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Stories

  • 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

The secret lives of Britain’s first Black physicians

Dr Annabel Sowemimo explores the web of connections between early Black British doctors, the role of empire in West Africa and the pernicious reach of scientific racism.

  • Article

Theriac: An ancient brand?

The name theriac survived for around for two millennia as a pharmaceutical term. But a ‘brand’ name is not always a guarantee of quality.

All stories (16)

Images

  • A Native American medicine man. Oil painting.
  • A Native American medicine man healing a sick child. Photograph, ca. 1920, after a painting by Valentine Walter Bromley, 1876.
  • Three native North American medicine men dressed in elaborate ritual masks and costumes. Wood engraving.
  • A native American medicine man with elaborate body painting performing a dance. Wood engraving, 1873.
  • A native North American shaman or medicine man healing a patient. Chromolithograph by C. Schuessele after Captain Eastman.
  • An account of the native Africans in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone : to which is added an account of the present state of medicine among them / by Thomas Winterbottom.
  • Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis Rubiaceae. Cape jasmine - as erroneously believed to have come from South Africa. Distribution: China. Named for Dr Alexander Garden FRS (1730-1791) Scottish-born physician and naturalist who lived in Charles Town, South Carolina, and corresponded with Linnaeus and many of the botanists of his era. The fruits are used in China both as a source of a yellow dye, and for various unsubstantiated medicinal uses. Other species of Gardenia are found in tropical Africa and the roots and leaves have all manner of putative uses. Gardenia tenuifolia is used as an aphrodisiac, for rickets, diarrhoea, leprosy, gall bladder problems, toothache, liver complaints, diabetes, hypertension, malaria and abdominal complaints. It causes violent vomiting and diarrhoea. It, and other species, are used to poison arrows and to poison fish. Some native, muthi medicine, healers regard Gardenia as a ‘last chance’ medicine, given to patients when all else fails – the patient either dies or recovers (Neuwinger, 1996). 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.
  • 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. 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. 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. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
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