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156 results
  • Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench Asteraceae. Coneflower. Distribution: North America. Austin (2004) records that the roots were chewed, or used as a tincture for coughs by the Choctaw. It was combined with Rhus typhina to treat venereal disease by the Delaware. Very little record of this being used by Native Americans, who used E. angustifolia very widely - Regarded as a panacea and magical herb. This and E. pallida were used to treat snakebite, spider bite, cancer, toothache, burns, sores, wounds, flu and colds. E. purpurea in modern times has been used as an ‘immunostimulant’, but is known to cause a fall in white cell count, and to be purely a placebo. Licensed for use as a Traditional Herbal Medicine, which does not require proof of efficacy, in the UK. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench Asteraceae. Coneflower. Distribution: North America. Austin (2004) records that the roots were chewed, or used as a tincture for coughs by the Choctaw. Combined with Rhus typhina to treat venereal disease by the Delaware. Very little record of this being used by Native Americans, who used E. angustifolia very widely - Regarded as a panacea and magical herb. This and E. pallida were used to treat snakebite, spider bite, cancer, toothache, burns, sores, wounds, flu and colds. E. purpurea in modern times has been used as an ‘immunostimulant’, but is known to cause a fall in white cell count, and to be purely a placebo. Licensed for use as a Traditional Herbal Medicine, which does not require proof of efficacy, in the UK. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench Asteraceae. Coneflower. Distribution: North America. Austin (2004) records that the roots were chewed, or used as a tincture for coughs by the Choctaw. It was combined with Rhus typhina to treat venereal disease by the Delaware. Very little record of this being used by Native Americans, who used E. angustifolia very widely - Regarded as a panacea and magical herb. This and E. pallida were used to treat snakebite, spider bite, cancer, toothache, burns, sores, wounds, flu and colds. E. purpurea in modern times has been used as an ‘immunostimulant’, but is known to cause a fall in white cell count, and to be purely a placebo. Licensed for use as a Traditional Herbal Medicine, which does not require proof of efficacy, in the UK. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Primula veris L. Primulaceae Cowslip, Herba paralysis Distribution: W. Asia, Europe. Fuchs ((1542) quotes Dioscorides Pliny and Galen, with numerous uses, from bruises, toothache, as a hair dye, for oedema, inflamed eye, and mixed with honey, wine or vinegar for ulcer and wounds, for scorpion bites, and pain in the sides and chest, and more. Lobel (1576) calls them Primula veriflorae, Phlomides, Primula veris, Verbascula. Lyte (1578) calls them Cowslippe, Petie mulleyn, Verbasculum odoratum, Primula veris, Herbae paralysis and Artheticae. Along with cowslips and oxeslips, he says they are 'used dayly among other pot herbes, but in Physicke there is no great account of them. They are good for the head and synewes ...'. Like other herbals of the 16th and 17th century, the woodcuts leave one in no doubt that Primula veris was being written about. However, other translators of Dioscorides (Gunther, 1959 with Goodyear's 1655 translation
  • Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench Asteraceae. Coneflower. Distribution: North America. Austin (2004) records that the roots were chewed, or used as a tincture for coughs by the Choctaw. It was combined with Rhus typhina to treat venereal disease by the Delaware. Very little record of this being used by Native Americans, who used E. angustifolia very widely - Regarded as a panacea and magical herb. This and E. pallida were used to treat snakebite, spider bite, cancer, toothache, burns, sores, wounds, flu and colds. E. purpurea in modern times has been used as an ‘immunostimulant’, but is known to cause a fall in white cell count, and to be purely a placebo. Licensed for use as a Traditional Herbal Medicine, which does not require proof of efficacy, in the UK. Licensed as a Traditional Herbal Remedy in the UK (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Calendula officinalis L. Asteraceae. Pot marigold, common marigold, ruds or ruddles. Calendula, because it was said to flower most commonly at the first of each month - the 'calends' (Coles, 1657). officinalis indicates that it was used in the 'offices' - the clinics - of the monks in medieval times. Annual herb. Distribution: Southern Europe. The Doctrine of Signatures, indicated that as the flowers resembled the pupil of the eye (along with Arnica, Inula and the ox-eye daisy), it was good for eye disorders (Porta, 1588). Coles (1658) writes '... the distilled water ... helpeth red and watery eyes, being washed therewith, which it does by Signature, as Crollius saith'. Culpeper writes: [recommending the leaves] '... loosen the belly, the juice held in the mouth helps the toothache and takes away any inflammation, or hot swelling being bathed with it mixed with a little vinegar.' The petals are used as a saffron substitute - ‘formerly much employed as a carminative
  • Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis Rubiaceae. Cape jasmine - as erroneously believed to have come from South Africa. Distribution: China. Named for Dr Alexander Garden FRS (1730-1791) Scottish-born physician and naturalist who lived in Charles Town, South Carolina, and corresponded with Linnaeus and many of the botanists of his era. The fruits are used in China both as a source of a yellow dye, and for various unsubstantiated medicinal uses. Other species of Gardenia are found in tropical Africa and the roots and leaves have all manner of putative uses. Gardenia tenuifolia is used as an aphrodisiac, for rickets, diarrhoea, leprosy, gall bladder problems, toothache, liver complaints, diabetes, hypertension, malaria and abdominal complaints. It causes violent vomiting and diarrhoea. It, and other species, are used to poison arrows and to poison fish. Some native, muthi medicine, healers regard Gardenia as a ‘last chance’ medicine, given to patients when all else fails – the patient either dies or recovers (Neuwinger, 1996). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Dental operations with five demons: one being operated on, another about to be. Coloured etching.
  • Five demons: one performs dental surgery on another, while another with a swollen mouth waits for attention. Coloured etching.
  • A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a patient who is in such pain that he pulls the tooth-drawer's wig off. Coloured etching after J. Gillray (?).
  • A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a patient who is in such pain that he pulls the tooth-drawer's wig off. Coloured etching after J. Gillray (?).
  • A tooth-drawer extracting a tooth from a patient who is in such pain that he pulls the tooth-drawer's wig off. Coloured etching after J. Gillray (?).
  • A girl eating sweets and looking at a note warning of "holes ahead", referring to the danger of dental caries. Colour lithograph after Reginald Mount.
  • A town gentleman visiting a village dentist and enquiring if he uses gas, the dentist retorts he does but prefers daylight. Process print after G. Du Maurier, 1895.
  • Davenport's specific for gout, rheumatic gout and rheumatism.
  • Davenport's specific for gout, rheumatic gout and rheumatism.
  • Davenport's specific for gout, rheumatic gout and rheumatism.
  • Davenport's specific for gout, rheumatic gout and rheumatism.
  • Sancho Panza examining Don Quixote's mouth. Line engraving by C. Grignion after F. Hayman, 1755.
  • Sancho Panza examining Don Quixote's mouth. Line engraving by C. Grignion after F. Hayman, 1755.
  • Cibalgina, analgésico poderoso de acción rápida y segura ... : Hemostático fisiológico Coaguleno / CIBA.
  • Cibalgina, analgésico poderoso de acción rápida y segura ... : Hemostático fisiológico Coaguleno / CIBA.
  • A dentist recognizing a new patient from somewhere else, the patient (clutching her jaw) admits she works at the income tax office. Reproduction of a drawing by B. Thomas, 1921.
  • Dr. J. Collis Browne's Chlorodyne is the great specific for cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery ... / sole manufacturer J.T. Davenport, 33 Gt. Russell St., W.C.
  • Dr. J. Collis Browne's Chlorodyne is the great specific for cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery ... / sole manufacturer J.T. Davenport, 33 Gt. Russell St., W.C.
  • For the relief of pain : Cibalgin "Ciba".
  • Monkeys representing human beings in a tooth-drawer's surgery. Lithograph by L. Haghe after E. Bristow, 1828.
  • Monkeys representing human beings in a tooth-drawer's surgery. Lithograph by L. Haghe after E. Bristow, 1828.
  • Carved stone boss, Lincoln Cathedral
  • Wooden roof boss, Lincoln Cathedral