Items

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkham's Blood Purifier, and Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash featuring an image of a fisherman in a wooden boat on a body of water. In the background there is a large house with a smoking chimney, a bridge, a mountain, and some greenery. The image is framed by sprigs of pink flowers. The back lists the benefits of the items advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Backache, Depression, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia, Peptic Ulcer, Tumors
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bridges, Chimneys, Fishing, Flowers, Hats, Mountains, Nature, Smoke Plumes, Trees, Water, Water And Architecture
ID: WH187
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Description

The Specimen Medicinae Sinicae is the first illustrated book published on Chinese medicine in the West. It contains an overview of Chinese medical practices including acupuncture and meridian theories, semiology of the tongue, descriptions of Chinese pharmaceuticals and their uses, and an important translation of a Ming treatise on pulse diagnosis. The Specimen includes thirty engraved plates and woodcut illustrations in the text, depicting the Chinese doctrine of the pulse and the semiology of the tongue, along with eight tables showing the variations of the pulses. Explaining Chinese pulse theory to a European audience proved difficult. Insufficient description of the plates, which pictured figures with doubled lines running through the bodies, confused western audiences, who interpreted these representations as indication that the Chinese didn't know their anatomy. The publication of the Specimen Medicinae Sinicae did little to change the commonly-held belief that the Chinese were crackerjack diagnosticians, with a misguided idea of the body's interior. The tenets of Chinese medicine and diagnostics were also somewhat muddled in the minds of westerners. Nevertheless, the translation did much to introduce pulse lore, acupuncture, and new materia medica to a Western audience of medical practitioners eager to experiment.

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Subjects (LC)

Acupuncture—China, Anatomy, Chinese—History, Early works to 1800, Materia medica—China, Medicine, Medicine, Chinese, Medical illustration, Pulse—Measurement

Geographic Subject

China

Title: Fasciculus medicine in quo continentur : videlicet. [1495]
Description: This is the fourth edition of the Fasciculus and the third printed in Venice (after 1491 and 1493 editions both also by the Brothers Gregorii). It was printed in Latin and reset in Gothic type. In this edition, the page is shorter by four lines, resulting in plates that are too large and in many cases, clipped by the binder. This is the earliest edition with a real title page. Our copy lacks the urinoscopic consultation plate and the plate showing the circle of urine glasses.
Subjects (LC): Medicine-Early works to 1800, Medicine, Medieval, Human anatomy-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Charts, diagrams, etc, Plague-Early works to 1800, Phlebotomy-Early works to 1800

Title: Midwifery and Childbirth
Description: A collection of texts on midwifery and childbirth, including the best-selling sex manual and guide to childbirth and the oldest manual for midwives printed in the English language.

Title: Fasciculo de medicina : collectorio universalissimo chiamado Fasciculo de medicina, extracto dalla achademia...[1522]
Description: The Arrivabeni published two editions in 1522, one in Latin and the second in Italian. This edition, in Italian, is likely the second edition published that year by the printers.
Subjects (LC): Human anatomy-Early works to 1800, Human anatomy-Atlases-Early works to 1800, Genitourinary organs-Early works to 1800, Generative organs-Early works to 1800, Plague-Early works to 1800, Phlebotomy-Early works to 1800, Materia medica-Early works to 1800, Medicine-Early works to 1800

Title: Wound Figure

Title

[Introduction]

Description

The Dutch West India Company occupied northeastern Brazil from 1624 to 1654. In 1638, the physician Willem Piso and astronomer Georg Markgraf arrived as part of Johann Maurits’ research staff, tasked with promoting scientific studies in Brazil. This is the Introduction to their collaborative illustrated folio volume, which spanned 12 books and was published in 1648. Rich in description of native life, the book contains 446 woodcuts illustrating local flora and fauna, and comprises the most important early documentation of zoology, botany and medicine in Brazil.

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Subjects (LC)

Botanical illustration, Early works to 1800, Indians of Central America, Indigenous crops, Indigenous peoples—Ecology, Natural history—Brazil, Natural history illustration, Medical geography, Medicine, Zoological illustration, Zoology—Brazil, Zoology—Pre-Linnean works, Wood-engraving

Title

Aristotle’s Masterpiece, Or The Secrets of Generation displayed in all the parts thereof

Description

Published initially in 1684 and popular in both America and England for over two hundred years, this became the most widely reprinted medical book in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The contributions of the Masterpiece were not particularly scientific, but drew largely from Hippocrates, and Galen, as well as other classical and medieval writers. The source material came from two earlier books: Levinus Lemnius’s Secret Miracles of Nature, originally published in Latin in 1599, and The Complete Midwives Practice Enlarged (author unknown). Chapter headings include sections titled, “The Signs of Barrenness” “The Way of getting to a Boy or a Girl,” “How a Midwife Ought to be Qualified” and “A Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation.” The information this title offered on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth wasn’t particularly innovative; many seventeenth century discoveries in gynecology are absent from the text and replaced by Hippocratic pathology, or by superstition. The “Aristotle” of the title was pseudonymous, and likely evoked by the book’s author to give the tome scientific credibility. The book’s true author is unknown, though Culpepper and William Salmon, an English physician and author, are sometimes credited.

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Subjects (LC)

Abnormalities, Human, Conception, Early works to 1800, Gynecology, Medicine, Midwifery, Obstetrics, Reproduction, Sex instruction, Sexual behavior

Title: Perfumed with Austen's Forest Flower Cologne
Description: Trade card advertising Austen's Forest Flower Cologne featuring a suspended woman with a long wreath of leaves and flowers around her. She is in a blue-and-white dress with a red sash around her waist. The back lists the unique properties of the Cologne.
Subjects (LC): Advertising, Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Flowers, Hair Ornaments, Leaves, Nature, Women, Wreaths
ID: WH221
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

An Abstract of the Patent Granted by His Majesty King George…

Description

Patent medicines originated in England in the mid 17th century and were marketed with extravagant claims, offering cures for a host of maladies. Recommendations for dosage were vague, and ingredients (often including opium) were usually not specified. In 1726 Benjamin Okell was granted the royal patent for Dr. Bateman’s Pectoral Drops, a tincture of gambir (an astringent extract from an Asian plant) and opium. Advertisements published in the London Mercury as early as 1721 directed prospective customers to the warehouse and printing shop at Bow's Churchyard, where they could purchase the drops for one shilling. Our copy of the 1731 reprint by Peter Zenger is likely the first piece of medical printing in New York. Zenger, who would later become famous for printing seditious texts, was instrumental in establishing freedom of the press in America. The Academy has the only known copy. Bound with our copy of the abstract is a copy of A Short treatise of the virtues of Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops, also issued by Okell and his printing house partners. Here, Batemans efficacy as a treatment for numerous ailments are described in sections dedicated to each. The last section of the treatise offers testimonials from satisfied customers.

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Subjects (LC)

Advertising—Medicine, Early works to 1800, Fever, Medicine, Patent medicines, Rheumatism

Title: Modilac-Merrell Advertisement

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills featuring an image of the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River with many boats sailing below it. One can see the shores of both Brooklyn and Manhattan. The back lists the benefits of the Vegetable Compound and the Liver Pills.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Backache, Depression, Mental, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia, Peptic Ulcer, Tumors
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Bridges, Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.), Brooklyn Bridge (New York, N.Y.), East River (N.Y.), New York (N.Y.), Rivers, Sailboats, Sailing Ships, Waterfronts
ID: WH183
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

The byrth of Mankynde newly translated out of Laten into Englyshe

Description

The Byrth of Mankynde, published in 1540, is the oldest manual for midwives printed in the English language. It remained in use both as a guidebook for midwives and as a source for physicians in the practice of obstetrics throughout Europe for the next two hundred years. The 1540 Byrth was a translation from the Latin edition of De Partu Hominis of Eucharius Rösslin’s Rosengarten. Rösslin was charged with supervising the midwives of Frankfurt, and although this volume contains sound instruction on delivery procedures, it did not break new ground in the field of obstetrics. Instead, it makes available the teachings of the Roman physician Soranus, popularized by Moschion, author of a 6th century question – and –answer book for Roman midwives. Other influences include Galen, Hippocrates, Aetius, Magnus and others. The volume’s seventeen copper-engraved plates were among the first in England to be produced by a roller press. The first illustrates “the Womans Stwle,” or birth chair, a birth aid which had been in use at least since Soranus’ time. Sixteen additional plates depict “Byrth Figures” in various positions in utero. The babies in these images, who resemble children age three or four and not fetuses, float dreamily in light-bulb-shaped vessels.

Description

Trade card advertising Dr. Seth Arnold's Balsam featuring statements from customers on the back, and on the front an image of a man pouring medicine into a spoon for a woman sitting in a chair. The man is on the right and wears knee-length pants with stockings, a long coat, a powdered wig, and a tricorne hat. He carries a walking stick under his arm. The woman is wearing a shawl and a bonnet and has a blanket over her lap and a pillow behind her head. The background of the card includes flowers, leaves, and berries.

Conditions Cured (LC)

Diarrhea

Subjects (LC)

Berries, Flowers, Hats, Invalids, Leaves, Men, Shawls, Staffs (Sticks, Canes, Etc.), Women, Women's Hats

ID

WH109

Collection

William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: N'aie pas peur, petite soeur! Elle ne nous attrapera pas! ... Nos 20 gouttes de véritable Fer Bravais nous ont donné de la force et de bonnes jambes
Description: Trade card advertising Fer Bravais featuring two children running away from a horned goat. The three figures are in a grassy field, and there are two containers at the goat's feet. The image is framed with a forest motif that includes autumnal leaves, acorns, and a lizard. The back lists the ailments Fer Bravais can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Chlorosis, Fatigue, Influenza, Typhoid Fever
Subjects (LC): Acorns, Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Children, Children's Clothing, Clothing And Dress, Goats, Grasslands, Leaves, Lizards, Nature, Pails
ID: WH202
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature

Description

Nine titles (11 volumes) from the late 19th and early 20th centuries on medical botany were digitized and contributed to the Biodiversity Heritage Library(BHL) as part of the Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature.

The Library’s contributions include:

Baillon, H. (Henri). (1878). Programme du cours d’histoire naturelle médicale professé à la Faculté de médecine de Paris. 3ème partie, Etude spéciale des plantes employées en médecine. Paris : F. Savy.
Gattinger, A., & Allison, T. F. P. (1894). The medicinal plants of Tennnessee : exhibiting their commercial value : with an analytical key, descriptions in aid of their recognition, and notes relating to their distribution, time and mode of collection, and preparation for the drug market. Nashville, Tenn. : Franc. M. Paul, Printer to the State.
Kīrtikara, K. R., & Basu, B. D. (1918). Indian medicinal plants (Vol. 2nd ed. (1918)). Bahadurganj, India : Sudhindra Nath Basu, Pâninî office; [etc., etc.].
Kraemer, H. (1902). A course in botany and pharmacognosy. Philadelphia : [Press of Edward Stern].
Meyer, T. (1911). Arzneipflanzenkultur und Kräuterhandel : rationelle Züchtung, Behandlung und Verwertung der in Deutschland zu ziehenden Arznei- und Gewürzpflanzen ; eine Anleitung für Apotheker, Landwirte und Gärtner. Berlin : J. Springer.
Moquin-Tandon, A. (1866). Éléments de botanique médicale : contenant la description des végétaux utiles à la médecine et des espèces nuisibles à l’homme, vénéneuses ou parasites, précédée de considérations sur l’organisation et la classification des végétaux (2. éd.). Paris : J.-B. Baillière et fils.
Schneider, A., & California. State Board of Forestry. (1912). Pharmacal plants and their culture. Sacramento : Richardson, Superintendent of State Printing.
Velásquez, M. A., & Maldonado, A. (1920). Contribución al estudio de la materia médica peruana. [Fasciculo I-III. Lima : Sanmarti y ca.
Youngken, H. W. (Heber W. (1918). Pharmaceutical botany (2d ed., and enl., enl.with 195 illustrations.). Philadelphia : P. Blakiston’s Son & Co.

EXPLORE THE COLLECTION ON BHL →

Title

A Telling of Wonders: Teratology in Western Medicine through 1800

Description

This exhibit examines the evolution of teratology (i.e. the study of perceived abnormalities in the natural world, both real and imagined) through the eyes of physicians and philosophers. How have they considered and how have they intertwined different interpretations in their representations and explanations of wonders from Antiquity to the end of the 18th century?

This richly illustrated exhibit includes pamphlets, rare broadsides, and significant books in the history of teratology drawn from the extensive collections of The New York Academy of Medicine Library.

Caroline Duroselle-Melish, Reference Librarian, Historical Collections, conceived, researched, and developed “A Telling of Wonders: Teratology in Western Medicine through 1800” physical exhibit. Open and free to the public, the exhibit was on display from November 1, 1999 to February 15, 2000 at the New York Academy of Medicine Library. Shortly after, the current online exhibit was created based on the physical exhibit.

EXPLORE ONLINE EXHIBIT →

Title: Morse's Yellow Dock the Great Blood Purifier and Kidney Remedy
Description: Trade card advertising Morse's Yellow Dock featuring a kitten's head turned to the right. The kitten is brown and white. The back has a dataset for countries around the world.
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Animals, Cats
ID: WH310
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: 30. Two woodcuts and nine engravings, mostly colored, depicting the murderers, their victims, and an anatomist

LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITS

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