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  • Bartisch, Ophthalmodouleia, 1583
  • Bartisch, Ophthalmodouleia, 1583
  • Bartisch, Ophthalmodouleia, 1583
  • Saint Matthias. Engraving by Agostino Carracci, 1583.
  • Phillip Stubbes's Anatomy of the abuses in England in Shakspere's youth, A.D. 1583 / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
  • Fallen angels with animalized characteristics tumble from heaven under the sword of Michael. Engraving by R. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos.
  • Adam and Eve expelled from Eden by an angel with a flaming sword. Line engraving by R. Sadeler after M. de Vos, 1583.
  • The melancholy temperament: an anxious woman clasps her hands as an agitated man lies on the ground. Engraving by R. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos.
  • Lot's wife looks back at the flames pouring from Heaven upon Sodom; Lot and his daughters go on ahead. Engraving by R. Sadeler after M. de Vos, 1583.
  • The knowledge of good and evil, and the consequences of that knowledge, with Adam and Eve and the serpent. Engraving by J. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos.
  • The knowledge of good and evil, and the consequences of that knowledge, with Adam and Eve and the serpent. Engraving by J. Sadeler, 1583, after M. de Vos.
  • A seated woman giving birth aided by a midwife and two other attendants, in the background two men are looking at the stars and plotting a horoscope. Woodcut, 1583[?].
  • Cynara cardunculus L. Asteraceae. Cardoon, Globe Artichoke, Artechokes, Scolymos cinara, Cynara, Cinara. Distribution: Southern Europe and North Africa. Lyte (1576) writes that Dodoens (1552) could find no medical use for them and Galen (c.200 AD) said they were indigestible unless cooked. However, he relates that other authors recommend that if the flower heads are soaked in strong wine, they 'provoke urine and stir up lust in the body.' More prosaically, the roots boiled in wine and drunk it cause the urine to be 'stinking' and so cures smelly armpits. He adds that it strengthens the stomach so causing women to conceive Male children. He goes on to say that the young shoots boiled in broth also stir up lust in men and women, and more besides. Lyte (1576) was translating, I think with elaborations, from the chapter on Scolymos cinara, Artichaut, in Dodoen's Croydeboeck (1552) as L'Ecluse's French translation, Dodoens Histoire des Plantes (1575) does not mention these latter uses, but Dodoen's own Latin translation, the Pemptades (1583), and Gerard's Herbal (1633) both do so. It is useful in understanding the history of these translations to realise that Gerard uses, almost verbatim, the translation of the 'smelly armpit' paragraph from Lyte. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Cynara cardunculus L. Asteraceae. Cardoon, Globe Artichoke, Artechokes, Scolymos cinara, Cynara, Cinara. Distribution: Southern Europe and North Africa. Lyte (1576) writes that Dodoens (1552) could find no medical use for them and Galen (c.200 AD) said they were indigestible unless cooked. However he relates that other authors recommend that if the flower heads are soaked in strong wine, they 'provoke urine and stir up lust in the body.' More prosaically, the roots boiled in wine and drunk it cause the urine to be 'stinking' and so cures smelly armpits. He adds that it strengthens the stomach so causing women to conceive Male children. He goes on to say that the young shoots boiled in broth also stir up lust in men and women, and more besides. Lyte (1576) was translating, I think with elaborations, from the chapter on Scolymos cinara, Artichaut, in Dodoen's Croydeboeck (1552) as L'Ecluse's French translation (1575) does not mention these latter uses, but Dodoen's own Latin translation, the Pemptades(1583), and Gerard's (1633) both do so. It is useful in understanding the history of these translations to realise that Gerard uses, almost verbatim, the translation of the 'smelly armpit' paragraph from Lyte. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Serratula tinctoria subsp. seoanei (Willk.)M.Lainz Asteraceae. Saw-wort (in the USA called Dyer's plumeless saw-wort). Distribution: Europe. Named after Dr Victor Lopez Seoane (1832-1900) a Spanish naturalist and physician who was Professor of Physics, Chemistry and Natural History in Corunna. He attained a certain infamy in that three of the subspecies of birds which he published as new discoveries were in leaflets dated 1870 and 1891 but were actually published in 1894, the discovery of which rendered two of his discoveries attributable to others (Ferrer, in Ingenium 7:345-377 (2001). This plant was described by Heinrich Willkomm in 1899 as Serratula seoanei, but M. Lainz, in 1979, decided it was merely a subspecies of Serratula tinctoria, a plant described by Linnaeus (1753). Linnaeus based his description on a plant with a woodcut in Dodoens' Pemptades (1583), saying it had pinnate leaves. However, that woodcut is of two different plants, and when re-used by Gerard (1633) he pointed out that Tabernamontanus (1625) had a woodcut of them and a third plant all with leaves varying from just pinnate to entire. Whatever, the leaves on Serratula tinctorius subsp. seoanei are very distinct, but while pinnate the leaflets are exceedingly narrowly and deeply dissected, Gerard (1633) writes that it is 'wonderfully commended to be most singular [useful] for wounds, ruptures, burstings, and such like...' It is a dye plant, containing luteolin, the same yellow dye as is present in Reseda luteola (source of the dye 'weld'). Seoane also has a viper, Vipera seoanei, named after him
  • 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.
  • A huntsman accompanied by his dog runs through the forest blowing his horn. Woodcut and letterpress.
  • Denis Pétau, seated at a desk in a vast library, writing his historical and chronological works; medallions of Solon, Hippocrates, Cicero and Homer above. Engraving, 1724.
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum suis aere incisis visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • The god Apollo holding his bow and an arrow. Engraving by E. Delaune, ca. 1560.
  • Church of St. Ignatius, Jesuit Pharmacy Hospital College, Rome: with a Benedictine convent and St. Mauro's monument. Line engraving after O. Grassi.
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum suis aere incisis visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum suis aere incisis visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • A woman holds up a jug; representing the study of nature. Engraving by E. Delaune, ca. 1560.
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum ... visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • A goddess (Bellona?) surrounded by stags, rabbits or hares, demons and owls. Engraving by E. Delaune, ca. 1560.
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum suis aere incisis visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum ... visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum ... visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].
  • Catoptrum microcosmicum ... visionibus splendens, cum historia, et pinace, de novo prodit / [Johann Remmelin].