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  • 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.

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  • 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.
  • Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi Lamiaceae. Baikal skullcap. Distribution: China. There are several hundred species of Scutellaria, also known as skull caps, so correct identification is important - in particular from Scutellaria lateriflora an American species known as Blue skullcap. The latter is used as an abortifacient and to expel placenta by the Cherokee and for cleaning the throat by the Iroquois (Austin, 2004). Much vaunted as a treatment for rabies with unlikely statistics (1,400 cases cured by one doctor alone). Also as ‘antispasmodic, nervine, [for] chorea, convulsions, tetanus, tremors, delirium tremens, [and as a] diaphoretic and diuretic'. Toxicity symptoms include mental confusion, stupor, headache, vertigo, photophobia, dilated pupils, difficulty in micturition, bradycardia, tremulousness and languor, followed by wakefulness and restlessness (Milspaugh, 1974). Hutchens (1991) reported that it reduces sexual desire and was used for almost every nervous illness. Scutellaria baicalensis contains baicalin, baicalein and wogonin (European Medicines Agency, September 2010). It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating inflammation, cancer, bacterial and viral infections of the lungs and gut and is one of the '50 Chinese herbs' in the lists of some authors. Scutellaria lateriflora (combined with Verbena officinalis, Passiflora incarnata and the seed of Avena sativa (oats) is licensed for use in Britain as a herbal medicine for temporary relief of mild symptoms of stress such as mild anxiety and to aid sleep, based upon traditional use only. Scutellaria baicalensis is not licensed for use in the UK (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). 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.
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