Abstract
This is a brief compilation of the medical literature produced during colonial times. It shows how such writings were always in accordance with the times in New Spain, which was never isolated from cultural developments in the rest of the world. Thus, in the field of medical science, the mood was first that of the Renaissance, then of the Baroque, then of the Enlightenment, in accordance to the knowledge available within the historical context but always making its own contribution. This was reflected in the works published: simple apothecaries' files, essays on public health problems and the curative properties of plants, prayers to different saints for different complaints, dissertations on the breaking of ecclesiastical fasts for health reasons, and criticisms of those who used the supernatural to explain disease.