Format: ORAL

Marianne Jennifer Datiles1, Vivienne Lo2, Michael Heinrich1

1 School of Pharmacy, University College London, UK 2 History Department, University College London, UK

Recent literature on Philippine botany has illuminated previously neglected histories of missionary scientific activity during the Spanish colonial period. Between c.1562 and 1815 the archipelago served as the Spanish East Indies from which the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade operated as the critical link between Asia and Nueva Espaa. This paper investigates the medicinal plants prescribed inRemedios Fciles(1712), the most comprehensive surviving representation of missionary medicine during the Spanish period of the Philippines. Written by Bohemian Jesuit Paul Klein (Hispanicised name Pablo Clain), this manual of easy remedies was intended to arm future Jesuit missionaries with the medical knowledge necessary for evangelisation, even without access to themateria medicain the Jesuit apothecary in Manila. Drawing from historical botanical collections, unpublished manuscripts, missionary notes, and archival records, we present case studies from Kleins manual of Philippine medicinal plant uses from the 17th century to the present day, and discuss the challenges of linking historically used medicinal plants to modern-day collections and botanical research.