golden age of scholasticism, a remarkable series of specula principum
his specula, in particular the De eruditione, served as models for later
writers of thirteenthcentury specula relied predominantly on a
La Baja Edad Media, aunque es una continuidad en buena parte de la cultura altomedieval, es tambien un periodo de cambio, de creatividad y de innovacion donde los tradicionales topoi o metaforas especulares: espejo de la naturaleza, de la Escritura y del alma, amen de alcanzar una proyeccion desconocida hasta entonces, se vieron enriquecidos por la aparicion de un nuevo genero literario de caracter especular: los specula, caracterizados tanto por portar en su titulo el termino speculum, acompanado habitualmente de un sustantivo en genitivo, como por encerrar toda una programacion pedagogica y gnoseologica de caracter catoptrico encaminada a la perfeccion humana.
De esta idea participaran muchos escolasticos para quienes la multiplicidad formal de la naturaleza, en tanto que reflejo de la voluntad de Dios, posibilitaba una proliferacion inusitada y diversa de specula o espejos.
"The investigation found that re-usable metal vaginal
specula were not always sterilised before being used again."
However, 39 (48%) of those samples had been obtained with nonlubricated
specula. Giving the technologists a comparison slide that had been taken from a lubricated speculum did not significantly improve the technologists' accuracy.
But a cleric of Cavalca's sensitivity, involved as he was in issues of moral reform, also perceives the problem with clerics as exempla or specula: what of the influence of the bad, immoral clergy?
"I see in this [my] beauty, each time I look at myself in the mirror (self-reflect) ["io mi specchio"], that good that contents the intellect." The Trecento reader could recall two associations: first Pampinea's recent indictment of women's pride in their appearances, and then the understanding of holy lives as specula, as proclaimed by Cavalca and Dini.
The discomfort was alleviated somewhat by using smaller
specula. For some children, the noise of the laser and/or the suction was distressing.