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  • A compound achromatic microscope of 1857 by Smith and Beck.
  • A compound achromatic microscope of 1857 by Smith and Beck.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Mezzotint.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Mezzotint.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Etching, 1813.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Etching, 1813.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Line engraving.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Etching by R. Gaywood, 1656.
  • Barbara van Beck, a hirsute woman. Stipple engraving by G. Scott.
  • A woman resting near a group of sheep is holding her naked child protectively in her lap. Etching by E. Beck.
  • Louis Pasteur, head and shoulders in a gold medallion above Strasbourg Cathedral; poster marking the 1923 international exhibition and the centenary of Pasteur's birth. Colour lithograph by A. Beck, 1923.
  • Olea europaea L. Oleaceae Olive Distribution: Europe, Middle East. Dioscorides (Beck, 2005) regarded the olive as a panacea, curing all manner of cutaneous afflictions from shingles to sores
  • Elephant's hair. Slide by Topping - x165 - lamp. Beck Intensity and ground glass and wratten 45a filter. Condenser - Leitz 1.4 NA. Camera ext. 215 mm. Plate - Kodak Pan. Exp. 5.75m. Fine grain 1D11. Talen F.C. Griggs 29.9.48 op.lat. Top lens removed. OBJ. Watson Holes 12mm. 0.65 N.n. used 182 mm. thickcore Eyepiece x 14.
  • Polygonatum x hybridum Brugger Convalliariaceae. Hybrid Solomon's Seal (P. multiflorum x P. odoratum) It has the RHS Award of Garden Merit. Rhizomatous herbaceous perennial. Distribution: Garden plant whose parents come from Europe and Asia. Dioscorides (70 AD ex Beck, 2005) reports that Polygonatum is good for wounds if a poultice is applied, and that it also removes facial blemishes. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Agrimonia eupatoria L. Agrimony, Eupatorium, Maudlein. Perennial herb. The species name comes from king Mithridates Eupator VI of Pontus (132-63 BC) who took regular doses of poison to develop an immunity to them. A 'Mithridate' was a medicine against poisons. Distribution: N. and S. Africa, N. Asia, Europe. '…provokes urine and the terms [periods], dries the brain, opens stoppings, helps the green sickness [iron deficiency anaemia], and profits such as have a cold weak liver outwardly applied it takes away the hardness of the matrix [=uterus] and fills hollow ulcers with flesh' (Culpeper, 1650). Dioscorides (Beck, 2005) recommends mashed leaves in hog's grease for healing scarring ulcers, and the seed in wine for dysentery and serpent bites. Goodyear's 1655 translation of Dioscorides (Gunther 2000) has this as cannabis, which Parkinson (1640) says is in error and summarises the manifold uses from classical authors, from removing splinters to stopping menorrhagia. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Carthamus tinctorius L. Asteraceae. Safe Flower, False Saffron - Distribution: W. Asia. Dioscorides (in Beck, 2003) notes the seeds as a purgative, but also advises it made up with 30 figs, which must have helped. Gerard (1640) calls it Atractylis flore luteo the yellow distaffe thistle. and follows Dioscorides in its uses, but does get the reader confused with Cnicus benedictus, calling both plants 'wild bastard saffron'. Culpeper makes no mention of it in his early works, but later (1826) have the following: ‘Wild Saffon, or Saf-flower ... accounted a pretty strong cathartic [causing diarrhoea and vomiting], evacuating tough viscid phlegm, both upwards and downwards, and by that means is said to clear the lungs, and help the phthisic [now equated with tuberculosis]. It is likewise serviceable against the jaundice
  • Myrtus communis L. Myrtaceae Myrtle Distribution: Europe. Dioscorides (Beck, 2005) recommends the fruit for treating haemoptysis (‘spitting blood’) and cystitis, and, if boiled, he said it made a fine wine. In various forms it was used as a hair dye, for sore eyes, anal and uterine prolapse, dandruff and shingles, all sorts of inflammations, scorpion bites and even sweaty armpits. Our plant has white berries, but he regarded those with black berries (they become black later in the season) as being more effective. Lyte (1576) adds that the juice of the berries kept the hair black and stopped it falling out, and prevented intoxication. He notes that it only flowered in hot summers in England, but it is reliable in flower now, either due to global warming or selection of suitable clones. According to Lyte, it is named after Merlyne, a fair maiden of Athens in ancient Greece, who judged the athletic games. Slain by a disgruntled competitor, the goddess Minerva brought her back as the myrtle tree in perpetual memory. The myrtle tree is also an ancient Jewish symbol for peace and justice. Myrtle wine is still made in Tuscany and now even in China. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Arctium lappa L. Asteraceae. Greater Burdock. Distribution: Europe to India and Japan. Dioscorides (Beck, 2003) writes: '... helps those who spit blood and who suffer from abscesses ... plastered on it stems the pains around the joints that stem from twistings. The Leaves are applied beneficially on old ulcers.' Culpeper (1650) writes: ‘Burdanae, etc. Of Bur, Clot-Bur or Burdock, ... helps such as spit blood and matter, bruised and mixed salt and applied to the place, helpeth the bitings of mad dogs. It expels wind, easeth pains of the teeth, strengthens the back, helps the running of the reins, and the whites in women, being taken inwardly.’ The roots contain inulin, which is made into a non-digestible sweetener for diabetics. It has a multitude of uses in herbal medicine, in particular it is a component of a compound called ‘essiac’ that has been widely used as a treatment of cancers in the USA, but which is of no proven benefit. The young roots can be eaten raw or cooked. The seeds are hairy and care should be taken when harvesting them as inhaled they are reported as ‘toxic’. The root is licensed for use in Traditional Herbal Medicines in the UK (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Paeonia officinalis L. Paeoniaceae, European Peony, Distribution: Europe. The peony commemorates Paeon, physician to the Gods of ancient Greece (Homer’s Iliad v. 401 and 899, circa 800 BC). Paeon, came to be associated as being Apollo, Greek god of healing, poetry, the sun and much else, and father of Aesculapius/Asclepias. Theophrastus (circa 300 BC), repeated by Pliny, wrote that if a woodpecker saw one collecting peony seed during the day, it would peck out one’s eyes, and (like mandrake) the roots had to be pulled up at night by tying them to the tail of a dog, and one’s ‘fundament might fall out’ [anal prolapse] if one cut the roots with a knife. Theophrastus commented ‘all this, however, I take to be so much fiction, most frivolously invented to puff up their supposed marvellous properties’. Dioscorides (70 AD, tr. Beck, 2003) wrote that 15 of its black seeds, drunk with wine, were good for nightmares, uterine suffocation and uterine pains. Officinalis indicates it was used in the offices, ie the clinics, of the monks in the medieval era. The roots, hung round the neck, were regarded as a cure for epilepsy for nearly two thousand years, and while Galen would have used P. officinalis, Parkinson (1640) recommends the male peony (P. mascula) for this. He also recommends drinking a decoction of the roots. Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737), published by the College of Physicians, explains that it was used to cure febrile fits in children, associated with teething. Although she does not mention it, these stop whatever one does. Parkinson also reports that the seeds are used for snake bite, uterine bleeding, people who have lost the power of speech, nightmares and melancholy. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Paeonia officinalis L. Paeoniaceae, European Peony, Distribution: Europe. The peony commemorates Paeon, physician to the Gods of ancient Greece (Homer’s Iliad v. 401 and 899, circa 800 BC). Paeon, came to be associated as being Apollo, Greek god of healing, poetry, the sun and much else, and father of Aesculapius/Asclepias. Theophrastus (circa 300 BC), repeated by Pliny, wrote that if a woodpecker saw one collecting peony seed during the day, it would peck out one’s eyes, and (like mandrake) the roots had to be pulled up at night by tying them to the tail of a dog, and one’s ‘fundament might fall out’ [anal prolapse] if one cut the roots with a knife. Theophrastus commented ‘all this, however, I take to be so much fiction, most frivolously invented to puff up their supposed marvellous properties’. Dioscorides (70 AD, tr. Beck, 2003) wrote that 15 of its black seeds, drunk with wine, were good for nightmares, uterine suffocation and uterine pains. Officinalis indicates it was used in the offices, ie the clinics, of the monks in the medieval era. The roots, hung round the neck, were regarded as a cure for epilepsy for nearly two thousand years, and while Galen would have used P. officinalis, Parkinson (1640) recommends the male peony (P. mascula) for this. He also recommends drinking a decoction of the roots. Elizabeth Blackwell’s A Curious Herbal (1737), published by the College of Physicians, explains that it was used to cure febrile fits in children, associated with teething. Although she does not mention it, these stop whatever one does. Parkinson also reports that the seeds are used for snake bite, uterine bleeding, people who have lost the power of speech, nightmares and melancholy. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • A musical score against a background of painted red and yellow crosses; advertising a benefit concert in support of World AIDS Day on 1 December 1991 at the Kunsthalle, Bremen. Colour lithograph by Becker Repro Service.
  • Noël Joseph de Necker. Stipple engraving by A. Karcher, 1786, after F. Beckers, 1785.
  • 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.
  • Darwin's single microscope
  • Barbara van Beck. Oil painting, ca. 1650.
  • Barbara van Beck. Oil painting, ca. 1650.
  • Barbara van Beck. Oil painting, ca. 1650.
  • Barbara van Beck. Oil painting, ca. 1650.
  • Buildings and alumni of University College Hospital, London. Colour lithograph by Beynon & Company.
  • Buildings and alumni of University College Hospital, London. Colour lithograph by Beynon & Company.