THE BIRTH STOOL IN TEXTS OF CLASSICAL-TRA DITION

The author presents a collection of texts from Antiquity and from the Middle Ages to give an idea of the kind and incidence of references to the birth stool in medical and non-medical texts. The medieval texts are derived - at least indirectly - from classical sources, too. The m ention of the birth stool is a marginal issue in medical as well as no n-medical texts. In German-speaking culture areas, the widespread know ledge of the birth stool cannot be traced back to earlier than the beg inning of the 16th century.