Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events
96 results
  • 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.
  • Satirical veterinary frontispiece, 1771
  • A man grimacing at some unpleasant tasting medicine he has been prescribed to take. Coloured aquatint.
  • A man grimacing at some unpleasant tasting medicine he has been prescribed to take. Coloured aquatint.
  • Roderick Random (a licentiate from Scotland) facing a board of medical examiners at Surgeons Hall. Coloured aquatint by J. Stadler, 1800, after S. Collings after T. Smollett.
  • Roderick Random (a licentiate from Scotland) facing a board of medical examiners at Surgeons Hall. Coloured aquatint by J. Stadler, 1800, after S. Collings after T. Smollett.
  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: a head-hunter's hut, south east New Guinea, in the Hall of Primitive Medicine. Photograph.
  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: a head-hunter's hut, south east New Guinea, in the Hall of Primitive Medicine. Photograph.
  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: west wall of the Gallery of Pictures. Photograph.
  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: the galleried Hall of Statuary. Photograph.
  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: the galleried Hall of Statuary. Photograph.
  • A map of Paraguay and surrounding area, illustrating where cinchona (quinine) was allegedly first discovered in 1626(?). Etching by D.V. Rossi.
  • A surgery where all fantasy and follies are purged and good qualities are prescribed. Line engraving by M. Greuter, c. 1600.
  • Jean Sylvain Bailly, Mayor of Paris, with his mistress, both represented as chickens. Etching, 1791.
  • Paul Ferdinand Gachet. Etching by V. van Gogh, 1890.
  • Paul Ferdinand Gachet. Etching by V. van Gogh, 1890.
  • Paul Ferdinand Gachet. Etching by V. van Gogh, 1890.
  • Seven clergymen watch as a physician bathes the feet of a sick, aristocratic lady; suggesting the uncertainty of the clergy faced with the ousting of the aristocracy in France. Coloured etching by S.J., 1791.
  • Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth, as a doctor admitting that he mislabelled medicine bottles; referring to misgovernment of Ireland and Scotland. Pencil drawing, ca. 180-.
  • Booklets: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library...
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Interior of a surgery with two operators, one letting blood from a man's arm, the other giving treatment to a man's back. Oil painting by a follower of David Teniers the younger.
  • Interior of a surgery with two operators, one letting blood from a man's arm, the other giving treatment to a man's back. Oil painting by a follower of David Teniers the younger.