Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events

Stories

  • Article

My mother, and metaphors of a pandemic

A pandemic. Two members of one family, living thousands of miles apart. And months of calls and messages that helped them grow closer.

  • Article

Bleeding healthy

For thousands of years, and in many different cultures, people have practised bloodletting for health and medical reasons. Julia Nurse explains where and when bleeding was used, how it was done, and why.

  • Long read

The ambivalence of air

Daisy Lafarge investigates the effects of air quality and pressure on body and mind, exploring air as cure, but one with contradictions.

  • Long read

Our complicated love affair with light

Sunlight is essential, but our relationship with artificial light is less clear cut. It expands what’s possible; it also obscures and polices. In this long read, Lauren Collee pits light against night, and reveals the shady places in between.

All stories (4)

Images

  • 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--.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Mahonia japonica DC. Berberidaceae. Evergreen shrub. Distribution: China, although long cultivated in Japan. Listed as an ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicines. No European or modern medicinal use. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Epimedium pubescens Maxim. Berberidaceae. Horny (sic) Goat Weed. Distribution: China. Marketed as an aphrodisiac, with the ability to act like sildenafil and for osteoporosis. Side effects reported include dizziness, dry mouth, vomiting and cardiac irregularity. It is not listed in Wiart (2006) or Wichtl (1994). Its reputation began, apparently, when a Chinese farmer observed increased sexual activity in his goats after they had been eating Epimedium. Given the enormous profits made by medicines such as sildenafil, it is indicative of its therapeutic value that it has not been taken up by a pharmaceutical company. Poor absorption from the gut and lack of information on toxicity may be responsible. It is not licensed for sale in the UK as a Traditional Herbal Remedy (Traditional Herbal Medicines Registration, January 2013) and has not been assessed or approved by the European Medicines Agency's Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
All images (50)

Catalogue

All works (994)