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97 results
  • Acanthus dioscoridis L. Acanthaceae. Distribution: Iran, Iraq, southern Turkey. Herbaceous perennial flowering plant. Named for Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, 1st century Greek physician and herbalist whose book, De Materia Medica, was the main source of herbal medicinal information for the next 1,600 years. He describes some 500 plants and their medicinal properties. His manuscript was copied and annotated over the centuries, and the earliest Greek text in existence is the illustrated Juliana Anicia Codex dated 512CE (Beck, 2005). The first English translation was made around 1650 by John Goodyear and published by Robert T. Gunther in 1934
  • Cistus incanus ssp creticus Juss. Cistaceae. Rock Rose. Distribution: Crete. Interesting symbiosis with fungus called Tuber melanosporum which increases nutrient absorption for the plant and inhibits growth of other plants in the vicinity. It is a source of the resin ‘labdanum’ (a.k.a. ‘ladanum’) used in perfumes (similar smell to ambergris), as is Cistus ladanifer. It has no medical uses now, and such use was dwindling even in the 18th century. In the 16th century (Henry Lyte’s 1575 translation of Rembert Dodoen’s Cruydeboeck of 1554) its uses were described (directly copied from Dioscorides’ Materia Medica (70AD)) as: ‘Ladanum dronketh with olde wine, stoppeth the laske [periods], and provoketh urine. It is very good against the hardness of the matrix or mother [uterus] layde to in the manner of a pessarie, and it draweth down the secondes or afterbirth, when it is layde upon quicke coles [hot coals], and the fumigation or parfume thereof be received up into the body of women. // The same applied to the head with Myrrhe and oyle of Myrrhe, cureth the scurffe, called Alopecia, and keepeth the heare [hair] from falling of [sic], but whereas it is already fallen away, it will not cause the heare to growe agayne. // ...' and goes on in this vein about its uses for pain in the ears, and removing sores and scars and other things. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Peppermint.
  • A man absurdly well-prepared for the cholera epidemic of 1832; representing the overabundance of questionable remedies and protections against cholera. Etching, c. 1832.
  • A Chinese physician sitting on a throne (?) surrounded by fruits, flowers and insects. Engraving.
  • A woman extravagantly equipped to deal with the cholera epidemic of 1832; representing the abundance of dubious advice on how to combat cholera. Etching, c. 1832.
  • A woman extravagantly equipped to deal with the cholera epidemic of 1832; representing the abundance of dubious advice on how to combat cholera. Etching, c. 1832.
  • A woman extravagantly equipped to deal with the cholera epidemic of 1832; representing the abundance of dubious advice on how to combat cholera. Etching, c. 1832.
  • A man absurdly well-prepared for the cholera epidemic of 1832; representing the overabundance of questionable remedies and protections against cholera. Watercolour, c. 1832.
  • An African medicine man cupping and bleeding two patients. Wood engraving by Dalziel after J. Leech.
  • A group of children playing at being doctors and pharmacists, mother and grandmother approach through a door. Photogravure after F. Hardy.
  • A group of children playing at being doctors and pharmacists, mother and grandmother approach through a door. Photogravure after F.D. Hardy.
  • A physician in his surgery examining a little boy's tongue, his sister waits for him holding a large umbrella. Wood engraving after H.B. Roberts.
  • Children playing at being doctors and pharmacists, mother and grandmother approach through a door. Mezzotint by W.J. Edwards after F.D. Hardy.
  • The interior of a shop of a family of apothecaries - d' Ailly. Photoprint by V.A Bruckmann, 1904, after an oil painting by J. Jelgerhuis Rienksz, 1818.
  • Children playing at being doctors and pharmacists, mother and grandmother approach through a door. Mezzotint by W.J. Edwards after F.D. Hardy.
  • The interior of a busy pharmacy. Line engraving by C. Le Roy.
  • An apothecary making up a prescription using scales, his wife holds a recipe for him and two assistants are working with the bellows and pestle and mortar. Line engraving by F. Baretta after P. Mainoto.
  • An apothecary making up a prescription using scales, his wife holds a recipe for him and two assistants are working with the bellows and pestle and mortar. Line engraving by F. Baretta after P. Mainoto.
  • A rural surgeon treating a male patient's foot, in the background an assistant is mixing a concoction with a pestle and mortar in a surgery. Engraving by T. Major, 1747, after D. Teniers, the younger.
  • A surgeon treating an elderly man's foot, in the background an assistant is mixing a concoction with a pestle and mortar. Lithograph after D. Teniers, the younger.
  • MS Tibetan 133
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript
  • Tibetan plant manuscript