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  • Human HeLa cancer cell in early anaphase of mitosis
  • A radiograph of the chest; representing the need for early detection of pulmonary tuberculosis. Colour lithograph by G.C. Schulz, ca. 1947.
  • Lentigo maligna (LM) on the temple. Lentigo maligna describes a dark skin lesion, it is often referred to as a pre-cancerous lesion or early stage skin cancer. It is a type of melanoma but can be treated if it is caught at this early stage.
  • A radiologist conducting a chest x-ray of a young man in order to detect early signs of tuberculosis. Colour lithograph after A. Wilquin, 1949.
  • An early DNA fingerprint showing DNA patterns from a mother (lanes 2 and 8) and her four children (adjacent lanes to the right). Lane 1 is an unrelated person. The two sets of lanes show the fingerprints reveled with two different probes that detect different types of repeated sequences.
  • 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.
  • Pulmonaria officinalis L. Boraginaceae Distribution: Officinalis indicates its medicinal use in early medicine. Europe. Pulmonaria or Lungwort are names for a lichen and a perennial plant in the Boraginaceae. This is the latter. Lyte (1578) has a woodcut of our plant and also calls it Sage of Jerusalem and says it is of ' no particular use in physicke, but is much used in meates and salads with eggs, as is also Cowslippes and Primroses, whereunto in temperature it is much alike.' He lists and describes the lichen separately. Culpeper (1650) said he found many sorts of lunguewort in perusing Authors ' Pulmonari, arborea and Symphytum maculosum [and the latter is our plant, the others the lichen] and that they 'helpe infirmities of the lungues, as hoarseness, coughs, wheezing, shortnesse of breath etc.' Coles (1657) who espouses the Doctrine of Signatures in a way unrivalled by any other English author, might have been expected to confirm the concept that the mottled leaves looked like the cut surface of a lung which indicates their purpose, but he only mentions the lungwort which is a lichen. However, Porta's beautiful book on the Doctrine, Phytognomica (1588), is clear that the plant called Pulmonaria with hairy leaves like a bugloss, spotted white with purple flowers, commonly called 'cynoglossa' [with a woodcut which could be Pulmonaria officinalis] indicate its use for ulcerated lungs, spitting blood, shortness of breath and asthma equally with the lichen with the same name. Lobel & Pena (1570) call it 'PULMONARIA, masculosa folia Borrago, floribus Primula veris, purpureis [PULMONARIA spotted, Borage-leaved, flowers like Primula veris - Cowslips - purple]' and say that women mix the leaves with a little broth and make it into an omelette for lung disorders and to strengthen the heart. Lobel (1576) calls it Maculosa Pulmonaria and describes a white flowered form with a good woodcut. Gerard (1633) uses the same woodcut as Lobel and calls it Pulmonatia foliis Echii, Buglosse Cowslips with red flowers, and a woodcut of a narrow leaved plant as Pulmonaria masculosa, Spotted Cowslips of Jerusalem with red, blue and purple flowers and says 'the leaves are used among pot-herbes. The roots are aso thought to be good against the infirmities of ulcers of the lungs...'. Quincy (1718) writes: '... it has a glutinous juice ... and heals ulcers and erosions. It is commended in coughs and spitting of blood but is little used either in the Shop or Prescriptions. Not used in modern medicine. It is in the family Boraginaceae whose species are often rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids that cause liver toxicity and liver cancers, but levels in Pulmonaria officinalis may not be significant. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Atropa belladonna L. Solanaceae. Deadly nightshade. Dwale. Morella, Solatrum, Hound's berries, Uva lupina, Cucubalus, Solanum lethale. Atropa derives from Atropos the oldest of the three Fates of Greek mythology who cut the thread of Life (her sisters Clotho and Lachesis spun and measured the thread, respectively). belladonna, literally, means 'beautiful lady' and was the Italian name for it. Folklore has it that Italian ladies put drops from the plant or the fruits in their eyes to make themselves doe-eyed, myopic and beautiful. However, this is not supported by the 16th and 17th century literature, where no mention is ever made of dilated pupils (or any of the effects of parasympathetic blockade). Tournefort (1719) says 'The Italians named this plant Belladonna, which in their language signifies a beautiful woman, because the ladies use it much in the composition of their Fucus [rouge or deceit or cosmetic] or face paint.' Parkinson says that the Italian ladies use the distilled juice as a fucus '... peradventure [perhaps] to take away their high colour and make them looke paler.' I think it more likely that they absorbed atropine through their skin and were slightly 'stoned' and disinhibited, which made them beautiful ladies in the eyes of Italian males. Distribution: Europe, North Africa, western Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: 'Solanum. Nightshade: very cold and dry, binding … dangerous given inwardly … outwardly it helps the shingles, St Antonie's Fire [erysipelas] and other hot inflammation.' Most of the 16th, 17th and 18th century herbals recommend it topically for breast cancers. Poisonous plants were regarded as 'cold' plants as an excess of them caused death and the body became cold. They were regarded as opposing the hot humour which kept us warm and alive. Poultices of Belladonna leaves are still recommended for muscle strain in cyclists, by herbalists. Gerard (1633) writes that it: 'causeth sleep, troubleth the mind, bringeth madnesse if a few of the berries be inwardly taken, but if more be taken they also kill...'. He was also aware that the alkaloids could be absorbed through the skin for he notes that a poultice of the leaves applied to the forehead, induces sleep, and relieves headache. The whole plant contains the anticholinergic alkaloid atropine, which blocks the peripheral actions of acetylcholine in the parasympathetic nervous system. Atropine is a racemic mixture of d- and l- hyoscyamine. Atropine, dropped into the eyes, blocks the acetylcholine receptors of the pupil so it no longer constricts on exposure to bright light - so enabling an ophthalmologist to examine the retina with an ophthalmoscope. Atropine speeds up the heart rate, reduces salivation and sweating, reduces gut motility, inhibits the vertigo of sea sickness, and is used to block the acetylcholine receptors to prevent the effects of organophosphorous and other nerve gas poisons. It is still has important uses in medicine. Atropine poisoning takes three or for days to wear off, and the hallucinations experienced by its use are described as unpleasant. We have to be content with 'madness', 'frenzie' and 'idle and vain imaginations' in the early herbals to describe the hallucinations of atropine and related alkaloids as the word 'hallucination' in the sense of a perception for which there is no external stimulus, was not used in English until 1646 (Sir T. Browne, 1646). It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be sold in premises which are registered pharmacies and by or under the supervision of a pharmacist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Brochure à destination des femmes qui aiment les femmes : cancer du col de l'utérus, cancers du sein / ILGA ... avec la Fondation Belge contre le cancer ; l'Association "La Différence en question" ; Commission "Santé Femme" ; L'Asssociation "Sans Contrefaçon".
  • Brochure à destination des femmes qui aiment les femmes : cancer du col de l'utérus, cancers du sein / ILGA ... avec la Fondation Belge contre le cancer ; l'Association "La Différence en question" ; Commission "Santé Femme" ; L'Asssociation "Sans Contrefaçon".
  • Brochure à destination des femmes qui aiment les femmes : cancer du col de l'utérus, cancers du sein / ILGA ... avec la Fondation Belge contre le cancer ; l'Association "La Différence en question" ; Commission "Santé Femme" ; L'Asssociation "Sans Contrefaçon".
  • Brochure à destination des femmes qui aiment les femmes : cancer du col de l'utérus, cancers du sein / ILGA ... avec la Fondation Belge contre le cancer ; l'Association "La Différence en question" ; Commission "Santé Femme" ; L'Asssociation "Sans Contrefaçon".
  • Brochure à destination des femmes qui aiment les femmes : cancer du col de l'utérus, cancers du sein / ILGA ... avec la Fondation Belge contre le cancer ; l'Association "La Différence en question" ; Commission "Santé Femme" ; L'Asssociation "Sans Contrefaçon".
  • Brochure à destination des femmes qui aiment les femmes : cancer du col de l'utérus, cancers du sein / ILGA ... avec la Fondation Belge contre le cancer ; l'Association "La Différence en question" ; Commission "Santé Femme" ; L'Asssociation "Sans Contrefaçon".
  • The breast cancer pink ribbon emblem representing the word 'pink': mobile mammography units in Kenya. Colour lithograph by Safaricom Foundation, ca. 2007.
  • A tree made of people, on which a burr (burl) grows like a cancer. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • Cancer: three vignettes showing radiotherapy and surgery as the only effective cures, all other remedies being by implication ineffectual. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • A lecturer pointing to a large screen, on which projected diagrams of the bodies of a man and a woman are marked with red flags indicating areas where cancer may be first seen. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • Cancer: three vignettes showing radiotherapy and surgery as the only effective cures, all other remedies being by implication ineffectual. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • A red arrow on a graph pointing upwards through a human body, representing the increase in cancer in the USA. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • A lecturer pointing to a large screen, on which projected diagrams of the bodies of a man and a woman are marked with red flags indicating areas where cancer may be first seen. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • A red arrow on a graph pointing upwards through a human body, representing the increase in cancer in the USA. Colour lithograph after D. Fellnagel, 1941.
  • Drawings of human vaginal smears
  • Skin Cancer
  • Medical facilities available at a modern health centre contrasted with ill health in old-fashioned housing. Colour lithograph after A. Games, 1942.
  • Medical facilities available at a modern health centre contrasted with ill health in old-fashioned housing. Colour lithograph after A. Games, 1942.
  • TEM Jurkat T cell early apoptopsis
  • Venous invasion of colorectal cancer, modified histology
  • Stages in breast cancer suffered by Mrs Broadbent of Leeds. Watercolours, 1840-1841.