THE MYSTERY AND ART OF THE APOTHECARY
INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE 11 1 KITCHEN PHYSIC IS THE BEST PHYSIC 13 2 THE COUNTESS OF KENT S RECIPE BOOK 33 3 CHICKEN SOUP AND VIPER WINE 60 4 PROSCRIPTIONS PRESCRIPTIONS AND POETRY 100 5 WAS ONCE A SCIENCE NOW S A TRADE 139 6 THE LABORATORY ON CHEESEWELL STREET 174 7 THE DOCTORESS S CURE FOR THE STONE 201 PART TWO 239 RIPPLES AND REFLECTIONS 241 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION T HIS BOOK BEGAN IN A 400 YEAR OLD BASEMENT THE ARCHI VIST OF CHAWTON HOUSE LIBRARY SAID TO ME AND OF COURSE YOU LL WANT TO SEE OUR COPY OF BLACKWELL S HERBAL AND I REPLIED YES I WAS NOT EXACTLY BEING HONEST I HAD TRAVELLED 3 000 MILES TO RESEARCH HOW EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WOMEN INCORPORATED THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION INTO THEIR DAILY LIVES AND BLACKWELL S HERBAL WAS NOT ON MY TO DO LIST I DID NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT IT WAS BUT WHEN A LIBRARIAN OR ARCHIVIST SUGGESTS THAT YOU TAKE A LOOK AT SOMETHING YOU SAY YES AND THAT WAS WHEN THE BOOK THAT I THOUGHT I WAS WRITING ENDED AND THIS ONE BEGAN BLACKWELL S HERBAL WAS SHORTHAND FOR A CURIOUS HERBAL CONTAINING FIVE HUNDRED CUTS OF THE MOST USEFUL PLANTS WHICH ARE NOW USED IN THE PRACTICE OF PHYSICK CREATED BY ELIZABETH BLACKWELL BETWEEN 1735 AND 1739 A HERBAL IS A COMPENDIUM OF MEDICINAL PLANTS MADE TO BE USED AND REF ERENCED HOWEVER BLACKWELL MADE HERS FOR SHOW IT CONSISTS OF 500 ETCHED AND HAND COLOURED PICTURES 125 ETCHED PAGES OF INFORMATION AND ANOTHER DOZEN ETCHED PAGES OF FRONT AND 1 BACK MATTER INCLUDING DEDICATIONS AND INDEXES IN ENGLISH AND LATIN IT IS BEAUTIFUL IN THE SAME FAMILY OF WORKS AS JOHN JAMES AUDUBON S BIRDS OF AMERICA 1827 AND MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN S METAMORPHOSIS INSECTORUM SURINAMENSIUM METAMORPHOSIS OF THE INSECTS OF SURINAME 1705 A CURIOUS HERBAL WAS ALSO THE FIRST PRINTED HERBAL BY A WOMAN THAT I HAD SEEN OR HEARD OF ASIDE FROM BEING A REMARKABLE WORK TWO THINGS ABOUT IT STRUCK ME AT THAT FIRST READING ONE WAS THE NUMBER OF EMINENT PHYSICIANS APOTHECARIES AND FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY WHO HAD SUPPORTED AND ENCOURAGED BLACKWELL THEY INCLUDED SIR HANS SLOANE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS RCP RICHARD MEAD A LEADING PHYSICIAN OF THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ISAAC RAND PRAE CENTOR OF THE APOTHECARIES GUILD TEACHING GARDEN IN CHELSEA AND JAMES DOUGLAS PREMIER ANATOMIST AND MAN MIDWIFE OBSTETRICIAN IT WAS VERY ODD THAT ELIZABETH BLACKWELL AN UNDISTINGUISHED SCOTTISH WOMAN MARRIED TO A MAN ARRESTED FOR BANKRUPTCY WAS CONNECTED WITH SUCH AN ILLUSTRIOUS GROUP THE SECOND THING THAT STRUCK ME AS I READ THE CURIOUS HERBAL WAS THIS LINE THE HERB WOMEN SELL THE LEAVES OF THE HELLEBORASTER OR BEAR S FOOT OR SPHONDYLIUM OR COW PARSNEP SIC INSTEAD OF THIS PLANT TO THOSE THAT ARE IGNORANT IT WAS THE FIRST MENTION OF WOMEN OTHER THAN AS PATIENT AND TO MY DISAPPOINTMENT IT WAS NOT SYMPATHETIC IT ALSO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MEDICATION PER SE BLACKWELL WAS ACCUSING THE HERB WOMEN OF AN ECONOMIC CRIME SIMILAR PASSAGES OCCURRED PERI ODICALLY THROUGHOUT THE TWO VOLUMES ALL LEVELLING THE SAME ACCUSATION THAT THE HERB WOMEN WERE GUILTY OF FRAUD AND OF PREVENTING THE IGNORANT FROM BUYING THE PROPER HERBACEOUS MATERIAL FROM THOSE WHO WERE HONEST AND KNOWLEDGEABLE IT SEEMED ABSURD TO ME THAT ANYONE IN 1735 WOULD THINK THAT HERB WOMEN COMPETED WITH APOTHECARIES AND PHYSICIANS IN THE MYSTERY AND ART OF THE APOTHECARY 2 ANY WAY BUT THERE IT WAS BLACKWELL S PATRONS WERE ILLUSTRI OUS APOTHECARIES AND PHYSICIANS WHATEVER SHE WROTE HAD TO BE PLEASING TO THEM PERHAPS ARTICULATING THEIR VIEWS WHY WAS THIS GROUP SO THREATENED BY THESE WOMEN WHY DID THEY CON SIDER THE THREAT TO BE ECONOMIC THE FACT THAT I WAS ASKING THOSE QUESTIONS MEANT THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING VERY WRONG WITH THE STANDARD HISTORY OF MEDI CINE WHAT I MIGHT CALL THE TRIUMPH OF MODERN MEDICINE THAT HIS STORY PROCEEDS ROUGHLY LIKE THIS ONCE UPON A TIME ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS SUCH AS HIPPOCRATES AND GALEN BEGAN TO ESTABLISH MEDICINE AS A FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE AND A FORM OF PRACTICE BUT EVERYTHING REMAINED CRUDE UNTIL THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION WHICH BROUGHT IN THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD TRUE KNOWLEDGE AND THE WONDERFUL ADVANCES THAT CONTINUE TO THIS DAY AND FROM WHICH HUMANITY BENEFITS THE END ONE OF THIS STORY S SUBPLOTS IS THE TRIUMPH OF MODERN MEDICATION ONCE UPON A TIME MEDICATION WAS REVOLTING AND HARMFUL BECAUSE IT WAS MADE BY IGNORANT CRONES WHEREAS ONE OF THE WONDERFUL ADVANCES OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION WAS EFFECTIVE MEDICATION WHICH IS WHAT WE HAVE NOW THE END THERE IS NOTHING IN EITHER OF THESE ACCOUNTS OF THE PAST THAT HAS TO DO WITH MONEY THESE ARE TRIUMPH OR RISE HISTORIES IN WHICH A REVOLUTION INTRODUCES SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW COMPETITION MEANT THAT NEW DID NOT NECESSARILY MEAN BETTER TO PEOPLE IN THE 1730S FURTHERMORE A CURIOUS HERBAL SHOWED THAT THE MEDICA TION BEING PRESCRIBED BY PHYSICIANS AND MADE BY APOTHECARIES USED THE SAME ORGANIC MATERIALS AS THOSE USED BY ORDINARY PEOPLE THE TITLE PAGE ANNOUNCED THAT THE BOOK DEPICTED 500 OF THE MOST USEFUL PLANTS WHICH ARE NOW USED IN THE PRACTICE OF PHYSICK IN CASE THIS WAS NOT CLEAR ENOUGH EACH ENTRY ABOUT A PLANT INFORMED READERS WHY IT WOULD BE PRESCRIBED AND HOW THE MYSTERY AND ART OF THE APOTHECARY 3 IT WOULD BE PREPARED OFTEN CITING RENOWNED AUTHORITIES IN MEDICAL BOTANY ON RARE OCCASIONS BLACKWELL RELIED SOLELY ON WHAT COMMON FOLK USED A PLANT FOR OCCASIONALLY SHE CITED BOTH PROFESSIONAL AND COMMON USAGE IT APPEARED THAT PROFES SIONALS AND HOUSEWIVES ALIKE USED HERBAL INGREDIENTS FOR THEIR MEDICATIONS COULD MODERN MEDICINE HAVE BEEN PERCEIVED AS SUPERIOR YES OF COURSE COULD IT HAVE BEEN ACTUALLY SUPE RIOR IT DID NOT LOOK LIKE IT THIS LED TO ANOTHER AND PARTICULARLY BOTHERSOME QUESTION IF THE MEDICATIONS WERE THE SAME WHY DID PEOPLE STOP GETTING TREATMENT AT HOME AND START GETTING IT FROM PHYSICIANS AND APOTHECARIES IF MONEY WAS AN ISSUE AS BLACKWELL S BOOK SUGGESTED HOW DID THE PROFESSIONALS GET PEOPLE TO START PAYING FOR SOMETHING THAT FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS THEY HAD BEEN GETTING FOR FREE THAT IS THE CENTRAL CONUNDRUM OF THIS BOOK FOR CENTURIES AILING PEOPLE GOT MEDICATION AND TREATMENT AT HOME THEIR MEDICATION WAS MADE BY A MEMBER OR A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY IT WAS MADE FROM TIME TESTED RECIPES AND INGREDIENTS AND IT WAS MADE RIGHT THERE FURTHERMORE THERE WAS NO CHARGE THEN AILING PEOPLE STARTED GETTING MEDICATION OUTSIDE THE HOME TRAVELLING WHILE ILL TO PHYSICIANS OR APOTHECARIES THE MEDICATION THAT THE PATIENT PURCHASED WAS MADE BY A STRANGER FROM UNKNOWN INGREDIENTS ACCORDING TO AN UNKNOWN RECIPE IN A ROOM THAT THE PATIENT WAS NOT PERMITTED TO ENTER THE APOTHECARY S WIFE EXPLAINS HOW WHEN AND THROUGH WHAT MEANS THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION CATALYSED THE REPLACEMENT OF MEDICATIONS MADE AT HOME WITH MEDICATIONS MADE BY APOTHECARIES AND PRESCRIBED BY PHYSICIANS THIS BOOK ALSO REVEALS THAT THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION TRANSFORMED THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF MEDICATION FROM A HOUSEHOLD ITEM INTO A COMMODITY SOMETHING TO BE SOLD AND BOUGHT AN ENTIRE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM WOMEN S DOMESTIC MEDICINE WAS SWITCHED OUT FOR THE SYSTEM WE HAVE NOW THAT IS FOR PROFIT THE MYSTERY AND ART OF THE APOTHECARY 4