The expurgation of medical books in sixteenth-century Spain

Medical books figured prominently on lists of scientific books censured or expurgated by ecclesiastic authorities in the second half of the sixteenth century. A systematic examination of this censorship is still wanting. The following study which describes and explains the mechanism of expurgation o f centuria iv in Amatus Lusitanus's description of medical cases (Lyons edi tion, 1580), is an example of the sort of questions and information that ca n be drawn from such an examination. In particular, the expurgation of Amat us's discussion of false conception suffered by a nun is analyzed. Amatus d id not rule out the possibility of natural virginal pregnancy, and in doing so he relied on medical authorities (Averroes) as well as on a Hebrew rabb inical source (Alphabet of Ben Sira).