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  • Article

Ginger’s role in cures and courtroom battles

Some people will use a dose of ginger to help with hangovers – but it hasn’t always been a friend to the thirsty.

  • Article

How to cure the eco-anxious

Could community activism be the key to overcoming a fear of environmental collapse?

  • Article

Indian botanicals and heritage wars

Colonial botanical texts, as astonishingly beautiful as they are, may cast very dark shadows.

  • Article

The extraction of the excruciating bladder stones

Among those vying to find alternatives to major surgery for bladder stones, young doctor Jean Civiale stood out, painstakingly honing a method that was to become the norm.

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  • Dianthus caryophyllus L. Caryophyllaceae Carnation, clove-gilliflowers - Mediterranean Culpeper (1650) writes that ‘Clove-gilliflowers, resist the pestilence, strengthen the heart, liver and stomach, and provokes lust.’ They smell strongly of cloves, and an oil made from the petals is used in perfumery, soaps etc. The petals are sometimes used as a garnish for salads. In herbal medicine they are used to make a tonic. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Illicium verum Hook.f. Illiciaceae Chinese Star Anise Distribution: China. Illicium anisatum Japanese Star Anise. Distribution Japan. Illicium verum is used as a spice in Asian cooking and for Star Anise tea. The distilled oil is added to cough mixture used by children. Introduced to Europe in 1588 (Pharmacographia Indica, 1890). Illicium anisatum syn. religiosum, has been confused with it (Lindley, 1838, Bentley 1861) but is poisonous and was used to make incense in Japanese and Chinese temples. It was called Skimi by Kaempfer. The seed pods of both species contain shikimic acid (the name being derived from the Japanese word for the plant - shi-kimi) from which Tamiflu, the antiviral drug was synthesised. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • 'Bynin' Emulsion : a valuable nerve food and restorative : February 1914.
  • 'Bynin' Emulsion : a valuable nerve food and restorative : February 1912.
  • 'Bynin' Emulsion : a valuable nerve food and restorative : February 1915.
  • Alepol brand sodium hydnocarpate / Burroughs Wellcome & Co. (The Wellcome Foundation Ltd.).
  • Alepol brand sodium hydnocarpate / Burroughs Wellcome & Co. (The Wellcome Foundation Ltd.).
  • Alepol brand sodium hydnocarpate / Burroughs Wellcome & Co. (The Wellcome Foundation Ltd.).
  • Alepol brand sodium hydnocarpate / Burroughs Wellcome & Co. (The Wellcome Foundation Ltd.).
  • 'Bynol' the 'Allenburys' malt & oil : an easily digested nutrient and restorative : December 1913.
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