Browse Items (16 total)

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/ginseng.jpg
In addition to being a detailed examination of plants native to the United States with their medicinal uses, American medical botany is the first publication in this country to employ a color printing process for its plates, using an innovative…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002546_ref.jpg
Although the use of extracts from the foxglove in cases of dropsy had been common, William Withering was the first to analyze preparations of the plant scientifically and so isolated digitalis. Withering's An account of the foxglove describes over…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002551_dref.jpg
The本草原始 [Ben cao yuan shi] ("Origins of the materia medica") describes medicinal plants and herbal substances with their uses and manner of preparation. Like many Chinese medical texts, this early 17th century work was reprinted in Japan during the…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002547_dref.jpg
As Samuel Thomson opposed the formation of Thomsonian medical schools, local societies—such as this one in Hartford, Connecticut—assumed the authority to grant diplomas to certified botanical practitioners.

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002548_dref.jpg
One of the most notable supporters of Samuel Thomson was Benjamin Waterhouse, formerly Harvard's Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic. Here, in a letter to Wooster Beach (1794-1868), founder of the eclectic medical movement,…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002535_dref.jpg
This first account of American plants and their medicinal uses was, oddly enough, published in Germany. Johann David Schöpf was a military surgeon who came to the country during the Revolutionary War and later traveled through New York,…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002543_dref.jpg
First published in 1822, Thomson's New guide to health (later known as The Thomsonian materia medica) was the cornerstone of the Thomsonian botanical medical movement and went through thirteen editions by 1841. Many editions were prefaced, as here,…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002536_dref.jpg
"Promulgated for the purpose of spreading medical light and information in America," Samuel Stearns' herbal is the first to be printed in the United States and incorporates information from the traditions of American Indians.

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002549_dref.jpg
In reaction to the harsh practices of regular physicians and also the sweating and purging regimens of Thomsonianism, Wooster Beach developed his own botanical medical system which evolved into medical eclecticism, one of the most popular sectarian…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002550_dref.jpg
In addition to publishing this popular botanic medical text, O. Phelps Brown made and marketed proprietary medicines, such as the "Magic Assimilant" (boneset, chamomile blossoms, smartweed, vervain, and whiskey) for fits and indigestion. He also…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002545_dref.jpg
Herbals are the original foundation for botanical medicine. The somewhat erratic English botanist John Gerard here provides descriptions of over 1,500 plants, accompanied by detailed engravings, and then outlines the "vertues" or medicinal uses of…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002555_dref.jpg
The Thomsonian botanical movement, like homeopathic medicine, developed its own culture of authorized druggists and agents and published books and a number of short-lived periodicals, including this one from Boston.

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/0002544_dref.jpg
Many copies of the New guide to health and the Thomsonian materia medica contain, as does this one, certificates attesting to the holder's right to use Thomsonian preparations as a member of the Friendly Botanic Society. By 1840, Samuel Thomson had…

http://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/file_upload/wild_indigo.jpg
William P. C. Barton's Vegetable materia medica of the United States, along with Jacob Bigelow's contemporary American medical botany, are the first two American botanical publications with colored illustrations. Barton's contains hand-colored…
Output Formats

atom, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2