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  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference : abstract submission deadline June 15, 1990, registration deadline September 30, 1990 / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference : abstract submission deadline June 15, 1990, registration deadline September 30, 1990 / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference : abstract submission deadline June 15, 1990, registration deadline September 30, 1990 / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference : abstract submission deadline June 15, 1990, registration deadline September 30, 1990 / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference : abstract submission deadline June 15, 1990, registration deadline September 30, 1990 / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • October 29 - November 1, 1990, Montreux, Switzerland : First announcement : Assessing AIDS prevention : international conference : abstract submission deadline June 15, 1990, registration deadline September 30, 1990 / Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Lausanne.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Jean Sylvain Bailly, Mayor of Paris, with his mistress, both represented as chickens. Etching, 1791.
  • Seven clergymen watch as a physician bathes the feet of a sick, aristocratic lady; suggesting the uncertainty of the clergy faced with the ousting of the aristocracy in France. Coloured etching by S.J., 1791.
  • Seven members of the French committee on vaccination rail at Tapp, a health officer who resists the new discovery. Coloured etching, c. 1800.
  • Seven members of the French committee on vaccination rail against Tapp, who resists the new discovery. Line engraving, c. 1800.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Mesmeric therapy. Oil painting by a French (?) painter, 1778/1784.
  • Souvenir : The Indian Empire being a brief description of the chief features of India and its medical and sanitary problems.
  • Souvenir : The Indian Empire being a brief description of the chief features of India and its medical and sanitary problems.
  • Chinese woodcut: Instruments of petty surgery (2)
  • A question mark featuring black and white silhouette figures and a green figure in the dot; an advertisement for the Stop AIDS Kanagawa campaign as part of the 10th International Conference on AIDS and STD in 1994. Colour lithograph, 1994.
  • A question mark featuring black and white silhouette figures and a green figure in the dot; an advertisement for the Stop AIDS Kanagawa campaign as part of the 10th International Conference on AIDS and STD in 1994. Colour lithograph, 1994.