Herbs in History

Recently I was lucky enough to meet Christina Stapley (a qualified Medical Herbalist, who has published several books and leads courses on a wide range of herb related topics, such as Kill or cure: the umbelifferae family) at the Open Garden weekend at the Weald and Downland Living Museum near Chichester.

Among other things on her table, there was a long list of causes of death during the early 1800's which was interesting, though many of them sounded horrifying. Cancer and Canker were listed separately which surprised me, as I had thought Canker to be an old name for Cancer - I was told that Cankers are actually sores on the skin - so to die from them must have been very painful. Also listed were Lunacy, Gout and Childbirth - even though Gout can be excruciating I didn't know that it could kill you.

We talked about what treatments and medicines were available at that time, many of which would still have involved herbal preparations.

Afterwards, we went across the market square to look at an Apothecary's shop set up from about the late 16th century.

Apothecary Shop

This chart was used to diagnose illness using the patients urine

Leeches - used in blood-letting

Chest used for storing medicinal ingredients

Ingredients ready to be processed

Brass pestle and mortar used to grind ingredients together

Salve ready for use (and for testing!)