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5 Approaches to Medicine and Remedies in the Archives

5 Approaches to Medicine and Remedies in the Archives

Meghan Marino, Associate Manager, Field Marketing, Wiley

March 25, 2024

As World Health Day approaches, we’re reminiscing on the fascinating evolution of medicine, using primary sources from Wiley Digital Archives. Explore a history that involves folk medicine made by the neighborhood, tried and true recipes passed down by the community, skepticism of apothecaries, and the restorative powers of one of our most accessible elements: water.

What Makes Medical History Important?

Our medical history is a testament to human resilience and the constant pursuit of well-being. But our meaning of well-being has changed tremendously over the course of human history. As we reflect on our roots, we acknowledge a past that was at times handled poorly due to a lack of understanding and knowledge.

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Referring to One of the Most Famous Books in Medical History

Inspired by Persian, Chinese, and Indian practices, The Canon of Medicine, written by Muslim physician Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in the West (980-1037), discusses medical practices, substances, diagnoses, and treatment of disease. The work, divided into five books, influenced health care in Islamic and European areas through the medieval period and beyond. Books 1 and 2 are on Wiley Digital Archives in their original language (which can be translated using our Automatic Text Recognition software). Other sources on Wiley Digital Archives provide commentaries addressing The Canon of Medicine.

View the collection: Avicenna, Tritton Oriental Manuscripts, 1865/1282, The Royal College of Physicians archive. (Available via institutional or trial access) 

View the collection: A commentary on the Qanun [Canon] of Avicenna, Ibn Nafis, Tritton Oriental Manuscripts, 1652/1062, The Royal College of Physicians archive. (Available via institutional or trial access)

                           

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Finding the Cure in the Family Cookbook

The 17th century family cookbook contained not only tasty dishes, but remedies for assorted ailments. Whether curing cramps, bruises, burns, and drunkenness or making candied fruits and sugar of roses, these books contained “receipts,” or recipes, handed down from family members and individuals within the community. Written between 1667 and 1671, one Wiley Digital Archives cookbook (author unknown) features more than 50 culinary and medical recipes with drinks to target the plague, oils to help with hearing, and potions to help freshen the breath among countless other cures. 

Another Wiley Digital Archives cookbook, penned by Lady Sedley in 1686, calls to cure kidney stones by drinking “as much ale you can possible.”  These recipes, while sometimes quirky in their methodology, are valuable to our understanding of medical history before the rise of the pharmaceutical industry in the late 19th century.

View the collection: Manuscripts, Prescriptions and Recipes, c.1667 - 1671.The Royal College of Physicians archive. (Available via institutional or trial access)

                            

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17th Century Skepticism of Apothecaries: A 1670 Complaint 

When homemade recipes failed, families turned to apothecaries. Before the days of pharmacists and chemists, there were apothecaries – trusted individuals who made and sold medicines. But there were, of course, some bad actors in this space. A complaint from 1670 outlines the problems and distrust that some faced when approaching apothecaries: “They may put in bad ingredients and more or less then the composition requires, they may substitute one thing for another; and all this without being detected, and consequently not be punished for such misdemeanors[.]”

View the collection: Christopher Merret, College Collection, 1670, The Royal College of Physicians archive. (Available via institutional or trial access)

                            

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Alternative Medical Treatment Using Heavy Metals

Another report in the archives focuses on the important need to wash out bad actors, whether apothecaries or even trusted neighbors. In 1845, six-year-old Matthew Muir came down with a whooping cough. In talks with the neighbors, Muir’s mother learned that the local schoolmaster sold an effective remedy and bought it. Unfortunately, the child’s condition grew significantly worse, and he passed away. Upon inspection, the medicine was found to contain acetate of lead, which Matthew Muir had taken two to three times a day for nine weeks.  The detailed medical report dives deeper into the medicine’s composition and presents Muir’s autopsy results, shedding light on the tragic incident.

View the collection: Henry Letheby, RCP Library, November 15, 1845, The Royal College of Physicians archive. (Available via institutional or trial access)

                            

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Curing via Simple Means: The Restorative Power of Water 

A far safer treatment than acetate of lead, hydrotherapy, also known as hydropathy or the water cure, has a rich global history. The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates once wrote that “the water can cure everything.” In Japan, the tradition of onsen, or hot spring baths, has long been thought to relieve various ailments including muscle aches and skin ailments. Water is also a purifying force in the Ayurveda, an ancient alternative system of medicine that originated in India. In the 19th century, hydropathy gained popularity in the West, despite some questioning its scientific validity. For those curious about the different methods of water treatment, The Curative Power of Water (Axioms of Hydrotherapy) with a Treatise of the Truth About Cancer by Edward H. Knight dives deeper into the medical uses of H2O.

View the collection: Hydrotherapy or the curative power of water; the truth about cancer, Edward Knight, College Legal Status, Correspondence etc re the Intercolonial Medical Congress forming part of the Colonial Exhibition at Amsterdam, [1280], The Royal College of Physicians archive. (Available via institutional or trial access)


Venture Further into Medical History 

With partners including the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal College of Physicians, and the New York Academy of Sciences, your team can level up their research with materials dating all the way back to the year 1200. Sign up for a free trial of Wiley Digital Archives.

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