Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events
281 results
  • Mellificium chirurgiae; or, the marrow of chirurgery. With the anatomy of human bodies according to the most modern anatomists, illustrated with many anatomical observations. Institutions of physick, with Hippocrates's aphorisms largely commented upon, The marrow of physick, shewing the causes, signs, and cures of most diseases incident to human bodies ... / [James Cooke].
  • The water-cure. Stomach complaints and drug diseases, their causes, consequences, and cure by water, air, exercise, and diet / With an engraving of Napoleon in the second stage of cancer of the stomach. To which is appended two letters to Dr. Hastings of Worcester, on the results of the water-cure at Malvern [in reply to attacks by the latter. By James Wilson.
  • Mellificium chirurgiae. Or, the marrow of chirurgery. An anatomical treatise / Institutions of physick, with Hippocrates's Aphorisms largely commented upon. The marrow of physick, shewing the causes, signs and cures of most diseases incident to human bodies. Choice experienced receits for the cure of several distempers. Illustrated in its several parts with twelve brass cuts.
  • Mellificium chirurgiae. Or, the marrow of chirurgery. An anatomical treatise / Institutions of physick, with Hippocrates's Aphorisms largely commented upon. The marrow of physick, shewing the causes, signs and cures of most diseases incident to human bodies. Choice experienced receits for the cure of several distempers. Illustrated in its several parts with twelve brass cuts.
  • An easy and exact method of curing the veneral disease, in all its different appearances ... And likewise a method of curing the scurvy, gleets, whites, etc. ... with an account of its nature, causes, and symptoms: demonstrated by way of dialogue between physician and patient, for the use and instruction of all unfortunate persons who may labour under that disorder ... / [John Profily].
  • Mellificium chirurgiae: or, The marrow of chirurgery. With the anatomy of human bodies according to the most modern anatomists.... Institutions of physick, with Hippocrates's Aphorisms largely commented upon. The marrow of physick, shewing the causes, signs and cures of most diseases incident to human bodies. Choice experienced receits for the cure of several distempers / By James Cooke.
  • The compleat horseman: discovering the surest marks of the beauty, goodness, faults and imperfections of horses: the signs and causes of their diseases, the true method both of their preservation and cure: with reflections on the regular and preposterous use of bleeding and purging. To which is added a ... supplement of riding ... With an alphabetical catalogue of allthe physical simples in English, French and Latin / By Sir William Hope ... Made English from the eighth editioin of the original.
  • The compleat horseman: discovering the surest marks of the beauty, goodness, faults and imperfections of horses: the signs and causes of their diseases, the true method both of their preservation and cure: with reflections on the regular and preposterous use of bleeding and purging. To which is added a ... supplement of riding ... With an alphabetical catalogue of allthe physical simples in English, French and Latin / By Sir William Hope ... Made English from the eighth editioin of the original.
  • The compleat horseman: discovering the surest marks of the beauty, goodness, faults and imperfections of horses: the signs and causes of their diseases, the true method both of their preservation and cure: with reflections on the regular and preposterous use of bleeding and purging. To which is added a ... supplement of riding ... With an alphabetical catalogue of allthe physical simples in English, French and Latin / By Sir William Hope ... Made English from the eighth editioin of the original.
  • Lathyrus vernus (L.)Bernh. Papilionaceae previously Orobus vernus L. (Linnaeus, 1753) Spring vetchling. Distribution: Europe to Siberia. The seeds of several Lathyrus species are toxic, and when eaten cause a condition called lathyrism. The chemical diaminoproprionic acid in the seeds causes paralysis, spinal cord damage, aortic aneurysm, due to poisoning of mitochondria causing cell death. Occurs where food crops are contaminated by Lathyrus plants or where it is eaten as a 'famine food' when no other food is available. It is the Orobus sylvaticus purpureus vernus of Bauhin (1671) and Orobus sylvaticus angustifolius of Parkinson (1640) - who records that country folk had no uses for it. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Lathyrus vernus (L.)Bernh. Papilionaceae previously Orobus vernus L. (Linnaeus, 1753) Spring vetchling. Distribution: Europe to Siberia. The seeds of several Lathyrus species are toxic, and when eaten cause a condition called lathyrism. The chemical diaminoproprionic acid in the seeds causes paralysis, spinal cord damage, aortic aneurysm, due to poisoning of mitochondria causing cell death. Occurs where food crops are contaminated by Lathyrus plants or where it is eaten as a 'famine food' when no other food is available. It is the Orobus sylvaticus purpureus vernus of Bauhin (1671) and Orobus sylvaticus angustifolius of Parkinson (1640) - who records that country folk had no uses for it. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • De succo pancreatico: or a physical and anatomical treatise of the nature and office of the pancreatick juice shewing its generation in the body, what diseases arise by its vitiation : from whence in particular, by plain and familiar examples, is accurately demonstrated, the causes and cures of agues, or intermitting feavers, hitherto so difficult and uncertain, with sundry other things of worthy note / written by D. Reg. de Graaf ... ; and translated by Christopher Pack.
  • Loimologia: or, An historical account of the plague in London in 1665: : with precautionary directions against the like contagion. / By Nath. Hodges, M. D. and Fellow of the College of Physicians, who resided in the city all that time. To which is added, An essay on the different causes of pestilential diseases, and how they become contagious: with remarks on the infection now in France, and the most probable means to prevent its spreading here. By John Quincy, M. D.
  • Euphorbia milii Des Moul. Euphorbiaceae. Crown of Thorns - so called because of its very spiny stems. Distribution: Madagascar. The latex contains a copper-containing amine oxidase, a lectin, lipase, peroxidase, and a diamine oxidase. In vitro the latex is synergistic with ketoconazole against Candida albicans (thrush). All Euphorbia have a toxic white latex, and in Europe this has been used as a folk remedy to treat warts. It can cause skin allergies and the smoke from burning them is toxic. the genus named for Euphorbus (fl. circa 10 BC – 20 AD), the Greek physician to the Berber King Juba II (c. 50 BC – 23 AD) of Numidia, Euphorbia milii is one of the tropical spurges, with fierce, cactus-like spines, grown as a house plant. The sap of spurges is used in folk medicine for treating warts (not very effective), and, historically, as a purgative - the word spurge being derived from the French word for purgation. The sap (probably dried) was administered inside a fig because it is so corrosive that it would otherwise burn the mouth and oesophagus – a technique used today, rather more subtly, with ‘enteric coated’ medications. The sap contains a potential anti-leukaemic chemical, lasiodoplin, and is also used in drainage ditches to kill the snails which carry the parasitic trematode which causes fasciolaris. It does not kill the fish. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Hepatica nobilis Mill. Ranunculaceae. Liverwort - not to be confused with the lichen of the same name. Distribution: North America. Liverwort (‘liver plant’): discontinued herbal medicine for disorders of the liver. The name and the use to which the Liverworts have been put medicinally is suggested, according to the doctrine of signatures, by the shape of the leaves which are three-lobed, like the liver. It is little used in modern herbalism but was employed in treating disorders of the liver and gall bladder, indigestion etc. It is highly toxic. Hepatica acutiloba was widely used for liver disorders in the 1880s, with up to 200,000 kilos of leaves being harvested per annum to make liver tonics - which eventually caused jaundice. Gerard (1633) calls it Hepaticum trifolium, Noble Liverwort, Golden Trefoile and herbe Trinity and writes: 'It is reported to be good against weakness of the liver which proceedeth from a hot cause, for it cooleth and strengtheneth it not a little. ' He adds ' Baptista Sardus[a Piedmontese physician fl. 1500] commendeth it and writeth that the chiefe vertue is in the root
  • Hepatica nobilis Mill. Ranunculaceae. Liverwort - not to be confused with the lichen of the same name. Distribution: North America. Liverwort (‘liver plant’): discontinued herbal medicine for disorders of the liver. The name and the use to which the Liverworts have been put medicinally is suggested, according to the doctrine of signatures, by the shape of the leaves which are three-lobed, like the liver. It is little used in modern herbalism but was employed in treating disorders of the liver and gall bladder, indigestion etc. It is highly toxic. Hepatica acutiloba was widely used for liver disorders in the 1880s, with up to 200,000 kilos of leaves being harvested per annum to make liver tonics - which eventually caused jaundice. Gerard (1633) calls it Hepaticum trifolium, Noble Liverwort, Golden Trefoile and herbe Trinity and writes: 'It is reported to be good against weakness of the liver which proceedeth from a hot cause, for it cooleth and strengtheneth it not a little. ' He adds ' Baptista Sardus [a Piedmontese physician fl. 1500] commendeth it and writeth that the chiefe vertue is in the root
  • 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.
  • Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux. Ranunculaceae. Chinese aconite, Chinese wolfsbane, Carmichael's monkshood. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution C. to W. China to N. America. Named for Dr J.R. Carmichael (d. 1877), English physician, plant collector and Protestant missionary from 1862-1877 in Guangdong and Shandong, China initially in Canton. He aided Francis Forbes to collect plants for Kew. Aconitum plants are so poisonous that Theophrastus states that death was the punishment for possessing them. Aconitine is the poison and was used - from Aconitum ferox - in the 'curry murder' in London in 2009. It causes respiratory paralysis, bradycardia (slowing of the pulse), cardiac arrhythmias, tingling, sweating, gastric cramps, diarrhoea and death, both by ingestion and by absorption through the mucous membranes and the skin. Despite this it is widely used in Chinese herbal medicine. It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be dispensed by a herbal practitioner for external use following a one-to-one consultation, or by prescription from a registered doctor or dentist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. Ranunculaceae Distribution: Europe. Lindley (1838) and Woodville (1790) knew this as Anemone pulsatilla, the common name being Pasque (Easter) Flower. At the end of the 18th century it was recommended for blindness, cataracts, syphilis, strokes and much more, treatments which, as was clear to physicians at the time, were valueless. Gerard (1633) writes: ‘They serve only for the adorning of gardens and garlands, being floures of great beauty’. It is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, all members of which are poisonous. It was recommended, by mouth, for ‘obstinate case of taenia’ (tapeworms). One hopes it was more toxic to the worm than the patient. Flowers with a central disc and radiating florets were regarded as being good for eye complaints under the Doctrine of Signatures. Porta (1588) writes (translated): ‘Argemone [Papaver argemone], and anemone, have flowers of this shape, from this they cure ulcers and cloudiness of the cornea’. There were occupational diseases even before there were words like pneumoconiosis, and Lindley writes that ‘the powder of the root causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverising it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up.’ Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. Ranunculaceae. Pasque flower. Distribution: Europe. Lindley (1838) and Woodville (1790) knew this as Anemone pulsatilla, the common name being Pasque (Easter) Flower. At the end of the 18th century it was recommended for blindness, cataracts, syphilis, strokes and much more, treatments which, as was clear to physicians at the time, were valueless. Gerard (1633) writes: ‘They serve only for the adorning of gardens and garlands, being floures of great beauty’. It is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, all members of which are poisonous. It was recommended, by mouth, for ‘obstinate case of taenia’ (tapeworms). One hopes it was more toxic to the worm than the patient. Flowers with a central disc and radiating florets were regarded as being good for eye complaints under the Doctrine of Signatures. Porta (1588) writes (translated): ‘Argemone [Papaver argemone], and anemone, have flowers of this shape, from this they cure ulcers and cloudiness of the cornea’. There were occupational diseases even before there were words like pneumoconiosis, and Lindley writes that ‘the powder of the root causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverising it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up.’ Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulsatilla vulgaris Mill. Ranunculaceae Pasque flower. Distribution: Europe. Lindley (1838) and Woodville (1790) knew this as Anemone pulsatilla, the common name being Pasque (Easter) Flower. At the end of the 18th century it was recommended for blindness, cataracts, syphilis, strokes and much more, treatments which, as was clear to physicians at the time, were valueless. Gerard (1633) writes: ‘They serve only for the adorning of gardens and garlands, being floures of great beauty’. It is in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, all members of which are poisonous. It was recommended, by mouth, for ‘obstinate case of taenia’ (tapeworms). One hopes it was more toxic to the worm than the patient. Flowers with a central disc and radiating florets were regarded as being good for eye complaints under the Doctrine of Signatures. Porta (1588) writes (translated): ‘Argemone [Papaver argemone], and anemone, have flowers of this shape, from this they cure ulcers and cloudiness of the cornea’. There were occupational diseases even before there were words like pneumoconiosis, and Lindley writes that ‘the powder of the root causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverising it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up.’ Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Papaver somniferum L. Papaveraceae Opium Poppy Distribution: Asia minor, but has been dated to 5000BC in Spanish caves. Now grows almost everywhere. The oldest medicine in continuous use, described in the Ebers' papyrus (1550 BC), called Meconium, Laudanum, Paregoric and syrup of poppies. Culpeper (1650) on Meconium '...the juyce of English Poppies boyled till it be thick' and 'I am of the opinion that Opium is nothing else but the juyce of poppies growing in hotter countries, for such Opium as Authors talk of comes from Utopia.[he means an imaginary land, I suspect]’]. He cautions 'Syrups of Poppies provoke sleep, but in that I desire they may be used with a great deal of caution and wariness...' and warns in particular about giving syrup of poppies to children to get them to sleep. The alkaloids in the sap include: Morphine 12% - affects ?-opioid receptors in the brain and causes happiness, sleepiness, pain relief, suppresses cough and causes constipation. Codeine 3% – mild opiate actions – converted to morphine in the body. Papaverine, relaxes smooth muscle spasm in arteries of heart and brain, and also for intestinal spasm, migraine and erectile dysfunction. Not analgesic. Thebaine mildly analgesic, stimulatory, is made into oxycodone and oxymorphone which are analgesics, and naloxone for treatment of opiate overdose – ?-opioid receptor competitive antagonist – it displaces morphine from ?-opioid receptors, and constipation caused by opiates. Protopine – analgesic, antihistamine so relieves pain of inflammation. Noscapine – anti-tussive (anti-cough). In 2006 the world production of opium was 6,610 metric tons, in 1906 it was over 30,000 tons when 25% of Chinese males were regular users. The Opium wars of the end of the 19th century were caused by Britain selling huge quantities of Opium to China to restore the balance of payments deficit. Laudanum: 10mg of morphine (as opium) per ml. Paregoric: camphorated opium tincture. 0.4mg morphine per ml. Gee’s Linctus: up to 60 mg in a bottle. J Collis Browne’s chlorodyne: cannabis, morphine, alcohol etc. Kaolin and Morph. - up to 60 mg in a bottle. Dover’s Powders – contained Ipecacuana and morphine. Heroin is made from morphine, but converted back into morphine in the body (Oakeley, 2012). One gram of poppy seeds contains 0.250mgm of morphine, and while one poppy seed bagel will make a urine test positive for morphine for a week, one would need 30-40 bagels to have any discernible effect. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Papaver somniferum L. Papaveraceae Opium Poppy Distribution: Asia minor, but has been dated to 5000BC in Spanish caves. Now grows almost everywhere. The oldest medicine in continuous use, described in the Ebers' papyrus (1550 BC), called Meconium, Laudanum, Paregoric and syrup of poppies. Culpeper (1650) on Meconium '...the juyce of English Poppies boyled till it be thick' and 'I am of the opinion that Opium is nothing else but the juyce of poppies growing in hotter countries, for such Opium as Authors talk of comes from Utopia [he means an imaginary land, I suspect]’. He cautions 'Syrups of Poppies provoke sleep, but in that I desire they may be used with a great deal of caution and wariness...' and warns in particular about giving syrup of poppies to children to get them to sleep. The alkaloids in the sap include: Morphine 12% - affects ?-opioid receptors in the brain and causes happiness, sleepiness, pain relief, suppresses cough and causes constipation. Codeine 3% – mild opiate actions – converted to morphine in the body. Papaverine, relaxes smooth muscle spasm in arteries of heart and brain, and also for intestinal spasm, migraine and erectile dysfunction. Not analgesic. Thebaine mildly analgesic, stimulatory, is made into oxycodone and oxymorphone which are analgesics, and naloxone for treatment of opiate overdose – ?-opioid receptor competitive antagonist – it displaces morphine from ?-opioid receptors, and reverses the constipation caused by opiates. Protopine – analgesic, antihistamine so relieves pain of inflammation. Noscapine – anti-tussive (anti-cough). In 2006 the world production of opium was 6,610 metric tons, in 1906 it was over 30,000 tons when 25% of Chinese males were regular users. The Opium wars of the end of the 19th century were caused by Britain selling huge quantities of Opium to China to restore the balance of payments deficit. Laudanum: 10mg of morphine (as opium) per ml. Paregoric: camphorated opium tincture. 0.4mg morphine per ml. Gee’s Linctus: up to 60 mg in a bottle. J Collis Browne’s chlorodyne: cannabis, morphine, alcohol etc. Kaolin and Morph. - up to 60 mg in a bottle. Dover’s Powders – contained Ipecacuana and morphine. Heroin is made from morphine, but converted back into morphine in the body (Oakeley, 2012). One gram of poppy seeds contains 0.250mgm of morphine, and while one poppy seed bagel will make a urine test positive for morphine for a week, one would need 30-40 bagels to have any discernible effect. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Veratrum nigrum L. Melanthiaceae Distribution: Europe. Cows do not eat Veratrum species in the meadows, and human poisoning with it caused vomiting and fainting. In the 1850s it was found to reduce the heart's action and slow the pulse (Bentley, 1861, called it an 'arterial sedative'), and in 1859 it was used orally in a woman who was having convulsions due to eclampsia. Dr Paul DeLacy Baker in Alabama treated her with drops of a tincture of V. viride. She recovered. It was used thereafter, as the first choice of treatment, and, when blood pressure monitoring became possible, it was discovered that it worked by reducing the high blood pressure that occurs in eclampsia. By 1947 death rates were reduced from 30% to 5% by its use at the Boston Lying-in Hospital. It works by dilating the arteries in muscles and in the gastrointestinal circulation. A further use of Veratrum species came to light when it was noted that V. californicum - and other species - if eaten by sheep resulted in foetal malformations, in particular only having one eye. The chemical in the plant that was responsible, cyclopamine, was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo/foetus. Synthetic analogues have been developed which act on what have come to be called the 'hedgehog signalling pathways' in stem cell division, and these 'Hedgehog inhibitors' are being introduced into medicine for the treatment of various cancers like chondrosarcoma, myelofibrosis, and advanced basal cell carcinoma. The drugs are saridegib, erismodegib and vismodegib. All the early herbals report on its ability to cause vomiting. As a herbal medicine it is Prescription Only, via a registered dentist or physician (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulmonaria rubra L. Boraginaceae A red-flowered species, mentioned in 16th and 17th herbals, but with the same properties as officinalis. Distribution: Europe. Pulmonaria or Lungwort are names for a lichen and a perennial plant in the Boraginaceae. This is the latter. Lyte (1578) has a woodcut of our plant and also calls it Sage of Jerusalem and says it is of 'no particular use in physicke, but is much used in meates and salads with eggs, as is also Cowslippes and Primroses, whereunto in temperature it is much alike.' He lists and describes the lichen separately. Culpeper (1650) said he found many sorts of lunguewort in perusing Authors 'Pulmonari, arborea and Symphytum maculosum [and the latter is our plant, the others the lichen] and that they 'helpe infirmities of the lungues, as hoarseness, coughs, wheezing, shortnesse of breath etc.' Coles (1657) who espouses the Doctrine of Signatures in a way unrivalled by any other English author, might have been expected to confirm the concept that the mottled leaves looked like the cut surface of a lung which indicates their purpose, but he only mentions the lungwort which is a lichen. However, Porta's beautiful book on the Doctrine, Phytognomica (1588), is clear that the plant called pulmonaria with hairy leaves like a bugloss, spotted white with purple flowers, commonly called 'cynoglossa' [with a woodcut which could be Pulmonaria officinalis] indicate its use for ulcerated lungs, spitting blood, shortness of breath and asthma equally with the lichen with the same name. Lobel & Pena (1570) call it 'PULMONARIA, masculosa folia Borrago. floribus Primula veris, purpureis[ PULMONARIA spotted, Borage-leaved, flowers like Primula veris - Cowslips - purple] and say that women mix the leaves with a little broth and make it into an omelette for lung disorders and to strengthen the heart. Lobel (1576) calls it Maculosa Pulmonaria and describes a white flowered form, with a good woodcut. Gerard (1633) uses the same woodcut as Lobel and calls it Pulmonatia foliis Echii, Buglosse Cowslips with red flowers, and a woodcut of a narrow leaved plant as Pulmonaria masculosa, Spotted Cowslips of Jerusalem with red, blue and purple flowers and says 'the leaves are used among pot-herbes. The roots are aso thought to be good against the infirmities of ulcers of the lungs...'. Quincy (1718) writes: '... it has a glutinous juice ... and heals ulcers and erosions. It is commended in coughs and spitting of blood but is little used either in the Shop or Prescriptions. Not used in modern medicine. It is in the family Boraginaceae whose species are often rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids that cause liver toxicity and liver cancers, but levels in Pulmonaria officinalis may not be significant. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulmonaria officinalis L. Boraginaceae Distribution: Officinalis indicates its medicinal use in early medicine. Europe. Pulmonaria or Lungwort are names for a lichen and a perennial plant in the Boraginaceae. This is the latter. Lyte (1578) has a woodcut of our plant and also calls it Sage of Jerusalem and says it is of ' no particular use in physicke, but is much used in meates and salads with eggs, as is also Cowslippes and Primroses, whereunto in temperature it is much alike.' He lists and describes the lichen separately. Culpeper (1650) said he found many sorts of lunguewort in perusing Authors ' Pulmonari, arborea and Symphytum maculosum [and the latter is our plant, the others the lichen] and that they 'helpe infirmities of the lungues, as hoarseness, coughs, wheezing, shortnesse of breath etc.' Coles (1657) who espouses the Doctrine of Signatures in a way unrivalled by any other English author, might have been expected to confirm the concept that the mottled leaves looked like the cut surface of a lung which indicates their purpose, but he only mentions the lungwort which is a lichen. However, Porta's beautiful book on the Doctrine, Phytognomica (1588), is clear that the plant called Pulmonaria with hairy leaves like a bugloss, spotted white with purple flowers, commonly called 'cynoglossa' [with a woodcut which could be Pulmonaria officinalis] indicate its use for ulcerated lungs, spitting blood, shortness of breath and asthma equally with the lichen with the same name. Lobel & Pena (1570) call it 'PULMONARIA, masculosa folia Borrago, floribus Primula veris, purpureis [PULMONARIA spotted, Borage-leaved, flowers like Primula veris - Cowslips - purple]' and say that women mix the leaves with a little broth and make it into an omelette for lung disorders and to strengthen the heart. Lobel (1576) calls it Maculosa Pulmonaria and describes a white flowered form with a good woodcut. Gerard (1633) uses the same woodcut as Lobel and calls it Pulmonatia foliis Echii, Buglosse Cowslips with red flowers, and a woodcut of a narrow leaved plant as Pulmonaria masculosa, Spotted Cowslips of Jerusalem with red, blue and purple flowers and says 'the leaves are used among pot-herbes. The roots are aso thought to be good against the infirmities of ulcers of the lungs...'. Quincy (1718) writes: '... it has a glutinous juice ... and heals ulcers and erosions. It is commended in coughs and spitting of blood but is little used either in the Shop or Prescriptions. Not used in modern medicine. It is in the family Boraginaceae whose species are often rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids that cause liver toxicity and liver cancers, but levels in Pulmonaria officinalis may not be significant. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Pulmonaria officinalis L. Boraginaceae Distribution: Europe. Pulmonaria or Lungwort are names for a lichen and a perennial plant in the Boraginaceae. This is the latter. Lyte (1578) has a woodcut of our plant and also calls it Sage of Jerusalem and says it is of 'no particular use in physicke, but is much used in meates and salads with eggs, as is also Cowslippes and Primroses, whereunto in temperature it is much alike.' He lists and describes the lichen separately. Culpeper (1650) said he found many sorts of lunguewort in perusing Authors ' Pulmonari, arborea and Symphytum maculosum [and the latter is our plant, the others the lichen] and that they 'helpe infirmities of the lungues, as hoarseness, coughs, wheezing, shortnesse of breath etc.' Coles (1657) who espouses the Doctrine of Signatures in a way unrivalled by any other English author, might have been expected to confirm the concept that the mottled leaves looked like the cut surface of a lung which indicates their purpose, but he only mentions the lungwort which is a lichen. However, Porta's beautiful book on the Doctrine, Phytognomica (1588), is clear that the plant called Pulmonaria with hairy leaves like a bugloss, spotted white with purple flowers, commonly called 'cynoglossa' [with a woodcut which could be Pulmonaria officinalis] indicate its use for ulcerated lungs, spitting blood, shortness of breath and asthma equally with the lichen with the same name. Lobel & Pena (1570) call it 'PULMONARIA, masculosa folia Borrago. floribus Primula veris, purpureis [PULMONARIA spotted, Borage-leaved, flowers like Primula veris - Cowslips - purple]' and say that women mix the leaves with a little broth and make it into an omelette for lung disorders and to strengthen the heart.. Lobel (1576) calls it Maculosa Pulmonaria and describes a white flowered form with a good woodcut. Gerard (1633) uses the same woodcut as Lobel and calls it Pulmonatia foliis Echii, Buglosse Cowslips with red flowers, and a woodcut of a narrow leaved plant as Pulmonaria masculosa, Spotted Cowslips of Jerusalem with red, blue and purple flowers and says 'the leaves are used among pot-herbes. The roots are aso thought to be good against the infirmities of ulcers of the lungs...'. Quincy (1718) writes: '... it has a glutinous juice ... and heals ulcers and erosions. It is commended in coughs and spitting of blood but is little used either in the Shop or Prescriptions'. Not used in modern medicine. It is in the family Boraginaceae whose species are often rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids that cause liver toxicity and liver cancers, but levels in Pulmonaria officinalis may not be significant. 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.
  • Veratrum album L. Melanthiaceae Distribution: Europe. Cows do not eat Veratrum species in the meadows, and human poisoning with it caused vomiting and fainting. In the 1850s it was found to reduce the heart's action and slow the pulse (Bentley, 1861, called it an 'arterial sedative'), and in 1859 it was used orally in a woman who was having convulsions due to eclampsia. Dr Paul DeLacy Baker in Alabama treated her with drops of a tincture of V. viride. She recovered. It was used thereafter, as the first choice of treatment, and when blood pressure monitoring became possible, it was discovered that it worked by reducing the high blood pressure that occurs in eclampsia. By 1947 death rates were reduced from 30% to 5% by its use at the Boston Lying in Hospital. It works by dilating the arteries in muscles and in the gastrointestinal circulation. A further use of Veratrum species came to light when it was noted that V. californicum -and other species - if eaten by sheep resulted in foetal malformations, in particular only having one eye. The chemical in the plant that was responsible, cyclopamine, was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo/foetus. Synthetic analogues have been developed which act on what have come to be called the 'hedgehog signalling pathways' in stem cell division, and these 'Hedgehog inhibitors' are being introduced into medicine for the treatment of various cancers like chondrosarcoma, myelofibrosis, and advanced basal cell carcinoma. The drugs are saridegib, erismodegib and vismodegib. All the early herbals report on its ability to cause vomiting. As a herbal medicine it is Prescription Only, via a registered dentist or physician (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.