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  • A fierce battle between the supporters of John Brown (Bruno), in favour of treatment with stimulants, and those of F.J.V. Broussais, in favour of bloodletting. Pen drawing.
  • Ayer's Sarsaparilla purifies the blood, stimulates the vital functions, restores and preserves health, and infuses new life and vigor throughout the whole system / Dr. J.C. Ayer & Co.
  • Ayer's Sarsaparilla purifies the blood, stimulates the vital functions, restores and preserves health, and infuses new life and vigor throughout the whole system / Dr. J.C. Ayer & Co.
  • Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne de Boulogne stimulating a patient's facial muscle with a faradic current. Lithograph, ca. 1865, after a photograph by G.B.A. Duchenne de Boulogne, ca. 1862.
  • Follow the drum : "Not once or twice in our fair island story, the path of duty was the way to glory." Tennyson : this picture was purchased by Mr J. C. Eno and used to stimulate recruiting during the Great War.
  • Follow the drum : "Not once or twice in our fair island story, the path of duty was the way to glory." Tennyson : this picture was purchased by Mr J. C. Eno and used to stimulate recruiting during the Great War.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Recruits' table card : containing 1.Twelve recruits' physical training tables, 2.Brain stimulating exercises, 3.Obstacle training exercises, 4.Summary of bayonnet fencing exercises, 5.Summary of boxing lessons, 6.Summary of wrestling lessons, 7.Summary of land swimming drill, 8.Summary of athletic training for recruits under training / issued by the General Staff, February, 1922.
  • Lobelia tupa L Campanulaceae Tabaco del Diablo [Devil's tobacco]. Distribution: Central Chile. Dried leaves are smoked as a hallucinogen by the Mapuchu Indians of Chile. It was also used as a respiratory stimulant. The genus was named after Matthias de L’Obel or Lobel, (1538–1616), Flemish botanist and physician to James I of England, author of the great herbal Plantarum seu Stirpium Historia (1576). Lobeline, a chemical from the plant has nicotine like actions and for a while lobeline was used to help people withdraw from smoking, but was found to be ineffective. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Valeriana officinalis L. Valerianaceae Valerianus, Phu, Nardus sylvestris, Setwal. Distribution: Europe. Popular herbalism attributes sedation to Valerian, but this is not mentioned by Coles (1657) or Gerard (1633) or Lobel (1576) or Lyte (1578) or Dioscorides (ex Gunther, 1959) or Fuchs (1553), where he quotes Pliny, Dioscorides and Galen, or Parkinson (1640), or Pomet (1712). The English translation of Tournefort (1719-1730) covers a whole page of the uses of all the different valerians, but never mentions sedation or treating anxiety. Quincy (1718) does not mention it. Because it was used in epilepsy, for which Woodville (1792) says it was useless, Haller, in his Historia stirpium indegenarum Helvetae inchoatae (1768) advocates it for those with irritability of the nervous system, as does Thomson's London Dispensatory (1811) although he lists it as an 'antispasmodic and stimulant' and for inducing menstruation. Lindley (1838) notes (as many did) that the roots smell terrible and that this makes cats excited, and in man, in large doses, induce 'scintillations, agitation and even convulsions' so used in asthenic fever, epilepsy, chorea, hysteria and as an antihelminthic.' Fluckiger & Hanbury (1879) give a wonderful account of the history of its names, but give its use as 'stimulant and antispasmodic' as do Barton & Castle (1877). but by 1936 (Martindale's Extra Pharmacopoeia) its only use was 'Given in hysterical and neurotic conditions as a sedative. Its action has been attributed to its unpleasant smell'. The European Medicines Agency (2006) approves its use as a traditional herbal medicine for mild anxiety and sleeplessness for up to 4 weeks. Despite what is written continuously about its use in ancient Greece and Rome, the only reason for its use has been because it was thought, for a brief while, to be good for epilepsy and therefore might deal with persons of a nervous disposition because of its foul smell. It has been suggested that even its Greek name, 'Phu' came from the expression of disgust which is made when one sniffs an unpleasant odour. For 1,800 years, before the last century, no-one had thought it sedative. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Senna corymbosa (Lam.)H.S.Irwin&Barneby Caesalpinaceae. Argentine Senna. Distribution: Argentine (other species from Europe). This beautiful shrub that flowers from midsummer until the frosts of winter, is the source of one of the best known of all herbal medicines – Senokot (and senna pods and senna tea), introduced to European medicine (as Senna alexandrina from Egypt) by the Arabians. Every part of the plant contains anthraquinones which, if taken internally, act as a powerful laxative to treat constipation by stimulating the nerve cells of the large bowel. Gerard (1633) notes ‘it is a singular purging medicine’ with over a page on its uses. When used regularly the nerves to the large bowel may be destroyed, leaving a permanently dilated large bowel that never functions properly again. This is a plant which causes the condition it treats to become permanent. Additionally, with prolonged use, the lining of the bowel turns black, serum potassium levels may fall, resulting in cardiac irregularities and sometimes death. Coma, neuropathy and hepatitis have also been reported. It is advertised on television (the actor involved is seen to be depressed and bloated until she takes Senokot, after which she is happy - Hippocrates would have attributed this antidepressant effect to the plant's ability to purge her of the black melancholic humour present in her bowel motions). It is available without prescription or health warning against long-term use. What do you think? Lyte (1578) recommends it strongly for depression, but one might claim to be cured rather than take it again. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Senna corymbosa (Lam.)H.S.Irwin&Barneby Caesalpinaceae. Argentine Senna. Distribution: Argentine (other species from Europe). This beautiful shrub that flowers from midsummer until the frosts of winter, is the source of one of the best known of all herbal medicines – Senokot (and senna pods and senna tea), introduced to European medicine (as Senna alexandrina from Egypt) by the Arabians. Every part of the plant contains anthraquinones which, if taken internally, act as a powerful laxative to treat constipation by stimulating the nerve cells of the large bowel. Gerard (1633) notes ‘it is a singular purging medicine’ with over a page on its uses. When used regularly the nerves to the large bowel may be destroyed, leaving a permanently dilated large bowel that never functions properly again. This is a plant which causes the condition it treats to become permanent. Additionally, with prolonged use, the lining of the bowel turns black, serum potassium levels may fall, resulting in cardiac irregularities and sometimes death. Coma, neuropathy and hepatitis have also been reported. It is advertised on television (the actor involved is seen to be depressed and bloated until she takes Senokot, after which she is happy - Hippocrates would have attributed this antidepressant effect to the plant's ability to purge her of the black melancholic humour present in her bowel motions). It is available without prescription or health warning against long-term use. What do you think? Lyte (1578) recommends it strongly for depression, but one might claim to be cured rather than take it again. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Medical electricity : a practical handbook for students and practitioners / by H. Lewis Jones.
  • An obese bald-headed old man seated in an armchair while a hairdresser pours macassar oil from a bottle on to his scalp. Etching after T. Rowlandson, ca. 1814.
  • Elements of electro-biology, or the voltaic mechanism of man; or electro-pathology, especially of the nervous system; and of electro-therapeutics / By Alfred Smee.
  • ... Dissertatio academica, sistens inebriantia ... / [Olof Reinh Alander].
  • Handbuch der Elektrotherapie / von Wilhelm Erb.
  • Medical electricity : a practical handbook for students and practitioners / by H. Lewis Jones.