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  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Dui ulcer
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Eel leak'
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Scrofulous ulcers'
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Facial dermatitis
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Wandering wind'
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'damp poisons'
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'White patch' rash
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Boil on cheekbone
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Earth millet' rash
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Hemp wind' rash
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Phoenix-brow' ulcer
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Button wind' rash
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'String of pearls'
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Lotus-seed' lesions
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Eruptions on back
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Swallow's nest' sore
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - 'Four joints wind'
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine -- abscess on buttock
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Ulcer on the heel
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: External medicine - Tumour on the neck
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • A guide to the practical physician, shewing from the most approved authors, both ancient and modern, the truest and latest way of curing all diseases, internal and external, whether by medicine, surgery, or diet ... To which is added an appendix concerning the office of a physician / Theoph. Bonet.
  • 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.
  • Medicina gerocomica: or, the Galenic art of preserving old men's healths. Explained in twenty chapters. To which is added an appendix, concerning the use of oyls and unction, in the prevention and cure of some diseases. As also a method ... of curing convulsions and epilepsies, by external operation / By Sir John Floyer.
  • Atropa belladonna L. Solanaceae. Deadly nightshade. Dwale. Morella, Solatrum, Hound's berries, Uva lupina, Cucubalus, Solanum lethale. Atropa derives from Atropos the oldest of the three Fates of Greek mythology who cut the thread of Life (her sisters Clotho and Lachesis spun and measured the thread, respectively). belladonna, literally, means 'beautiful lady' and was the Italian name for it. Folklore has it that Italian ladies put drops from the plant or the fruits in their eyes to make themselves doe-eyed, myopic and beautiful. However, this is not supported by the 16th and 17th century literature, where no mention is ever made of dilated pupils (or any of the effects of parasympathetic blockade). Tournefort (1719) says 'The Italians named this plant Belladonna, which in their language signifies a beautiful woman, because the ladies use it much in the composition of their Fucus [rouge or deceit or cosmetic] or face paint.' Parkinson says that the Italian ladies use the distilled juice as a fucus '... peradventure [perhaps] to take away their high colour and make them looke paler.' I think it more likely that they absorbed atropine through their skin and were slightly 'stoned' and disinhibited, which made them beautiful ladies in the eyes of Italian males. Distribution: Europe, North Africa, western Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: 'Solanum. Nightshade: very cold and dry, binding … dangerous given inwardly … outwardly it helps the shingles, St Antonie's Fire [erysipelas] and other hot inflammation.' Most of the 16th, 17th and 18th century herbals recommend it topically for breast cancers. Poisonous plants were regarded as 'cold' plants as an excess of them caused death and the body became cold. They were regarded as opposing the hot humour which kept us warm and alive. Poultices of Belladonna leaves are still recommended for muscle strain in cyclists, by herbalists. Gerard (1633) writes that it: 'causeth sleep, troubleth the mind, bringeth madnesse if a few of the berries be inwardly taken, but if more be taken they also kill...'. He was also aware that the alkaloids could be absorbed through the skin for he notes that a poultice of the leaves applied to the forehead, induces sleep, and relieves headache. The whole plant contains the anticholinergic alkaloid atropine, which blocks the peripheral actions of acetylcholine in the parasympathetic nervous system. Atropine is a racemic mixture of d- and l- hyoscyamine. Atropine, dropped into the eyes, blocks the acetylcholine receptors of the pupil so it no longer constricts on exposure to bright light - so enabling an ophthalmologist to examine the retina with an ophthalmoscope. Atropine speeds up the heart rate, reduces salivation and sweating, reduces gut motility, inhibits the vertigo of sea sickness, and is used to block the acetylcholine receptors to prevent the effects of organophosphorous and other nerve gas poisons. It is still has important uses in medicine. Atropine poisoning takes three or for days to wear off, and the hallucinations experienced by its use are described as unpleasant. We have to be content with 'madness', 'frenzie' and 'idle and vain imaginations' in the early herbals to describe the hallucinations of atropine and related alkaloids as the word 'hallucination' in the sense of a perception for which there is no external stimulus, was not used in English until 1646 (Sir T. Browne, 1646). It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be sold in premises which are registered pharmacies and by or under the supervision of a pharmacist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Rudbeckia triloba L. Asteraceae Orange Cone flower. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution: North America. It is named for Olof Rudbeck, father (1630–1702) and son (1660–1740). Olof Rudbeck the Elder was professor of medicine at Uppsala University, and established a botanic garden there. He was the discoverer of the human lymphatic system. His son succeeded his father as professor of medicine, and one of his students was Carl Linnaeus (1707–88) who named the genus Rudbeckia after him and his father. It is a plant which is poisonous to cattle, sheep and pigs with no medicinal uses. Austin (1974) discusses R. hirta, also regarded as a toxic plant. It was used externally by the Cherokee to bathe sores and snakebites and made into a tea for treating diarrhoea. The Seminoles used it for headaches and fever and the Miccosukee for sunstroke and headache. The Cherokee and the Iroquois used it to treat intestinal worms Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: The chest/breasts - Breast abscess
  • Chinese C18 woodcut: 'Stinking snail' sore