned body as a result of corrupted, imbalanced, stained, or contaminated humors. It shows how Latin medical writing about poison until the end of the twelfth century appeared almost exclusively in large medical summae, compendia, and encyclopedias. The chapter explores the discussions at Paris and Montpellier in the late thirteenth century concerning the nature of compound drugs, for which poison proved a crucial and informative edge case.
