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51 results
  • 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.
  • A woman's chemise catches fire. Coloured photomechanical reproduction after A. Legrand after J.H. Fragonard.
  • Plate 1. An "easy chair" for pregnant and lying-in women
  • Gynaecological acu-moxa: foetal cold and failure to conceive
  • Medical talisman for menstrual problems (Chinese MS)
  • Medical talisman for irregular menstruation (Chinese MS)
  • Medical talisman for menstrual flooding (Chinese MS)
  • Three women at a wash-basin, on either side stand attendants. Gouache painting by S.W. Kelly, 1937.
  • Three women at a wash-basin, on either side stand attendants. Gouache painting by S.W. Kelly, 1937.
  • Medical talisman against miscarriage (Chinese MS)
  • Medical talisman for complicated labour (Chinese MS)
  • Medical talisman for infertility and miscarriage (Chinese MS)
  • Medical talisman for gestation and puerperium (Chinese MS)
  • Medical talisman against miscarriage (Chinese MS)
  • Egyptian carving, dwarf demon Bes, taken in 1989
  • Ayasofia, Istanbul: interior. Engraving by D. Pronti, 1788, after G.M., 1786.
  • Egyptian carving, dwarf demon Bes, taken 1989
  • Egyptian carving, dwarf demon Bes, taken 1989
  • Egyptian carving of dwarf demon Bes, taken 1989
  • Egyptian carving, dwarf demon Bes, taken 1989
  • Miss Carrie Moore and the Sandow girls performing as "The Dairymaids". Photographic postcard, 1906.
  • Miss Carrie Moore and the Sandow girls performing as "The Dairymaids". Photographic postcard, 1906.
  • Laparotomy operation at the Broca hospital, Paris. Heliogravure by J. Heuse, 1901.
  • Laparotomy operation at the Broca hospital, Paris. Heliogravure by J. Heuse, 1901.
  • Egyptian wall relief, taken 1989
  • Nine men dressed up on deck. Photographic postcard, 192-.
  • Nine men dressed up on deck. Photographic postcard, 192-.
  • Egyptian wall relief, taken 1989
  • Family life in China: the revolutionary reforms of the marriage laws. Colour lithographs, 1952.
  • Family life in China: the revolutionary reforms of the marriage laws. Colour lithographs, 1952.