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  • Surgery: instruments for the treatment of cataracts and fistulas of the lacrimal canals. Engraving by R. Benard after Louis-Jacques Goussier.
  • A treatise of the diseases of the horny-coat of the eye, and the various kinds of cataracts. To which is prefix'd, a method ... of scarifying the eyes / [Benedict Duddell].
  • A treatise of the diseases of the horny-coat of the eye, and the various kinds of cataracts. To which is prefix'd, a method ... of scarifying the eyes / [Benedict Duddell].
  • A treatise of the diseases of the horny-coat of the eye, and the various kinds of cataracts. To which is prefix'd, a method ... of scarifying the eyes / [Benedict Duddell].
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. Ranunculaceae Distribution: Europe. Lindley (1838) and Woodville (1790) knew this as Anemone pulsatilla, the common name being Pasque (Easter) Flower. At the end of the 18th century it was recommended for blindness, cataracts, syphilis, strokes and much more, treatments which, as was clear to physicians at the time, were valueless. Gerard (1633) writes: ‘They serve only for the adorning of gardens and garlands, being floures of great beauty’. It is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, all members of which are poisonous. It was recommended, by mouth, for ‘obstinate case of taenia’ (tapeworms). One hopes it was more toxic to the worm than the patient. Flowers with a central disc and radiating florets were regarded as being good for eye complaints under the Doctrine of Signatures. Porta (1588) writes (translated): ‘Argemone [Papaver argemone], and anemone, have flowers of this shape, from this they cure ulcers and cloudiness of the cornea’. There were occupational diseases even before there were words like pneumoconiosis, and Lindley writes that ‘the powder of the root causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverising it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up.’ Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. Ranunculaceae. Pasque flower. Distribution: Europe. Lindley (1838) and Woodville (1790) knew this as Anemone pulsatilla, the common name being Pasque (Easter) Flower. At the end of the 18th century it was recommended for blindness, cataracts, syphilis, strokes and much more, treatments which, as was clear to physicians at the time, were valueless. Gerard (1633) writes: ‘They serve only for the adorning of gardens and garlands, being floures of great beauty’. It is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, all members of which are poisonous. It was recommended, by mouth, for ‘obstinate case of taenia’ (tapeworms). One hopes it was more toxic to the worm than the patient. Flowers with a central disc and radiating florets were regarded as being good for eye complaints under the Doctrine of Signatures. Porta (1588) writes (translated): ‘Argemone [Papaver argemone], and anemone, have flowers of this shape, from this they cure ulcers and cloudiness of the cornea’. There were occupational diseases even before there were words like pneumoconiosis, and Lindley writes that ‘the powder of the root causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverising it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up.’ Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. Ranunculaceae Pasque flower. Distribution: Europe. Lindley (1838) and Woodville (1790) knew this as Anemone pulsatilla, the common name being Pasque (Easter) Flower. At the end of the 18th century it was recommended for blindness, cataracts, syphilis, strokes and much more, treatments which, as was clear to physicians at the time, were valueless. Gerard (1633) writes: ‘They serve only for the adorning of gardens and garlands, being floures of great beauty’. It is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, all members of which are poisonous. It was recommended, by mouth, for ‘obstinate case of taenia’ (tapeworms). One hopes it was more toxic to the worm than the patient. Flowers with a central disc and radiating florets were regarded as being good for eye complaints under the Doctrine of Signatures. Porta (1588) writes (translated): ‘Argemone [Papaver argemone], and anemone, have flowers of this shape, from this they cure ulcers and cloudiness of the cornea’. There were occupational diseases even before there were words like pneumoconiosis, and Lindley writes that ‘the powder of the root causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverising it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up.’ Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Eye conditions and treatments: preventing blindness in Kenya through primary health care. Colour lithograph by Ministry of Health, ca. 2000.
  • Visual distortion
  • Table XXXVIII-XXXIX. A medicinal dictionary, 1743-45.
  • Fu Jen-yu, Compendium of Ophthalmology, 1644
  • The elements of surgery ... Adapted to the use of the camp and navy, as well as of the domestic surgeon ... / [Samuel Mihles].
  • The elements of surgery ... Adapted to the use of the camp and navy, as well as of the domestic surgeon ... / [Samuel Mihles].
  • The elements of surgery ... Adapted to the use of the camp and navy, as well as of the domestic surgeon ... / [Samuel Mihles].
  • The elements of surgery ... Adapted to the use of the camp and navy, as well as of the domestic surgeon ... / [Samuel Mihles].
  • The elements of surgery ... Adapted to the use of the camp and navy, as well as of the domestic surgeon ... / [Samuel Mihles].
  • The elements of surgery ... Adapted to the use of the camp and navy, as well as of the domestic surgeon ... / [Samuel Mihles].
  • A surgeon letting blood from a woman's arm, and a physician examining a urine-flask. Oil painting by a Flemish painter, 18th (?) century.
  • A surgeon letting blood from a woman's arm, and a physician examining a urine-flask. Oil painting by a Flemish painter, 18th (?) century.
  • P.Pott, Chirurgical Observations relative to
  • Tobit is cured of his blindness. Etching after G. Zocchi.
  • Domestic pet. Diabetic dog
  • Domestic pet. Diabetic dog
  • The pedigree of a 'Bastard's Case'
  • Plate 8. Illustration of various eye diseases
  • Teucrium chamaedrys L. Lamiaceae. Wall Germander. Distribution: Europe. Teucrium is named after king Teucer (who lived in the era between 1400 and 1000 BC) the first King of Troy. Dioscorides named a medicinal herb after Teucer, and Linnaeus consolidated this in 1753
  • China. Photograph, 1981, from a negative by John Thomson, 1871.
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris + Bombylius major
  • Egyptian wall relief, taken 1989
  • Egyptian wall relief, taken 1989