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  • Directions for using 'Stypven' Russell Viper Venom (not for injection).
  • Directions for using 'Stypven' Russell Viper Venom (not for injection).
  • Snake charmer holding an Egyptian cobra (<I>Naja haje</I>), whose venom immobolises its prey by attacking the nervous system. The Brooklyn Museum Papyri from Ancient Egypt includes a book of snakebites which describes all the possible snakes to be found in Egypt with a compendium of treatments. The papyri were translated in 1966-1967 by Serge Sauneron.
  • Treatise on the venom of the viper; on the American poisons; and on the cherry laurel, and some other vegetable poisons. To which are annexed, observations on the primitive structure of the animal body; different experiments on the reproduction of the nerves; and a description of a new canal of the eye ... / Translated from the original French of Felix Fontana ... by Joseph Skinner.
  • Treatise on the venom of the viper; on the American poisons; and on the cherry laurel, and some other vegetable poisons. To which are annexed, observations on the primitive structure of the animal body; different experiments on the reproduction of the nerves; and a description of a new canal of the eye ... / Translated from the original French of Felix Fontana ... by Joseph Skinner.
  • An operator treating Ann Ford, a society lady, with "Perkins's tractors", for her venomous tongue. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1802.
  • An operator treating Ann Ford, a society lady, with "Perkins's tractors", for her venomous tongue. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1802.
  • The Thanatophidia of India : being a description of the venomous snakes of the Indian Peninsula, with an account of the influence of their poison on life, and a series of experiments / by J. Fayrer.
  • The Thanatophidia of India : being a description of the venomous snakes of the Indian Peninsula, with an account of the influence of their poison on life, and a series of experiments / by J. Fayrer.
  • The Thanatophidia of India : being a description of the venomous snakes of the Indian Peninsula, with an account of the influence of their poison on life, and a series of experiments / by J. Fayrer.
  • Adiantum venustum D.Don Adiantaceae (although placed by some in Pteridaceae). Himalayan maidenhair fern. Small evergreen hardy fern. Distribution: Afghanistan-India. It gains its vernacular name from the wiry black stems that resemble hairs. Adiantum comes from the Greek for 'dry' as the leaflets remain permanently dry. The Cherokee used A. pedatum to make their hair shiny. Henry Lyte (1576), writing on A. capillus-veneris, notes that it restores hair, is an antidote to the bites of mad dogs and venomous beasts
  • Nigella sativa L. Ranunculaceae Love-in-the-mist, Black Cumin, Nutmeg flower, Roman Coriander. Distribution: SW Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: ‘Nigella seeds, boyled in oil, and the forehead anointed with it, ease pains in the head, take away leprosie, itch, scurf, and helps scald-heads, inwardly taken they expel worms, they provoke urine and the terms, help difficulty of breathing: the smoke of them (being burned) drives away serpents and venomous beasts.’ The seeds are used as a spice, but as might be expected as a member of the family Ranunculaceae, the buttercups, the plant contains a highly poisonous glycoside, in this case called melanthin. The amount of toxicity present in spices is clearly insufficient to cause problems when used as such. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Nigella sativa L. Ranunculaceae Love-in-the-mist, Black Cumin, Nutmeg flower, Roman Coriander. Distribution: SW Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: ‘Nigella seeds, boyled in oil, and the forehead anointed with it, ease pains in the head, take away leprosie, itch, scurf, and helps scald-heads, inwardly taken they expel worms, they provoke urine and the terms, help difficulty of breathing: the smoke of them (being burned) drives away serpents and venomous beasts.’ The seeds are used as a spice, but as might be expected as a member of the family Ranunculaceae, the buttercups, the plant contains a highly poisonous glycoside, in this case called melanthin. The amount of toxicity present in spices is clearly insufficient to cause problems when used as such. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Origanum dictamnus L. Lamiaceae Dittany of Crete, Hop marjoram. Distribution: Crete. Culpeper (1650) writes: ‘... hastens travail [labour] in women, provokes the Terms [menstruation] . See the Leaves.’ Under 'Leaves' he writes: ‘Dictamny, or Dittany of Creet, ... brings away dead children, hastens womens travail, brings away the afterbirth, the very smell of it drives away venomous beasts, so deadly an enemy is it to poison, it’s an admirable remedy against wounds and Gunshot, wounds made with poisoned weapons, draws out splinters, broken bones etc. They say the goats and deers in Creet, being wounded with arrows, eat this herb, which makes the arrows fall out of themselves.' Dioscorides’ Materia Medica (c. 100 AD, trans. Beck, 2005), Pliny the Elder’s Natural History and Theophrastus’s Enquiry into Plants all have this information, as does Vergil’s Aeneid where he recounts how Venus produced it when her son, Aeneas, had received a deadly wound from an arrow, which fell out on its own when the wound was washed with it (Jashemski, 1999). Dioscorides attributes the same property to ‘Tragium’ or ‘Tragion’ which is probably Hypericum hircinum (a St. John’s Wort): ‘Tragium grows in Crete only ... the leaves and the seed and the tear, being laid on with wine doe draw out arrow heads and splinteres and all things fastened within ... They say also that ye wild goats having been shot, and then feeding upon this herb doe cast out ye arrows.’ . It has hairy leaves, in common with many 'vulnaries', and its alleged ability to heal probably has its origin in the ability of platelets to coagulate more easily on the hairs (in the same way that cotton wool is applied to a shaving cut to hasten clotting). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • A mechanical account of poisons in several essays / By Richard Mead.
  • A mechanical account of poisons in several essays / By Richard Mead.
  • Ricerche fisiche sopra il veleno della vipera / di Felice Fontana.
  • Traité sur le vénin de la vipere, sur les poisons americains, sur le laurier-cerise et sur quelques autres poisons végetau / [Tr. by J. d'Arcet.] On y a joint des observations sur la structure primitive du corps animal. Différentes expériences sur la reproduction des nerfs, et la description d'un nouveau canal de l'œil. Par M.r Felix Fontana ... [Ed. by J. Gibelin].
  • Traité sur le vénin de la vipere, sur les poisons americains, sur le laurier-cerise et sur quelques autres poisons végetau / [Tr. by J. d'Arcet.] On y a joint des observations sur la structure primitive du corps animal. Différentes expériences sur la reproduction des nerfs, et la description d'un nouveau canal de l'œil. Par M.r Felix Fontana ... [Ed. by J. Gibelin].
  • Traité sur le vénin de la vipere, sur les poisons americains, sur le laurier-cerise et sur quelques autres poisons végetau / [Tr. by J. d'Arcet.] On y a joint des observations sur la structure primitive du corps animal. Différentes expériences sur la reproduction des nerfs, et la description d'un nouveau canal de l'œil. Par M.r Felix Fontana ... [Ed. by J. Gibelin].
  • Left, poisonous fang of an asp viper; right, head of an adder, with mouth wide open and tongue protruding. Chromolithograph by H.J. Ruprecht, 1877.
  • Physicians offering draughts and medicine, Anglo-Saxon.
  • Saint Luis Beltrán. Oil painting after F. Zurbarán.
  • Saint Luis Beltrán. Oil painting after F. Zurbarán.
  • Saint Luis Beltrán. Oil painting after F. Zurbarán.
  • Saint Luis Beltrán. Oil painting after F. Zurbarán.
  • A medicine vendor selling antidotes to snake poison. Etching by G.M. Mitelli.
  • A medicine vendor selling antidotes to snake poison. Etching by G.M. Mitelli.
  • Portrait of Charles A. Calmette.
  • Fraxinus excelsior (Ash)