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  • A young woman smiling because she has quit cigarette smoking. Colour lithograph, ca. 2000.
  • Getting off cigarettes on your own is hard : you're up to four times more likely to quit if you get NHS support : there are lots of free ways we can help / NHS Smokefree.
  • Getting off cigarettes on your own is hard : you're up to four times more likely to quit if you get NHS support : there are lots of free ways we can help / NHS Smokefree.
  • Genuine Dalmatian insect powder for the destruction of insects : quite harmless to animal life but effectually destroys every tribe of insect.
  • Genuine Dalmatian insect powder for the destruction of insects : quite harmless to animal life but effectually destroys every tribe of insect.
  • Genuine Dalmatian insect powder for the destruction of insects : quite harmless to animal life but effectually destroys every tribe of insect.
  • Figuroids : the scientific obesity cure : safely remove all superfluous fat from every part of the body, and quite restore the figure / The Figuroid Company Ltd.
  • They hopped me here, they hopped me there until I felt quite balmy, they felt my pulse an' tol me to 'Cough!' an' passed me into the army / Inter-Art Co.
  • They hopped me here, they hopped me there until I felt quite balmy, they felt my pulse an' tol me to 'Cough!' an' passed me into the army / Inter-Art Co.
  • Extract from a letter from Mr. G. Martin, Staplehurst, July 8th 1923 : "My mare's legs are quite well now since I have given her two or three of the powders I had from you... / G. Martin.
  • Catherine of Braganza, consort of King Charles II. Mezzotint by H. H. Quiter after P. Lely, 1678.
  • Catherine of Braganza, consort of King Charles II. Mezzotint by H. H. Quiter after P. Lely, 1678.
  • In December 1765, there were in York, a young man ad woman, twins, of a surprising stature : they were not quite 17 years of age. The brother was 7ft 3 in.: the sister 7ft 2 in. in height : annual register.
  • Tanacetum cinerariifolium Sch.Blp. Asteraceae Dalmation chrysanthemum, Pyrethrum, Pellitory, Tansy. Distribution: Balkans. Source of the insecticides called pyrethrins. The Physicians of Myddfai in the 13th century used it for toothache. Gerard called it Pyrethrum officinare, Pellitorie of Spain but mentions no insecticidal use, mostly for 'palsies', agues, epilepsy, headaches, to induce salivation, and applied to the skin, to induce sweating. He advised surgeons to use it to make a cream against the Morbum Neopolitanum [syphilis]. However he also describes Tanacetum or Tansy quite separately.. Quincy (1718) gave the same uses
  • Eranthis hyemalis Salisb. Ranunculaceae Winter Aconite Distribution: Europe. The reason it was called Winter aconite and linked to Aconitum napellus as being just as poisonous is because plants were classified according to leaf shape in the 16th century. L'Obel's Stirpium adversaria nova (1571) and Plantarum seu stirpium historia (1576) (with a full page illustration on page 384 showing Eranthis and Aconitum together) along with the knowledge that related plants have similar medical properties caused the belief that Eranthis are as poisonous as Aconitum. They are both in Ranunculaceae and while Eranthis (like all Ranunculaceae)is toxic if eaten, it does not contain the same chemicals as Aconitum. Caesalpino (Ekphrasis, 1616) pointed out the error in classifying according to leaf shape and recommended flower shape. It contains pharmacologically interesting chemicals such as khellin, also present in Ammi visnaga. This is a vasodilator but quite toxic, but can be converted into khellin analogues such as sodium cromoglicate – used as a prophylaxis against asthma attacks – and amiodarone which has anti-arrhythmia actions so is used for atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias. It is endangered and protected in the wild (Croatia) because of over-collecting for horticulture. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Eranthis hyemalis Salisb. Ranunculaceae Winter Aconite Distribution: Europe. The reason it was called Winter aconite and linked to Aconitum napellus as being just as poisonous is because plants were classified according to leaf shape in the 16th century. L'Obel's 'Stirpium adversaria nova' published in 1571 and 'Plantarum seu stirpium historia' published 1576 (with a full page illustration on page 384 showing Eranthis and Aconitum together) along with the knowledge that related plants have similar medical properties caused the belief that Eranthis are as poisonous as Aconitum. They are both in Ranunculaceae and while Eranthis (like all Ranunculaceae) is toxic if eaten, it does not contain the same chemicals as Aconitum. Caesalpino (Ekphrasis, 1616) pointed out the error in classifying according to leaf shape and recommended flower shape. It contains pharmacologically interesting chemicals such as khellin, also present in Ammi visnaga. This is a vasodilator but quite toxic, which can be converted into khellin analogues such as sodium cromoglicate – used as a prophylaxis against asthma attacks – and amiodarone which has anti-arrhythmia actions so is used for atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias. It is endangered and protected in the wild (Croatia) because of over-collecting for horticulture. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Asphodeline lutea Rchb. Yellow asphodel, King's spear, Hastula regia. Hardy rhizomatous perennial. Distribution Mediterranean and Caucasus. It is the flower of the dead, as Homer writes that it carpets an area in the gloomy darkness of the underworld (Hades), in Greek mythology where the souls of the dead are found. However this may be a misinterpretation of the Greek where 'Asphodel' has been read instead of 'ash-filled'. In the etymology of flower names, it is suggested that the yellow 'daffodil' is a corruption of French or Flemish 'de asphodel' (both ex Steve Reece, 2007). An Aristotelian epigram, refers to it growing on tombs: 'On my back I hold mallow and many-rooted asphodel ...' The asphodel was sacred to Persephone, goddess of the underworld, who was seized and wed by Hades, god of the underworld, and taken to his kingdom. Her disappearance brings the winter, and her reappearance each year, the spring. The only reliable source of information about its early medical uses is, probably, Dioscorides although the plant in his De Materia Medica may be A. ramosus or A. albus. He gives its properties as diuretic, induces menses, good for coughs and convulsions, an antidote to snake bite, applied as a poultice for sores of all sorts, and in compounds for eye, ear and tooth pains, and to cure alopecia and vitiligo, but induces diarrhoea and vomiting and is an anti-aphrodisiac. Fuchs (1542), as Ruel’s commentaries (1543) note, makes a big mistake as he has Lilium martagon as his concept of A. luteus. Ruel only illustrates its leaves and roots, calling it Hastula regia (Latin for King’s spear) but Matthiolus's Commentaries (1569 edition) has a reasonable woodcut also as Hastula regia (1569). Dodoen's Cruydeboeck (1556) does not mention or illustrate Asphodelus luteus. L'Escluse's French translation Histoire des Plantes (1557) follows the Cruydeboeck. Dodoen's Latin translation Stirpium Historia Pemptades Sex (1583) adds A. luteus with text and woodcut, with no uses. Henry Lyte's (1578) translation illustrates Asphodelus luteus as Asphodeli tertia species and 'Yellow affodyl' (vide etymology of 'daffodil') and also does not describe any uses for it. Gerard's translation The Herbal (1597 and 1633) continues the muddle and does not give any uses for this plant. Parkinson's comments (1640) on the lack of medicinal properties of asphodels, refer to quite different plants coming from wet areas in Lancashire, Scotland and Norway . He calls them pseudoasphodelus major and minor which he writes are called Asphodelus luteus palustris by Dodoens, and not 'King's Spear' which he illustrates with a good woodcut of A. luteus and calls it Asphodelus luteus minor. Once herbals started to be written in northern Europe, the knowledge of the arid loving, Asphodelus luteus of south east Europe was lost. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Three doctors representing diet, cheerfulness and rest, defend their patient from death. Coloured etching by C. Williams, 1813.
  • Phrenological head of Baron Lyndhurst as former Lord Chancellor. Lithograph attributed to J. Doyle, ca. 1844.
  • A group of women gathered around a fireplace listening to a young man holding forth. Coloured etching by John Leech.
  • Gloucester smallpox epidemic, 1896: Elsie Clutterbuck (right), a smallpox patient, with another patient (a boy) and a nurse. Photograph by H.C.F., 1896.
  • Two men, one in drag, dressed as bride and groom. Photographic postcard, 191-.
  • Two men, one in drag, dressed as bride and groom. Photographic postcard, 191-.
  • Three men's wigs on stands. Coloured lithograph.
  • The Disney character Goofy as a "gay dog", i.e. a gay man promenading on the sea front. Colour process print, 195-.
  • The Disney character Goofy as a "gay dog", i.e. a gay man promenading on the sea front. Colour process print, 195-.
  • Hyperkeratosis of the heel. Hyperkeratosis describes a thickening of the outer layer of the skin caused by abnormally increased amounts of the protein keratin which normally functions to protect the skin.
  • A naked man with hemiplegia walking with a stick: (above) from the side, (below) from the front. Collotype after Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.
  • A naked man with hemiplegia walking with a stick: (above) from the side, (below) from the front. Collotype after Eadweard Muybridge, 1887.
  • Space Sheep & Astro Pig talk about nutrition / Vegetarian Society.