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  • Medical botany, containing systematic and general descriptions, with plates of all the medicinal plants, indigenous and exotic, comprehended on the catalogues of the materia medica ... with ... their medicinal effects ... / [William Woodville].
  • Medical botany, containing systematic and general descriptions, with plates of all the medicinal plants, indigenous and exotic, comprehended on the catalogues of the materia medica ... with ... their medicinal effects ... / [William Woodville].
  • Medical botany, containing systematic and general descriptions, with plates of all the medicinal plants, indigenous and exotic, comprehended on the catalogues of the materia medica ... with ... their medicinal effects ... / [William Woodville].
  • Medical botany, containing systematic and general descriptions, with plates of all the medicinal plants, indigenous and exotic, comprehended on the catalogues of the materia medica ... with ... their medicinal effects ... / [William Woodville].
  • Medical botany, containing systematic and general descriptions, with plates of all the medicinal plants, indigenous and exotic, comprehended on the catalogues of the materia medica ... with ... their medicinal effects ... / [William Woodville].
  • Petri Andreae Matthioli medici Senensis Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei, de medica materia. Adiectis quàm plurimis plantarum & animalium imaginibus, eodem authore. Cum Pont. maximi, cæsareæ maiestatis, christianiss. galliarum regis, ac illustriss. Senatus Veneti, gratia & priuilegio.
  • Commentarii secundo aucti, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia / Adjectis quam plurimis plantarum, et animalium imaginibus quae in priore editione non habentur, eodem authore. His accessit ejusdem apologia adversus Amathum Lusitanum, quin et censura in ejusdem enarrationes.
  • Lectures on the materia medica, as delivered by William Cullen, M.D., professor of medicine in the University of Edinburgh / Now published by permission of the author, and with many corrections from the collation of different manuscripts by the editors.
  • Lectures on the materia medica, as delivered by William Cullen, M.D., professor of medicine in the University of Edinburgh / Now published by permission of the author, and with many corrections from the collation of different manuscripts by the editors.
  • Lectures on the materia medica, as delivered by William Cullen, M.D., professor of medicine in the University of Edinburgh / Now published by permission of the author, and with many corrections from the collation of different manuscripts by the editors.
  • A woman representing pharmacy receives gifts of materia medica from vegetable and mineral sources, and with the aid of a herbal distils them into medicines; above, Apollo gives authority to Hippocrates as other Olympians stand outside the temple of Aesculapius. Etching by R. de Hooghe.
  • Medicina hydrostatica: or, hydrostaticks applyed to the materia medica. Shewing, how by the weight that divers bodies, us'd in physick, have in water; one may discover whether they be genuine or adulterate. To which is subjoyn'd, a previous hydrostatical way of estimating ores / [Robert Boyle].
  • Medicina hydrostatica: or, hydrostaticks applyed to the materia medica. Shewing, how by the weight that divers bodies, us'd in physick, have in water; one may discover whether they be genuine or adulterate. To which is subjoyn'd, a previous hydrostatical way of estimating ores / [Robert Boyle].
  • Medicina hydrostatica: or, hydrostaticks applyed to the materia medica. Shewing, how by the weight that divers bodies, us'd in physick, have in water; one may discover whether they be genuine or adulterate. To which is subjoyn'd, a previous hydrostatical way of estimating ores / [Robert Boyle].
  • Medicina hydrostatica: or, hydrostaticks applyed to the materia medica. Shewing, how by the weight that divers bodies, us'd in physick, have in water; one may discover whether they be genuine or adulterate. To which is subjoyn'd, a previous hydrostatical way of estimating ores / [Robert Boyle].
  • Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia / jam denuo ab ipso autore recogniti, et locis plus mille aucti. Adjectis plantarum, et animalium iconibus, supra priores editiones longe pluribus, ad vivum delineatis. Accesserunt quoque ad margines Graeci contextus quam plurimi, ex antiquissimis codicibus desumpti, qui Dioscoridis ipsius depravatam lectionem restituunt.
  • Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia / jam denuo ab ipso autore recogniti, et locis plus mille aucti. Adjectis plantarum, et animalium iconibus, supra priores editiones longe pluribus, ad vivum delineatis. Accesserunt quoque ad margines Graeci contextus quam plurimi, ex antiquissimis codicibus desumpti, qui Dioscoridis ipsius depravatam lectionem restituunt.
  • Petri Andreæ Matthioli Senensis medici, Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia / iam denuo ab ipso autore recogniti et locis plus mille aucti. Adiectis magnis, ac nouis plantarum, ac animalium iconibus, supra priores editiones longè pluribus, ad viuum delineatis. Accesserunt quoque ad margines græci contextus quàm plurimi, ex antiquissimis codicibus desumpti, qui Dioscoridis ipsius deprauatam lectionem restituunt. Cum locupletissimis indicbus.
  • Petri Andreæ Matthioli Senensis medici, Commentarii in sex libros Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia / iam denuo ab ipso autore recogniti et locis plus mille aucti. Adiectis magnis, ac nouis plantarum, ac animalium iconibus, supra priores editiones longè pluribus, ad viuum delineatis. Accesserunt quoque ad margines græci contextus quàm plurimi, ex antiquissimis codicibus desumpti, qui Dioscoridis ipsius deprauatam lectionem restituunt. Cum locupletissimis indicbus.
  • Notes taken by an anonymous student of lectures on Midwifery by Dr. Colin Mackenzie at the General Lying-in Hospital [afterwards Queen Charlotte's Hospital.] [Followed by] Diseases of children, with directions for the management of them. To which is added the symptoms by which you can distinguish their complaints, and the Materia Medica infantum [by] Dr. Osborn and Mr. Clark. The first leaf of text is dated January 29, 1770. Produced in London.
  • Medicina flagellata: or, the doctor scarify'd. Laying open the vices of the Faculty, the insignificancy of a great part of their materia medica; with certain rules to discern the true physician from the emperick, and the useful medicine from the noxious and trading physick. With an essay on health, or the power of a regimen. To which is added, a discovery of some remarkable errors in the late writings on the plague / by Dr. Mead, Quincey, Bradley, etc. With some useful and necessary rules to be observed in the time of that contagious distemper.
  • Medicina flagellata: or, the doctor scarify'd. Laying open the vices of the Faculty, the insignificancy of a great part of their materia medica; with certain rules to discern the true physician from the emperick, and the useful medicine from the noxious and trading physick. With an essay on health, or the power of a regimen. To which is added, a discovery of some remarkable errors in the late writings on the plague / by Dr. Mead, Quincey, Bradley, etc. With some useful and necessary rules to be observed in the time of that contagious distemper.
  • Acanthus dioscoridis L. Acanthaceae. Distribution: Iran, Iraq, southern Turkey. Herbaceous perennial flowering plant. Named for Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, 1st century Greek physician and herbalist whose book, De Materia Medica, was the main source of herbal medicinal information for the next 1,600 years. He describes some 500 plants and their medicinal properties. His manuscript was copied and annotated over the centuries, and the earliest Greek text in existence is the illustrated Juliana Anicia Codex dated 512CE (Beck, 2005). The first English translation was made around 1650 by John Goodyear and published by Robert T. Gunther in 1934
  • [In hoc volumine continentur Valerii Cordi Simesusij Annotationes in Pedacij Diocoridis Anazarbei de medica materia libros V. Longe aliae quam ante hac sunt evulgatae : Ejusdem Val Cordi historiae stirpium libri IIII posthumi, nunc primum in lucem editi, adjectis etiam stirpium iconibus, & brevissimus annotatiunculis Sylva, qua rerum fossilium in Germanium plurimarum metallorum, Lapidum, & stirpium aliquot rariorum notitiam brevissime persequitur nunquam hactenus visa De artificiosis extractionibus liber. Compositiones medicinales aliquot, non vulgares his accedunt Storcc-Hornii et Nessi In Bernatium Helvetiorum ditione monitum, & nascentium in eis stirpium descriptio Benedict Aretii item Conradi Gesneri De hortus Germaniae, Liber recens ... / Omnia summo studio atque industria ... Conradi Gesneri ... collecta, et praefationibus illustrata].
  • Smyrnium olusatrum L. Apiaceae. Alexanders, Black Lovage, Horse Parsley. Distribution: W & S Europe, Mediterranean. Culpeper (1650) writes: ‘Hipposelinum. Alexanders or Alisanders, provoke urine, expel the afterbirth, provoke urine, help the strangury, expel the wind.’ Culpeper has taken this mainly from Dioscorides’ Materia Medica (circa 100 AD). The genus name is said to derive from Smyrna, a city which was founded by Alexander the Great (although there was one which pre-dated his Smyrna). on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. The species name comes from the Latin olus meaning a pot herb (cooking vegetable) and atrum meaning black, in reference to the seeds. It is described as tasting like a rather bitter, second-class celery. The English name may derive from Alexandria or Alexander the Great. It is rarely used in herbal medicine now. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Fuchsia magellanica Lam. Onagraceae. Hardy fuchsia. Semi-hardy shrub. Distribution: Mountainous regions of Chile and Argentina where they are called 'Chilco' by the indigenous people, the Mapuche. The genus was discovered by Charles Plumier in Hispaniola in 1696/7, and named by him for Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566), German Professor of Medicine, whose illustrated herbal, De Historia Stirpium (1542) attempted the identification of the plants in the Classical herbals. It also contained the first accounts of maize, Zea mays, and chilli peppers, Capsicum annuum, then recently introduced from Latin America. He was also the first person to publish an account and woodcuts of foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea and D. lutea. The book contains 500 descriptions and woodcuts of medicinal plants, arranged in alphabetical order, and relied heavily on the De Materia Medica (c. AD 70) of Dioscorides. He was a powerful influence on the herbals of Dodoens, and thence to Gerard, L’Escluse and Henry Lyte. A small quarto edition appeared in 1551, and a two volume facsimile of the 1542 edition with commentary and selected translations from the Latin was published by Stanford Press in 1999. The original woodcuts were passed from printer to printer and continued in use for 232 years (Schinz, 1774). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Matthiola incana (L.)W.T.Aiton Brassicaceae Distribution: The genus name commemorates Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1500/1–77), physician and botanist, whose name is Latinised to Matthiolus.. Incana means hoary or grey, referring to the colour of the leaves. Mattioli's commentaries on the Materia Medica of Dioscorides were hugely popular. Matthiola incana was first described by Linnaeus as Cheiranthus incanus, being changed to Matthiola by William Aiton, at Kew, in 1812. It is in the cabbage family. Commercial seed packets contain a mixture of single and double forms. The latter are sterile, but selective breeding has increased the proportion of double forms from the seed of single forms to as much as 80%. ‘Ten week stocks’ are popular garden annuals, flowering in the year of sowing, whereas ‘Brompton stocks’ (another variety of M. incana) are biennials, flowering the following year. Gerard (1633), called them Stocke Gillofloure or Leucoium, and notes the white and purple forms, singles and doubles. About their medicinal value he writes ‘not used in Physicke except among certain Empiricks and Quacksalvers, about love and lust matters, which for modestie I omit’. The thought of a member of the cabbage family being an aphrodisiac might encourage the gullible to take more seriously the government’s plea to eat five portions of vegetable/fruit per day. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Cistus incanus ssp creticus Juss. Cistaceae. Rock Rose. Distribution: Crete. Interesting symbiosis with fungus called Tuber melanosporum which increases nutrient absorption for the plant and inhibits growth of other plants in the vicinity. It is a source of the resin ‘labdanum’ (a.k.a. ‘ladanum’) used in perfumes (similar smell to ambergris), as is Cistus ladanifer. It has no medical uses now, and such use was dwindling even in the 18th century. In the 16th century (Henry Lyte’s 1575 translation of Rembert Dodoen’s Cruydeboeck of 1554) its uses were described (directly copied from Dioscorides’ Materia Medica (70AD)) as: ‘Ladanum dronketh with olde wine, stoppeth the laske [periods], and provoketh urine. It is very good against the hardness of the matrix or mother [uterus] layde to in the manner of a pessarie, and it draweth down the secondes or afterbirth, when it is layde upon quicke coles [hot coals], and the fumigation or parfume thereof be received up into the body of women. // The same applied to the head with Myrrhe and oyle of Myrrhe, cureth the scurffe, called Alopecia, and keepeth the heare [hair] from falling of [sic], but whereas it is already fallen away, it will not cause the heare to growe agayne. // ...' and goes on in this vein about its uses for pain in the ears, and removing sores and scars and other things. 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.
  • Asphodeline lutea Rchb. Yellow asphodel, King's spear, Hastula regia. Hardy rhizomatous perennial. Distribution Mediterranean and Caucasus. It is the flower of the dead, as Homer writes that it carpets an area in the gloomy darkness of the underworld (Hades), in Greek mythology where the souls of the dead are found. However this may be a misinterpretation of the Greek where 'Asphodel' has been read instead of 'ash-filled'. In the etymology of flower names, it is suggested that the yellow 'daffodil' is a corruption of French or Flemish 'de asphodel' (both ex Steve Reece, 2007). An Aristotelian epigram, refers to it growing on tombs: 'On my back I hold mallow and many-rooted asphodel ...' The asphodel was sacred to Persephone, goddess of the underworld, who was seized and wed by Hades, god of the underworld, and taken to his kingdom. Her disappearance brings the winter, and her reappearance each year, the spring. The only reliable source of information about its early medical uses is, probably, Dioscorides although the plant in his De Materia Medica may be A. ramosus or A. albus. He gives its properties as diuretic, induces menses, good for coughs and convulsions, an antidote to snake bite, applied as a poultice for sores of all sorts, and in compounds for eye, ear and tooth pains, and to cure alopecia and vitiligo, but induces diarrhoea and vomiting and is an anti-aphrodisiac. Fuchs (1542), as Ruel’s commentaries (1543) note, makes a big mistake as he has Lilium martagon as his concept of A. luteus. Ruel only illustrates its leaves and roots, calling it Hastula regia (Latin for King’s spear) but Matthiolus's Commentaries (1569 edition) has a reasonable woodcut also as Hastula regia (1569). Dodoen's Cruydeboeck (1556) does not mention or illustrate Asphodelus luteus. L'Escluse's French translation Histoire des Plantes (1557) follows the Cruydeboeck. Dodoen's Latin translation Stirpium Historia Pemptades Sex (1583) adds A. luteus with text and woodcut, with no uses. Henry Lyte's (1578) translation illustrates Asphodelus luteus as Asphodeli tertia species and 'Yellow affodyl' (vide etymology of 'daffodil') and also does not describe any uses for it. Gerard's translation The Herbal (1597 and 1633) continues the muddle and does not give any uses for this plant. Parkinson's comments (1640) on the lack of medicinal properties of asphodels, refer to quite different plants coming from wet areas in Lancashire, Scotland and Norway . He calls them pseudoasphodelus major and minor which he writes are called Asphodelus luteus palustris by Dodoens, and not 'King's Spear' which he illustrates with a good woodcut of A. luteus and calls it Asphodelus luteus minor. Once herbals started to be written in northern Europe, the knowledge of the arid loving, Asphodelus luteus of south east Europe was lost. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.