John of St Amand, Canon of Tournay (c. 1230–1303), also known as Jean de Saint-Amand and Johannes de Sancto Amando, was a Medieval author on

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

, teaching at the University of Paris. He wrote treatises on a variety of topics including

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

and

experimental method An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

Writings

Among St Amand's many treatises was one on the

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

. His pharmacopoeia was the ''Commentary on the Antedotary of Nicholas''. Like

Roger Bacon Roger Bacon (; la, Rogerus or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiri ...

(c. 1219–c. 1292)) after him, St Amand wrote on

. The historian of science Lynn Thorndike explains that St Amand "asserts that experimentum alone is 'timorous and fallacious,' but that 'fortified by reason' it gives 'experimental knowledge.'" In his view, what St Amand meant was that experimentation had to be methodical, and used alongside theory. On simples used in

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

, St Amand stated specific rules for practical testing: he advised that the specimen had to be pure; that the test should be on a simple disease; that the test be repeated; and that the dose should depend on the patient. Thorndike notes that both St Amand and Albertus Magnus preceded Bacon in their use of the phrase "experimental knowledge".

References

{{reflist 1230 births 1303 deaths French pharmacists History of science History of pharmacy Philosophers of science History of scientific method