Tacuinum sanitatis

The Tacuinum (sometimes Taccuinum) Sanitatis^[1] is a medieval handbook mainly on health. It is based on the Taqwim al‑sihha تقويم الصحة ("Maintenance of Health"), an eleventh-century Arab work an health by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad.^[2] The text exists in several variant Latin versions.

Ibn Butlan's Tacuinum sanitatis, Rhineland, 2nd half of 15th century.

Harvesting garlic, from Tacuinum Sanitatis, ca. 1400 (Bibliothèque nationale, Paris).

It describes in detail the beneficial and harmful properties of foods and plants. It explains the six essential elements for well-being:

• sufficient food and drink in moderation,
• fresh air,
• alternations of activity and rest,
• alternations of sleep and wakefulness,
• secretions and excretions of humours, and finally
• the effects of states of mind.

Tacuinum Sanitatis says that illnesses result from imbalance of these elements.