Stories
- Article
Air of threat
Novelist Chloe Aridjis vividly describes the suffocating atmosphere of Mexico City, as a combination of topography, crowded neighbourhoods, and reckless political diktats create a downward spiral.
- Article
Unravelling genetic origins from the potato to cinchona
Starting with the humble potato, Nataly Allasi Canales reveals how researchers unearth the genetic origins of modern plant varieties, and explains why their work is so important for biodiversity.
- Article
How we bury our children
Following her baby daughter’s funeral, Wendy Pratt found that visiting the grave gave her a way to carry out physical acts of caring for her child. Here she considers how parents’ nurturing instincts live on after a child’s death.
- Book extract
Eating their own kind
In his grisly history of cannibalism, zoologist Bill Schutt asks what drives an animal to feast on its own flesh and blood.
Catalogue
- Books
Singing to the plants : a guide to mestizo shamanism in the upper Amazon / Stephan V. Beyer.
Beyer, Stephan V., 1943-Date: 2009- Digital Images
- Online
Salvia coahuilensis Fernald Lamiaceae Coahuila Sage. Perennial shrub. Distribution: Mexico. Most of the historical medicinal literature is on common sage, Salvia officinalis. The name Salvia meaning 'healthy'. Elizabeth Blackwell (1737) wrote that it had "... all the noble Properties of the other hot Plants more especially for the Head, Memory, Eyes, and all Paralytical Affections. In short, 'tis a Plant endu'd with so many and wonderful Properties, as that the assiduous use of it is said to render Men Immortal" with which Hans Sloane agreed. Its health giving properties were recorded in the aphorisms of the School of Salerno (fl 9-13th century) - quoted in the Decameron [c.1350, translated: Why should man die when Salvia grows in the Garden']. Some salvias, such as Salvia divinorum contain hallucinogenic compounds. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
Dr Henry Oakeley- Archives and manuscripts
Company-wide Newsletters & Journals (internal)
Date: 1942 - 2000Reference: WF/M/PB/01Part of: Wellcome Foundation Ltd- Books
Apuntes sobre algunas plantas medicinales de Yucatan, in facsimile / translated and edited by Elizabeth C. Stewart.
Date: 1935- Books
Botanical results of the Sessé & Mociño expedition (1787-1803). VII, A guide to relevant scientific names of plants / Rogers McVaugh.
McVaugh, Rogers, 1909-2009.Date: 2000