117 results
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Capsicum annuum 'Masquerade' Distribution: Central and South America. This ‘domesticated species’ originated from Mexico (although the centre of Capsicum evolution was much earlier and from Bolivia) and includes the bland salad peppers and the hot chilli peppers, of which capsaicin (sometimes called capsicain), from the lining of the inside of the chilli, is the main active ingredient. Chilli comes from the Aztec language of the Nahuatl people. It was reputedly introduced to Europe by Columbus in the mid-15th century, but was cultivated in Mexico since 4,000 BCE and used in cooking since 7,200 BCE. After its introduction to Europe, its cultivation very rapidly became world-wide. It appears first as a description (Bock, 1539) with the name teutschem Pfeffer. The first illustration, as Siliquastrum, appears in Historia Stirpes commentarii insignis (Fuchs, 1542). Fuchs did not realise it came from the Americas, as he identified it as a plant described by Pliny, Dioscorides and Avicenna and gave their uses of it. It appear in Dodoen's Cruydeboeck (1551) and Lyte's translation (1557) with the note that it is 'hot and drie in the third degree.' He recommended it for dressing meat, and noted that it 'warmeth the stomach' and was good for a sore throat, scrofula, and topically got rid of spots. Fuch's had reported these properties as being described by Avicenna, but what that plant was is unknown. Lindley (1838) wrote: 'It is employed in medicine, in combination with Cinchona in intermittent and lethargic affections, and also in atonic gout, dyspepsia accompanied by flatulence, tympanitis, paralysis etc. Its most valuable application appears however to be in cynanche maligna [=severe sore throat, with impending suffocation] and scarlatina maligna [=severe scarlet fever], used either as a gargle or administered internally.' However, its principal use medically has been in pain relief, applied locally for pain from muscle injury to post herpetic neuralgia. Capsaicin acts on the pain and heat sensing neurones to make them trigger the sensation of pain at body temperature. Repeated exposure to capsaicin depletes the neurotransmitter substance P that is used to perceive pain, so the relevant nerves no longer transmit the sensation of pain/heat from any cause. It is a banned substance in the equestrian events at the Olympics because of its ability to stop perception of pain. Capsaicin has been shown, experimentally, to kill cancer cells by attacking their mitochondria. Particular interest has concentrated on its ability to reduce the size of tumours of the pancreas and prostate. Various cultivars are used in cooking, and the strength (i.e. how hot they are) is measured in Scoville units. A standard chilli pepper used in England would be around 5,000 Scovilles, the hottest peppers are rated over one million Scoville units. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
Dr Henry Oakeley- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
M0005849: Illustrations of Xochiquetzal, Goddess of flowers, mothers and fertility
Date: 21 October 1938Reference: WT/D/1/20/1/48/55Part of: Wellcome Trust Corporate Archive- Digital Images
- Online
Line Drawing: Human Sacrifice, Aztecs
- Archives and manuscripts
- Online
M0002787: Statue of "Ixtlilton, Ancient Mexican Deity Of Healing"
Date: 28 January 1932Reference: WT/D/1/20/1/23/56Part of: Wellcome Trust Corporate Archive- Books
- Online
Stories in red and black : pictorial histories of the Aztecs and Mixtecs / Elizabeth Hill Boone.
Boone, Elizabeth HillDate: 2000- Pictures
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Maximo and Bartola, supposed to be Aztecs, advertised for exhibition. Colour lithograph.
Date: [between 1800 and 1899]Reference: 39122i- Digital Images
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Mexican pottery figure representing Ocelot, Toltec period
- Books
Pre-Columbian literatures of Mexico / by Miguel León Portilla ; translated from the Spanish by Grace Lobanov and the author.
León Portilla, Miguel.Date: [1969]- Books
The Aztecs / Brian M. Fagan.
Fagan, Brian M.Date: [1984], ©1984- Books
Antiguo hierbario medicinal azteca / por Laura Samano Tajonar.
Sámano Tajonar, Laura Elena.Date: [1995?]- Books
Human sacrifices among the Aztecs / Robert F. Heizer.
Heizer, Robert F.Date: 1948- Books
- Online
Observations on the dentition of the Lilliputian Aztecs / by Dr. Robert Reid.
Reid, Robert (Dentist)Date: [1854]- Books
Die psychische Entwicklung in altmexikanischer Symbolik : dargest. an e. altmexikan. Gesang im Lichte der Psychologie C. G. Jungs mit ausführlichem Register im Anhang / José F. Zavala.
Zavala, José F.Date: 1977- Books
Antiquities of Mexico: comprising fac-similes of ancient Mexican paintings and hieroglyphics, preserved in the Royal Libraries of Paris, Berlin, and Dresden; in the Imperial Library of Vienna; in the Vatican Library; in the Borgian Museum at Rome; in the Library of the Institute at Bologna; and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Together with the Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix: with their respective scales of measurement and accompanying descriptions. The whole illustrated by many valuable inedited manuscripts / by Lord Kingsborough; the drawings, on stone, by A. Aglio.
Date: 1831-1848- Books
La fabricación del papel entre los aztecas y los mayas / por Wolfgang Von Hagen ; con una introducción por Dard Hunter y un prólogo del Dr. Alfonso Caso ; traducción del inglés de Javier Romero.
Von Hagen, Victor Wolfgang, 1908-1985.Date: 1945- Books
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The paradise garden murals of Malinalco : utopia and empire in sixteenth-century Mexico / Jeanette Favrot Peterson.
Peterson, Jeanette FavrotDate: 1993- Books
Historia tolteca-chichimeca : Liber in lingua Nahuatl manuscriptus picturisque ornatus, ut est conservatus in Bibliotheca Nationis Gallicae Parisiensi sub numeris XLVI-LVIIIbis / cum praefatione in lingua Britannica, Gallica, Germanica et Hispana atque indice paginarum edidit Ernst Mengin.
Date: 1942- Books
A contribution to our knowledge of Rivea corymbosa : the narcotic ololinqui of the Aztecs / by Richard Evans Schultes.
Schultes, Richard Evans.Date: 1941- Books
Cuerpo humano e ideología : las concepciones de los antiguos nahuas / Alfredo López Austin.
López Austin, Alfredo.Date: 1980- Books
The Aztecs under Spanish rule : a history of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519-1810 / Charles Gibson.
Gibson, Charles, 1920-1985.Date: 1964- Books
Dos microcéfalos "aztecas" : leyenda, historia, y antropología / [Juan Comas].
Comas, Juan, 1900-1979.Date: [1968]- Books
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The cannibalism of the Aztecs ... : Did domesticated dogs and fowls exist in New-Spain at the arrival of conquerors?.
Putte, Jean van de.Date: [1912]- Books
Libellus de medicinalibus Indorum herbis : manuscrito azteca de 1552 / Martín de la Cruz ; seǵun traducción latina de Juan Badiano.
Cruz, Martín de la, active 16th century.Date: 1991- Books
Les lettres précolombiennes / Georges Baudot ; préface de Jacques Soustelle.
Baudot, Georges.Date: 1976- Books
The daily life of the Aztecs, on the eve of the Spanish conquest / Jacques Soustelle ; translated from the French by Patrick O'Brian.
Soustelle, Jacques, 1912-1990.Date: [1961], ©1961