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  • Ruscus aculeatus L. Ruscaceae Butchers Broom., Box holly, Knee Holly, Jew’s myrtle. Distribution: Mediterranean to Britain. Aculeatus means 'prickly' which describes the plant well. Dioscorides in 70 AD (Gunther, 1959) says of this plant ‘... ye leaves and berries drunk in wine have ye force to move urine, expel the menstrua, and to break ye stones in ye bladder ...’ and adds also ‘ ... it cures also ye Icterus and ye strangurie and ye headache.' Its use did not change for a millennium and a half
  • Basil Valentine contemplates a chemical jar containing homunculi of a man and woman holding hands, and a child emanating from them (alchemical symbol of conception); he is suddenly visited by Sabine Stuart de Chevalier, who reveals that she has the key to his works and crowns him as the king of alchemists. Etching by J. Le Roy, ca. 1781, after Hostoul after Sabine Stuart de Chevalier.
  • Mound and pipe after the "Geyser" hot water springs in Iceland have erupted. Coloured engraving by F. Chesham, 1797, after a drawing made in 1789.
  • Shwe-Maong, a man in Burma whose head and face are covered with hair. Aquatint by J.H. Clark after W.E. Reid.
  • Durga Puja: a procession carrying an idol of Durga to honour her victory over evil. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.
  • Centres of the slave trade in East Africa patrolled by the Royal Navy. Wood engraving, 1875.
  • Bencao Gangmu -- C.16 Chinese materia medica, Shellfish