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  • Medieval herbal showing plants.

    A medieval medical bestseller: the ‘Circa instans’

    20/02/2017

    Pharmacy was one of the pillars of medical therapy during antiquity and the Middle Ages. Medicaments were derived from the natural world (plants, minerals and animals), and resulted from the combination of different substances, each with specific properties and therapeutic… Continue reading

  • 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

  • Workers operating distilling equipment.

    Materia medica at the grand-ducal court in 16th century Tuscany

    10/02/2016

    The next seminar in the 2015–16 History of Pre-Modern Medicine Seminar Series takes place on Tuesday 16 February. Speaker: Dr Cristina Bellorini (Independent scholar, Milan) Materia medica at the grand-ducal court in 16th century Tuscany Abstract: In Tuscany in the second half… Continue reading

  • Image from Fuchs herbal

    History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series, Spring 2016

    07/01/2016

    The History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series returns this month. The 2015–16 series – organised by a group of historians of medicine based at London universities and hosted by the Wellcome Library – will conclude with four seminars. The series… Continue reading

  • When life gives you lemons…

    01/07/2015

    We have put over 20,000 of our digitised books online and, thanks to full-text searching in the Library catalogue, our digitisation programme is starting to bear fruit for researchers. To prove the point I sought inspiration from our collections on… Continue reading

  • Spotlight: General Gordon’s Tree of Life

    17/04/2014

    Welcome to Spotlight, a regular series of blog posts that shine a light on some of the treasures in the Wellcome Library. You’ll be able to explore our ever-growing range of digitised materials, hear more about our new acquisitions and… 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

  • The Christmas Rose

    15/12/2010

    Bright as the silvery plume, or pearly shell, The snow-white rose, or lily’s virgin bell, The fair HELLEBORAS attractive shone, Warm’d every Sage, and every Shepherd won. With winter closed about us and the last leaves of autumn lost to… Continue reading