The medical controversy around cold drinks in the 16th century the Latin opuscule of Bernardino Gómez Miedes

This study establishes the framework within which six treaties on the medical controversy of «cold/chilled drinks» were disseminated in the decade from 1569 to 1579. The debate centered on its possible harmful or therapeutic effects and involved renowned physicians of the Renaissance. At the center of this controversy around the healthier use of cold drinking with snow stands out the only Spanish opuscule edited in Latin, with the vernacular language being used in the other five. It was written by prelate Bernardino Gómez Miedes and published in Valencia in 1579 as an «Appendix» in the second edition of his monumental Commentarii de sale, dedicated to King Felipe II and his son Prince Diego. This Latin monograph is approached in order to address rhetorical-pragmatic matters related to this medical controversy.