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  • An apothecary tells a drug addict to fill in his own prescription. Colour photomechanical reproduction of a lithograph, c. 1900.
  • Veratrum nigrum L. Melanthiaceae Distribution: Europe. Cows do not eat Veratrum species in the meadows, and human poisoning with it caused vomiting and fainting. In the 1850s it was found to reduce the heart's action and slow the pulse (Bentley, 1861, called it an 'arterial sedative'), and in 1859 it was used orally in a woman who was having convulsions due to eclampsia. Dr Paul DeLacy Baker in Alabama treated her with drops of a tincture of V. viride. She recovered. It was used thereafter, as the first choice of treatment, and, when blood pressure monitoring became possible, it was discovered that it worked by reducing the high blood pressure that occurs in eclampsia. By 1947 death rates were reduced from 30% to 5% by its use at the Boston Lying-in Hospital. It works by dilating the arteries in muscles and in the gastrointestinal circulation. A further use of Veratrum species came to light when it was noted that V. californicum - and other species - if eaten by sheep resulted in foetal malformations, in particular only having one eye. The chemical in the plant that was responsible, cyclopamine, was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo/foetus. Synthetic analogues have been developed which act on what have come to be called the 'hedgehog signalling pathways' in stem cell division, and these 'Hedgehog inhibitors' are being introduced into medicine for the treatment of various cancers like chondrosarcoma, myelofibrosis, and advanced basal cell carcinoma. The drugs are saridegib, erismodegib and vismodegib. All the early herbals report on its ability to cause vomiting. As a herbal medicine it is Prescription Only, via a registered dentist or physician (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Veratrum album L. Melanthiaceae Distribution: Europe. Cows do not eat Veratrum species in the meadows, and human poisoning with it caused vomiting and fainting. In the 1850s it was found to reduce the heart's action and slow the pulse (Bentley, 1861, called it an 'arterial sedative'), and in 1859 it was used orally in a woman who was having convulsions due to eclampsia. Dr Paul DeLacy Baker in Alabama treated her with drops of a tincture of V. viride. She recovered. It was used thereafter, as the first choice of treatment, and when blood pressure monitoring became possible, it was discovered that it worked by reducing the high blood pressure that occurs in eclampsia. By 1947 death rates were reduced from 30% to 5% by its use at the Boston Lying in Hospital. It works by dilating the arteries in muscles and in the gastrointestinal circulation. A further use of Veratrum species came to light when it was noted that V. californicum -and other species - if eaten by sheep resulted in foetal malformations, in particular only having one eye. The chemical in the plant that was responsible, cyclopamine, was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo/foetus. Synthetic analogues have been developed which act on what have come to be called the 'hedgehog signalling pathways' in stem cell division, and these 'Hedgehog inhibitors' are being introduced into medicine for the treatment of various cancers like chondrosarcoma, myelofibrosis, and advanced basal cell carcinoma. The drugs are saridegib, erismodegib and vismodegib. All the early herbals report on its ability to cause vomiting. As a herbal medicine it is Prescription Only, via a registered dentist or physician (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Please alway prescribe explicite Marienbad Tablets according to the prescription of Prof. Ritter v. Basch.
  • Please alway prescribe explicite Marienbad Tablets according to the prescription of Prof. Ritter v. Basch.
  • This month (April) you should abstain from hemlock, henbane, deadly mandrake, arsenic sublimate, etc., for most physicians agree that all these plants are more or less unwholesome ...
  • A boy complaining to a pharmacist about medicine dispensed for his father: his mother had misunderstood the dosage instructions. Pen and wash drawing by F. Gillett.
  • A boy complaining to a pharmacist about medicine dispensed for his father: his mother had misunderstood the dosage instructions. Pen and wash drawing by F. Gillett.
  • A doctor surrounded by four dead bodies writes out a prescription at a table, while to the right a man puts his sword into his scabbard after killing a man; indicating that the pen of the physician is mightier than the sword of the knight. Coloured etching after G. Piattoli.
  • A couple buy some narcotics from an apothecary whose assistant, Death, works with a pestle and mortar in the back room. Coloured lithograph by J. Grandville.
  • A physician dispensing medicine through a window, a large group of patients are waiting their turn, a female assistant has a medicine chest suspended from her neck, Italy 17--. Coloured wood engraving by M. Klinkicht after H. Wallis.
  • A learned physician with a library of Latin books writes a prescription but cannot save his patients from death. Etching by G.M. Mitelli, c. 1700.
  • A vicar prays for a dying usurer while his wife receives medical advice. Mezzotint by B. Clowes after W. Dawes, 1768.
  • An itinerant medicine vendor selling a medicine to a man whose son has a poorly arm. Engraving by P. da Colle after N. Cavalli after F. Maggiotto.
  • A man barricades himself in with a panoply of protections against the cholera epidemic, the latter represented as a hag; representing an overabundance of useless advice concerning protection against cholera. Coloured etching by J.B. Wunder, c. 1832.
  • A man barricades himself in with a panoply of protections against the cholera epidemic, the latter represented as a hag; representing an overabundance of useless advice concerning protection against cholera. Coloured etching by J.B. Wunder, c. 1832.
  • C14 Chinese medication chart: Heatstroke etc.
  • C14 Chinese medication chart: Balancing and warming
  • C14 Chinese medication chart: Pestilence and damp stroke
  • Bot. of Day's Southern Drug Compy., family dispensing chemists.
  • Bot. of Day's Southern Drug Compy., family dispensing chemists.
  • Mycivin Lincomycin hydrochloride.
  • Mycivin Lincomycin hydrochloride.
  • Identification and dosage card for the new BRL Penicillins.
  • Identification and dosage card for the new BRL Penicillins.
  • Brontisol : aerosol therapy for generalized airways obstruction.
  • Brontisol : aerosol therapy for generalized airways obstruction.
  • Brontisol : aerosol therapy for generalized airways obstruction.
  • Brontisol : aerosol therapy for generalized airways obstruction.
  • Penbritin for injection : broad spectrum penicillin.