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  • Article

Illuminated manuscripts, illuminating medicines

From rare bugs to exorbitantly priced plant parts, find out more about the artistic and medical uses of pigments from the past.

  • Book extract

Ayurveda: Knowledge for long life

The story of medicine in India is rich and complex. Aarathi Prasad investigates how it came to be this way.

  • Article

Graphic battles in pharmacy

James Morison’s campaign against the medical establishment inspired a wave of caricatures mocking his quack medicine.

  • Article

Interpreting the Ayurvedic Man

A British Sign Language video is the latest interpretation of an unique 18th-century Nepali painting about Ayurvedic medicine.

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Images

  • Leprosy: treatment, traditional medicine
  • Text on traditional Chinese medicine.
  • Text on traditional Chinese medicine.
  • Yao Shang, Chinese sage, wearing traditional costume and holding a medicine container (?). Watercolour, China, 18--.
  • Yao Wang, Chinese god of healing also known as the 'King of Medicine', wearing traditional costume and holding a medicine container (?). Watercolour, China, 18--.
  • A doctor of law and medicine in traditional costume, Lombardy. Pencil drawing by the librarian of the University of Padua 1915.
  • Rehmannia angulata (Oliv.)Hemsl. Scrophulariaceae Chinese foxglove. Distribution: China. Named for Joseph Rehmann ((1753-1831) German physician (Stearn, 1994) who emigrated to St Petersburg and became the personal physician to Tsar Nicholas 1. Rehmannia glutinosa is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for arthritis. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Rodgersia aesculifolia Batalin Saxifraginaceae Chestnut-leaved Rodgersia. Herbaceous perennial. Distribution: Northern China. Named for Rear Admiral John Rodgers (1812-1882), American naval officer who commanded the Pacific expedition 1852-1856 when the genus was first discovered. Used as a Traditional Chinese Medicine for rheumatism, bronchitis, dysentery, asthma, and gastritis. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench Asteraceae. Coneflower. Distribution: North America. Austin (2004) records that the roots were chewed, or used as a tincture for coughs by the Choctaw. It was combined with Rhus typhina to treat venereal disease by the Delaware. Very little record of this being used by Native Americans, who used E. angustifolia very widely - Regarded as a panacea and magical herb. This and E. pallida were used to treat snakebite, spider bite, cancer, toothache, burns, sores, wounds, flu and colds. E. purpurea in modern times has been used as an ‘immunostimulant’, but is known to cause a fall in white cell count, and to be purely a placebo. Licensed for use as a Traditional Herbal Medicine, which does not require proof of efficacy, in the UK. Licensed as a Traditional Herbal Remedy in the UK (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Senecio pulcher Hook.&Arn. Asteraceae Distribution: South America. It has not attracted attention as a medicinal or toxic plant but members of the genus Senecio contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are toxic to the liver and may cause liver cancer. A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) product, Qianbai Biyan Pian, contains Senecio scandens which contains the unsaturated pyrrolizidine alkaloids, senecionine and seneciphylline. This is now a banned drug. (Safety of Herbal Medicinal Products, July 2002, Medicines Control Agency). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
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