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Tag: herbal medicine

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  • Nature’s pharmacy at your feet

    10/06/2016

    If you are one of thousands of people who strapped on a pair of walking shoes and ventured out on British countryside footpaths over the past few weeks, you probably did it for the therapeutic effects of exercise, sunlight, fresh… Continue reading

  • Shakespearean ‘simples’

    11/05/2016

    Dr Richard Aspin searched our 17th century recipe books to find out more about the herbal medicine found in Shakespeare’s plays. This is the last of our series of Shakespeare related blog posts. Locally harvested wild herbs were the foundation… Continue reading

  • Hoarse remedies

    09/05/2016

    If you’ve been inspired by the This Is A Voice exhibition at Wellcome Collection to exercise your voice more than usual, you may be in need of something for a sore throat. Here are some herbal remedies from the past.… Continue reading

  • Image from herbal

    Plants, prayers and plague: Wellcome MS. 335

    10/07/2015

    Among the medieval manuscripts held by the Wellcome Library, some, such as MS. 49, have survived through time thanks to their status as beautiful objects. Others are less impressive at first sight. MS. 335, a miscellany of medical and religious… Continue reading

  • Item of the Month, May 2012: ‘De historia stirpium commentarii insignes’

    18/05/2012

    To mark the first international Fascination of Plants Day, May’s Item of the Month features one of the most important historical herbals from our collections ‘De historia stirpium commentarii insignes‘ (or ‘Notable commentaries on the history of plants’) by Leonhart Fuchs was… Continue reading

  • Notes on Plants: Echinacea

    11/08/2011

    Known to many as the Coneflower, others as the Samson root or Missouri Snakeroot, this native of the North American prairies is found in many a British garden’s late summer border or wildlife garden. Despite its popularity as an ornamental… Continue reading

  • Hot stuff

    23/11/2010

    The thirteenth British ‘National Curry Week’ is now upon us, a timely reminder of our long-standing love affair with exotic food. Last year we reflected on the many early recipes for curry to be found in the Wellcome Library’s books… Continue reading

  • Sun, Sea and Seeds

    24/05/2010

    As the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual jamboree opens this week in Chelsea it is timely to remember the man who not only donated land at Wisley in Surrey in 1903 for the Society’s new national gardens, but also with his… Continue reading

  • Free Seminars on Western Herbal Medicine

    12/05/2010

    Middlesex University (with the support of the Wellcome Trust) is offering two free one-day seminars in May and July on the theme ‘Researching the History of Western Herbal Medicine: Appraising Methods and Sources’. The events are designed to promote and… Continue reading

  • A new acquisition

    02/02/2010

    The De Materia Medica of Dioscorides, written around 70 A.D., was the most important source of information on medicinal plants for 1500 years and today remains an important text in this field. The oldest known complete manuscript is the Juliana… Continue reading