Abstract

Late medieval English uroscopy diagrams depict twenty colors of urine in bright, often garish, colors and gold leaf, arranged in correspondence to digestive states. This article argues that the use of color in these diagrams reveals medieval ideas about the perception of color more broadly, and that the images themselves could train practices of comparative looking and visual judgment. Appearing in multiple formats, these images facilitated the theorization and practice of uroscopy—the diagnosis of an ailment by the appearance of a patient’s urine—and survive in large numbers from late medieval England. Diagrams accompany treatises that describe at length the humoral causes, physical symptoms, and particular appearances of different colors of urine. Medieval digestive theory held that changes in the relative proportion of heat, cold, moisture, and dryness in the blood caused qualitative changes in the look of substances such as urine. Accounts of the appearance of bodily evidence in uroscopy treatises, however, relied on a slippery network of color descriptions and comparisons of colors of urine with other colorful objects. Diagrams made these relationships not only legible but also instructive. In juxtaposing text and image, this article incorporates uroscopy—perhaps the best documented medieval practical application of ideas about color—into broader discussions of medieval color theory.

摘要

中世纪晚期的英国尿路镜图描绘了 20 种颜色的尿液，颜色鲜艳，通常是花哨的，颜色和金箔，根据消化状态排列。本文认为，这些图表中颜色的使用更广泛地揭示了中世纪关于颜色感知的思想，并且图像本身可以训练比较观察和视觉判断的实践。这些图像以多种形式出现，促进了尿路镜检查的理论化和实践——通过患者尿液的外观来诊断疾病——并且在中世纪晚期的英格兰大量存在。附有图表的论文详细描述了不同颜色尿液的体液原因、身体症状和特殊外观。中世纪的消化理论认为，热、冷、水分的相对比例发生变化，血液中的干燥导致尿液等物质的外观发生质变。然而，在泌尿学论文中对身体证据外观的描述依赖于一个光滑的颜色描述网络以及尿液颜色与其他彩色物体的比较。图表使这些关系不仅清晰而且具有指导意义。通过并置文本和图像，本文将尿路镜检查——也许是中世纪色彩思想的最佳记录实际应用——纳入了对中世纪色彩理论的更广泛讨论。图表使这些关系不仅清晰而且具有指导意义。通过并置文本和图像，本文将尿路镜检查——也许是中世纪色彩思想的最佳记录实际应用——纳入了对中世纪色彩理论的更广泛讨论。图表使这些关系不仅清晰而且具有指导意义。通过并置文本和图像，本文将尿路镜检查——也许是中世纪色彩思想的最佳记录实际应用——纳入了对中世纪色彩理论的更广泛讨论。