Books from the Library of the Medical Society of London : an exhibition 14 January to 3 April 1985 / [compiled by John Symons].

  • Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine
Date:
1985
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Books from the Library of the Medical Society of London : an exhibition 14 January to 3 April 1985 / [compiled by John Symons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Manuscripts A RECIPE BOOK 'Here beginneth good medicines for all manner of evils that every man hath, that good leeches have drawn out of the books of those whom men call Archippus and Hippocrates....' The manuscript was written in England in the mid-fifteenth century. As well as medical recipes, it contains notes on diseases and the properties of herbs, and advice on health. It represents a compilation from various sources, many of them of considerable antiquity. Folio 13 consists of a calendar, offering advice for each month of the year: 'In the month of July, hold thee from women, for thy brain beginneth to gather its humours...' 'In the month of November come thou into no bath...' [M.S.L. MS. 136.] ACTUARIUS On urines. The Medical Society of London collection includes several Greek manuscripts, ranging in date from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. This copy of the celebrated treatise on urines by the Byzantine author Actuarius dates from the 16th century, and has Latin marginalia in an Italian hand of the late sixteenth century. [M.S.L. MS. 124.] A MEDICAL NOTEBOOK This manuscript bears the signature of James Macculloch, and the date 1676. Its contents include notes on anatomy, diagnosis and the causes of disease, and a glossary of pathological terms. Folio 18 contains an autobiographical note relating to the slave trade in 1678: 'In October 78 passing from Affrick to America with 150 slaves, moors and negroes, the 20 of the said month and the 7 from our departure from Affrick, they taking occasion of our weakness, being but 16 in all both for navigating the ship and suppressing them, revolted and killed 7 of our number before we could any the least advantage of them. Our fight continued 7 hours, all of us wounded but 2. Our Captain and his brother had each of them a wound in the head betwixt the sagital suture and the temporal muscles. I was wounded with an half pick betwixt the 6 and 7 false ribs.' [M.S.L. MS. 19.] -9-