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  • A young couple sit together at a table, the man has his leg across the woman's knees and a glass of wine in his hand: they are laughing and reading by candlelight. Engraving by J. Houbraken after C. Troost.
  • A provocative naked young woman lying on a bed, death (a cloaked skeleton) sits at her side, a naked man walks away from the bed with his head bowed, towards a throng of diseased and dying people; representing syphilis. Watercolour by R. Cooper.
  • An old fortune-teller is reading a young woman's fortune by looking at tea leaves at the bottom of a cup. Engraving by C.W. Sharpe after N.J. Crowley, 1842.
  • A young woman gazing at the portrait of her beloved and ignoring religion. Lithograph by R.J. Lane, 1824, after G.S. Newton.
  • A young man with an exhausted expression after sex pulls on his breeches beside a woman who gazes up at him and holds his arm; on the wall is an image of Cupid pointing to a downward-pointing rocket. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1736.
  • A young woman sits on the floor at the feet of her grandmother who has been reading from the Bible on the table nearby. Colour woodcut by Edmund Evans after J.E. Millais.
  • The surprising monsters : being the wonderful works of the divine judgement on a wicked proud young woman who for her game and despising of others was made herself an example of, for instead of three children at one birth, she had three of the most horrid objects that ever mortal eye beheld; and such that the oldest person living never before saw the like.
  • Veratrum nigrum L. Melanthiaceae Distribution: Europe. Cows do not eat Veratrum species in the meadows, and human poisoning with it caused vomiting and fainting. In the 1850s it was found to reduce the heart's action and slow the pulse (Bentley, 1861, called it an 'arterial sedative'), and in 1859 it was used orally in a woman who was having convulsions due to eclampsia. Dr Paul DeLacy Baker in Alabama treated her with drops of a tincture of V. viride. She recovered. It was used thereafter, as the first choice of treatment, and, when blood pressure monitoring became possible, it was discovered that it worked by reducing the high blood pressure that occurs in eclampsia. By 1947 death rates were reduced from 30% to 5% by its use at the Boston Lying-in Hospital. It works by dilating the arteries in muscles and in the gastrointestinal circulation. A further use of Veratrum species came to light when it was noted that V. californicum - and other species - if eaten by sheep resulted in foetal malformations, in particular only having one eye. The chemical in the plant that was responsible, cyclopamine, was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo/foetus. Synthetic analogues have been developed which act on what have come to be called the 'hedgehog signalling pathways' in stem cell division, and these 'Hedgehog inhibitors' are being introduced into medicine for the treatment of various cancers like chondrosarcoma, myelofibrosis, and advanced basal cell carcinoma. The drugs are saridegib, erismodegib and vismodegib. All the early herbals report on its ability to cause vomiting. As a herbal medicine it is Prescription Only, via a registered dentist or physician (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Veratrum album L. Melanthiaceae Distribution: Europe. Cows do not eat Veratrum species in the meadows, and human poisoning with it caused vomiting and fainting. In the 1850s it was found to reduce the heart's action and slow the pulse (Bentley, 1861, called it an 'arterial sedative'), and in 1859 it was used orally in a woman who was having convulsions due to eclampsia. Dr Paul DeLacy Baker in Alabama treated her with drops of a tincture of V. viride. She recovered. It was used thereafter, as the first choice of treatment, and when blood pressure monitoring became possible, it was discovered that it worked by reducing the high blood pressure that occurs in eclampsia. By 1947 death rates were reduced from 30% to 5% by its use at the Boston Lying in Hospital. It works by dilating the arteries in muscles and in the gastrointestinal circulation. A further use of Veratrum species came to light when it was noted that V. californicum -and other species - if eaten by sheep resulted in foetal malformations, in particular only having one eye. The chemical in the plant that was responsible, cyclopamine, was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo/foetus. Synthetic analogues have been developed which act on what have come to be called the 'hedgehog signalling pathways' in stem cell division, and these 'Hedgehog inhibitors' are being introduced into medicine for the treatment of various cancers like chondrosarcoma, myelofibrosis, and advanced basal cell carcinoma. The drugs are saridegib, erismodegib and vismodegib. All the early herbals report on its ability to cause vomiting. As a herbal medicine it is Prescription Only, via a registered dentist or physician (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Extraordinary Peruvian relic : just arrived and now exhibiting at the late Mr. Youngs office High St. Rochester : the entire body of a Peruvian woman, perfect as when in life ; supposed to have been buried alive at the remote period of 500 years ago.
  • Night calls by doctors: sixteen vignettes. Wood engraving by M. Marais, 1897.
  • A physician examining a urine flask brought by a young woman. Oil painting, 19th century, after Hendrik Heerschop.
  • A physician examining a urine flask brought by a young woman. Oil painting, 19th century, after Hendrik Heerschop.
  • A young lady reclining, being attended by a physician. Lithograph.
  • Five people, each exercising one of the five senses. Coloured lithograph by L.-L. Boilly, 1823.
  • Angier's Emulsion heals the lungs, helps digestion / Angier Chemical Co. Ltd.
  • Angier's Emulsion heals the lungs, helps digestion / Angier Chemical Co. Ltd.
  • Angier's Emulsion heals the lungs, helps digestion / Angier Chemical Co. Ltd.
  • Angier's Emulsion heals the lungs, helps digestion / Angier Chemical Co. Ltd.
  • Angier's Emulsion heals the lungs, helps digestion / Angier Chemical Co. Ltd.
  • Angier's Emulsion heals the lungs, helps digestion / Angier Chemical Co. Ltd.
  • Band of Help in connection with the Birmingham & District Cripples Union.
  • A physician sitting before a table, holding a urine flask, with two women, a boy and several other figures in the room. Oil painting by Gerard Thomas.
  • A physician sitting before a table, holding a urine flask, with two women, a boy and several other figures in the room. Oil painting by Gerard Thomas.
  • A physician sitting before a table, holding a urine flask, with two women, a boy and several other figures in the room. Oil painting by Gerard Thomas.
  • A physician sitting before a table, holding a urine flask, with two women, a boy and several other figures in the room. Oil painting by Gerard Thomas.
  • A physician sitting before a table, holding a urine flask, with two women, a boy and several other figures in the room. Oil painting by Gerard Thomas.
  • A physician sitting before a table, holding a urine flask, with two women, a boy and several other figures in the room. Oil painting by Gerard Thomas.
  • Kowloon, Kwangtung province, China. Photograph, 1981, from a negative by John Thomson, 1869.
  • Kowloon, Kwangtung province, China. Photograph, 1981, from a negative by John Thomson, 1869.