Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events
66 results
  • 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 family scene with a mother holding a sleeping baby and being shown a dead robin by one of her other children. Mezzotint by James Faed after R.T. Ross.
  • The painter and monk Fra Angelico kneels in prayer next to an easel painting of the Virgin. Engraving by John Le Conte after Peter Graham.
  • John Dalton shaking hands with Gerrit Moll, 1834, thanking him for defending British science. Coloured etching by Crichton.
  • John Dalton shaking hands with Gerrit Moll, 1834, thanking him for defending British science. Coloured etching by Crichton.
  • The wise and foolish virgins. Engraving by L. Stocks, 1846, after J.E. Lauder.
  • Brain drain? : depression, mood swings, risk-taking, mid-week blues, rage, lethargy, low self-esteem, neglect, emotional... / Camden & Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust ; designed by Eureka! Graphic Design Limited.
  • Brain drain? : depression, mood swings, risk-taking, mid-week blues, rage, lethargy, low self-esteem, neglect, emotional... / Camden & Islington Community Health Services NHS Trust ; designed by Eureka! Graphic Design Limited.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by L. Lorenzi after R. Allegranti after J. Ligozzi.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by S.A. Bolswert after Sir P.P. Rubens.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Etching attributed to G.B. Fontana.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Colour lithograph by A. Pralon after H. Memlinc.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Lithograph by J. Dickson after Cesare da Sesto.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Colour etching by S. Mulinari after G.F.M. Mazzola, il Parmigianino.
  • Saint John the Baptist: his birth. Engraving by D. Cunego, 1769, after L. Carracci.
  • Saint John the Baptist: Salome holding his severed head on a charger. Etching by F. Huot, 1787, after P. Bordone.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by C. Warren, 1817, after E. Bird.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by P.P. Molés, 1770, after G. Reni.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Stipple engraving by W. French after C. Dolci.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by F. Chéreau after Raphael.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Stipple engraving after T. Stothard.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Line engraving by Rivers, 1813, after G. Douw.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Pencil drawing.
  • The decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Wood engraving by C.A. Zscheckel after Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by S. de La Vallée after Raphael.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Etching by F. Forster after Cesare da Sesto.
  • Saint John the Baptist preaching to the people. Colour etching by J.G. Prestel after Franciabigio.
  • Decapitation of Saint John the Baptist. Engraving by N. Le Mire, 1791, after Borel after G. Reni.
  • Saint John the Baptist. Etching by P.E. Moitte, 1754, after J.C. Loth, il Carlotto.