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  • 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.
  • Front and back view of the heart
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Portrait of William Harvey [1578 - 1657], surgeon
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Portrait of William Harvey [1578 - 1657], surgeon
  • Portrait of William Harvey [1578 - 1657], surgeon
  • Portrait of William Harvey [1578 - 1657], surgeon
  • Portrait of William Harvey [1578 - 1657], surgeon
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Portrait of William Harvey [1578 - 1657], surgeon
  • Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus / Guilielmi Harvei.
  • Animine : nouvelle médication tonique puissante.
  • Animine : nouvelle médication tonique puissante.
  • MANUSCRIPTS: Oriental (Arabic) WMS Or 51, fo
  • Corporis hvmani disqvisitio anatomica; in qva sangvinis circvlationem in quavis corporis particula plurimis typis novis / ac ænygmatum medicorum succincta dilucidatione ornatam prosequutus est Nathanael Highmorus.
  • Corporis hvmani disqvisitio anatomica; in qva sangvinis circvlationem in quavis corporis particula plurimis typis novis / ac ænygmatum medicorum succincta dilucidatione ornatam prosequutus est Nathanael Highmorus.
  • Casp. Bartholini ... Institutiones anatomicae, novis recentiorum opinionibus et observationibus, quarum innumerae hactenus editae non sunt, figurisque secundo auctae / ab auctoris filio Thoma Bartholino movendo.
  • Casp. Bartholini ... Institutiones anatomicae, novis recentiorum opinionibus et observationibus, quarum innumerae hactenus editae non sunt, figurisque secundo auctae / ab auctoris filio Thoma Bartholino movendo.
  • Casp. Bartholini ... Institutiones anatomicae, novis recentiorum opinionibus et observationibus, quarum innumerae hactenus editae non sunt, figurisque secundo auctae / ab auctoris filio Thoma Bartholino movendo.
  • Corporis hvmani disqvisitio anatomica; in qva sangvinis circvlationem in quavis corporis particula plurimis typis novis / ac ænygmatum medicorum succincta dilucidatione ornatam prosequutus est Nathanael Highmorus.
  • Corporis hvmani disqvisitio anatomica; in qva sangvinis circvlationem in quavis corporis particula plurimis typis novis / ac ænygmatum medicorum succincta dilucidatione ornatam prosequutus est Nathanael Highmorus.
  • Casp. Bartholini ... Institutiones anatomicae, novis recentiorum opinionibus et observationibus, quarum innumerae hactenus editae non sunt, figurisque secundo auctae / ab auctoris filio Thoma Bartholino movendo.
  • Corporis hvmani disqvisitio anatomica; in qva sangvinis circvlationem in quavis corporis particula plurimis typis novis / ac ænygmatum medicorum succincta dilucidatione ornatam prosequutus est Nathanael Highmorus.
  • The circulatory system: diagrams showing the kidneys and sacrum, with the arteries and veins indicated in red and blue. Coloured lithograph by J. Maclise, 1841/1844.
  • The circulatory system: dissections of the neck and shoulder, with arteries, blood vessels and veins indicated in red and blue. Coloured lithograph by J. Maclise, 1841/1844.