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  • The four qualities, elements, humours and temperaments. Drawing, 19--.
  • Dr. Morses, Compound Syrup of Yellow Dock Root : the great blood purifier : cures all humours.
  • The four elements, four qualities, four humours, four seasons, and four ages of man. Airbrush by Lois Hague, 1991.
  • The four elements, four qualities, four humours, four seasons, and four ages of man. Airbrush by Lois Hague, 1991.
  • A bath-house containing six men and an onlooker, perhaps an allegory of the four humours and five senses. Photolithograph after A. Dürer, c. 1496.
  • The preternatural state of animal humours described, by their sensible qualities, which depend on the different degrees of their fermentation. And the cure of each particular cacochymia ... To this treatise are added two appendixes. I. About the nature of fevers ... II. Concerning the effervescence tumours, pains, and fluxes of humours ... expecially those in the gout and asthma ... of several cocochymia's [sic] / ... By the author of the ... [i.e. Sir John Floyer].
  • Fowke & Aston's improved diuretic balls : for swelled legs, grease, cracked heels, gravel, and affections of the kidneys, for removing all obstructions in the urinary passages, and humours of the eyes, or any other part of the body ... / prepared only by Fowke & Aston.
  • A wife, her physiognomy expressing good temper and humour according to Lavater. Drawing, c. 1789.
  • Twenty five medical conditions humourously illustrated. Coloured etching.
  • Four medical conditions humourously illustrated. Reproduction of an etching.
  • Seven medical conditions humourously illustrated. Reproduction of an etching.
  • A scene showing a group of cats seeking refuge from dogs on the roof of a barn, is surrounded by vignettes with humourous subjects. Etching by F. Paton.
  • 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.
  • Paris quadrifolia L. Trilliaceae Herb Paris Distribution: Europe and temperate Asia. This dramatic plant was known as Herb Paris or one-berry. Because of the shape of the four leaves, resembling a Burgundian cross or a true love-knot, it was also known as Herb True Love. Prosaically, the name ‘Paris’ stems from the Latin ‘pars’ meaning ‘parts’ referring to the four equal leaves, and not to the French capital or the lover of Helen of Troy. Sixteenth century herbalists such as Fuchs, who calls it Aconitum pardalianches which means leopard’s bane, and Lobel who calls it Solanum tetraphyllum, attributed the poisonous properties of Aconitum to it. The latter, called monkshood and wolfsbane, are well known as poisonous garden plants. Gerard (1633), however, reports that Lobel fed it to animals and it did them no harm, and caused the recovery of a dog poisoned deliberately with arsenic and mercury, while another dog, which did not receive Herb Paris, died. It was recommended thereafter as an antidote to poisons. Coles (1657) wrote 'Herb Paris is exceedingly cold, wherupon it is proved to represse the rage and force of any Poyson, Humour , or Inflammation.' Because of its 'cold' property it was good for swellings of 'the Privy parts' (where presumably hot passions were thought to lie), to heal ulcers, cure poisoning, plague, procure sleep (the berries) and cure colic. Through the concept of the Doctrine of Signatures, the black berry represented an eye, so oil distilled from it was known as Anima oculorum, the soul of the eye, and 'effectual for all the disease of the eye'. Linnaeus (1782) listed it as treating 'Convulsions, Mania, Bubones, Pleurisy, Opththalmia', but modern authors report the berry to be toxic. That one poison acted as an antidote to another was a common, if incorrect, belief in the days of herbal medicine. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • 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.
  • page from Jane Jackson's book
  • Man with viscera exposed and signs of zodiac affecting them.
  • Men and women misrepresenting the subjects of six popular songs. Coloured soft-ground etching after H. Alken, 1822.
  • A man about to be executed in publc receives a pardon at the last minute; representing a work of art which has a striking composition but is not finished in detail. Soft ground etching after Henry Alken.
  • An English rural apothecary's shop in which women apothecaries produce eye-lotion from their own urine. Watercolour by Thomas Rowlandson, ca. 1800 (?).
  • An English rural apothecary's shop in which women apothecaries produce eye-lotion from their own urine. Watercolour by Thomas Rowlandson, ca. 1800 (?).
  • Hippocrates. Vol. IV / with an English translation by W.H.S. Jones.
  • Advertisement for Dr Johnson's Yellow Ointment
  • Three leeches in the role of physicians attend a grasshopper in the role of the patient and propose diet and bloodletting. Coloured lithograph after J.J. Grandville, ca. 1832.
  • Jacques Boyol, inventeur d'une machine, servant à guérir ou à soulager les maux qui n'ont pû l'être, ni par les remèdes ni par les eaux minérales : à ses concitoyens.
  • Genuine and universally approved horse medicines : prepared at the medical dispensary of the author : and sold by the publisher, no. 46, Fleet-Street, London.
  • Genuine and universally approved horse medicines : prepared at the medical dispensary of the author : and sold by the publisher, no. 46, Fleet-Street, London.
  • A swollen and inflamed foot: gout is represented by an attacking demon. Coloured soft-ground etching by J. Gillray, 1799.
  • A swollen and inflamed foot: gout is represented by an attacking demon. Coloured soft-ground etching by J. Gillray, 1799.