This has actually been online for a couple months, but it’s just now getting to the top of my queue. The National Library of Medicine now has an online exhibit of 21 medieval manuscripts and five early printed texts. This exhibit, An Odyssey of Knowledge, is now available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/odysseyofknowledge/index.html.

The manuscripts are divided up into several sections, starting with “Greek Medicine and Science in the Early Middle Ages,” and going all the way to “The Return of Greek” in the fifteenth century. A brief overview leads to manuscript information. You can click on a manuscript thumbnail for a larger image, or click on the manuscript link to go to a locator tool for the National Library of Medicine. Note these manuscripts do not appear to be complete scans but highlights of illumination and content.

And as long as you’re looking at medical exhibits, check out this new exhibit from the University of Virginia. “Taking the Waters: 19th c. Medicinal Springs of Virginia” is an exhibit based around the book The Mineral Springs of Western Virginia by William Burke. The exhibit’s available at http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/exhibits/springs/home.cfm. Content from the book is combined with transcripts, images, and information about several different medicinal springs. A fascinating, narrow bit of history.