Botanic Materia Medica: Now Available!

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This mid-19th century work is an excellent materia medica, more rigorously categorical than many competing editions from the time period, containing an entire list of abbreviations for the usage of species, which are then applied in the work. It contains several hundred different entries- the usages are sometimes archaic, although some terms (such as astringent and stimulant) are still used.

It is a fine example of herbal medicine from the early period in which organic chemistry was leading to the rudimentary standardization of dosage- the work details the difference between tinctures, extracts, and so forth, as well.

Illustrated by Raven Feather Illustrations.

99 pages.

A Plea for the Practice of Botanic Medicine: Now Available!

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This full length work is a treatment of the topic of Thomsonian medicine (also reckoned vegetable medicine) which came into some prominence in the 19th century. The system sought to replace the use of arsenic, mercury, and other drastic "medicines" in usage with herbal materials, especially lobelia, and also cayenne pepper, for complaints. The system was designed by a simple farmer named Samuel Thomson, who probably saved millions of lives by simply not poisoning his patients as doctors were doing at the time. The entire premodern field of herbal medicine owes part of its existence to the man. A few herbal recipes are related verbatim from Thomsons' work, and a lengthy description of competing systems such as atmopathy and hydropathy is given.

250 pages.

Taylors Herbal: Now Available!

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Taylors Domestic Herbal is a good (and extremely early) example of the kind of medical literature sold by apothecaries and other figures at the dawn of the era of semi-standardized organic medicine. It deviates from the greater rigor in dosage and measurement from works beginning a few decades later (not to mention the wider variety of species available due to colonial importation), and from the often religiously or superstitiously-informed content in such works in the previous century.

It lists a wide variety of species both domestic and wild, and their usages- some are innocuous (like chamomile or turnips), while some are now generally regarded as highly toxic (like foxglove and datura.)

50 pages.

The Divine Origin and Craft of the Herbalist: Now Available!

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This interesting text is an analysis of the intertwined and co-evolving nature of medical practice (specifically herbal and mineral) with religions, from times as remote as early Ancient Egypt and Sumeria, up through Assyria, Greece, Rome, the rise of the Islamic world, the copts, and other groups.

A great many specific rituals and a large number of species and their usages are explored- the work is also illustrated, with cuneiform and hieroglyphic work translated and interpreted.

76 pages.

Paracelsus, And His Influence on Chemistry and Medicine: Now Available!

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This little booklet is a description of a bit of the life and workings of Paracelsus, especially regarding his herbal physiognomy theory, his displacement of Galens' elemental beliefs, and a bit of criticism about his lifestyle choices (having been reported to be a drunk, and known to be egotistical and a bit power-mad.) Paracelsus was arguably the father of pre-modern chemistry, forming a missing link to the past, as he maintained an interest in astrology and alchemy, subjugating the latter to medicine as opposed to fixating on the idea of transmutation.

31 pages.

The Old Root and Herb Doctor: Now Available!

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This fine little work is rather unique as far as 19th century herbals go; it contains the normal materia medica and preparations for various ailments, but also includes a short section on the caloric nutritional value of certain common foodstuffs, even including the digestion time of the same. In another odd inclusion, it compiles a list of commonly encountered poisons and their antidotes- normally warm water for vomiting, a stomach pump, and various counteracting agents. That section is almost surely geared mainly towards parents of small children.

While the work was, by and large, well made, it included numerous typographical mistakes which I had to correct, and its non-alphabetical content at the end indicates to me that it was either hastily edited or not edited at all prior to being printed.

It should be noted that the work contains contemporary Euro-American Thompsonian simples and has nothing to do with "Natives." This was a marketing gimmick.

73 pages.

Slacks Herbal: Now Available!

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This work is one of the foremost herbals of the mid 19th century Thompsonian period. Containing a series of ailments, specific recipes for everything from pills and powders to tinctures and injections, and a lengthy materia medica, Slacks Herbal is considerably longer and more dense than most comparably styled works of the era.

It is worth noting that since this work is from the Thompsonian school, it predominantly fixates on a few herbal simples; more than half of the recipes here contain at least one of the following cure-alls: Lobelia, cayenne pepper, agrimony, comfrey, or chamomile.

130 pages.

Ayurveda; The Hindu System of Medical Science: Now Available!

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This text explores Ayurveda; its basic categorical systems (types of disease, types of substances for healing, different sub-schools of medicine, etc) and a bit about its history. It is interesting to note that Ayurveda was among the few early systems with a fully categorical conceptualization, and allowed dissection, allowing for a greater understanding of anatomy. It contains a brief materia medica of herbal species as well as some recipes for compounds of note.

76 pages.

Frays Golden Recipes: Now Available!

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At the dawn of the 19th century, most popular domestic tip books contained ritual magic or at least prayers and explicit superstition. By the time of this particular work in the late 19th century, those had disappeared leaving herbal medicine, simple tips, recipes, and so forth; indeed, the path from grimoire, to this type of text, to modern woodcrafting and recipe books is fascinating.

It contains a slew of herbal remedies for disease and injury, as well as tips for basic issues such as illness in livestock and so forth- although some of the remedies are not a great idea, some of them remain in alternative medicine even today. It ought to be noted that this booklet had a very long printing run; I have seen scans of editions post-dating this one by 20 years.

66 pages.

The Occult Family Physician: Now Available!

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This fairly long book is a tome of medical and herbal lore which combines multiple distinct elements of literature into one semi-condensed volume. Often, in the 19th century, the Materia Medica was separate from social tracts or only contained herbs and their uses or recipes. This contains all of the above, as well as dietary content, all from the backdrop of the botanic method, which stressed proper living, "natural" remedies, and was altogether an objective improvement on the prior era of mercury based medicine, antimonial injections into wounds, and other pseudo-alchemical snake oil.

It is interesting to note that by this time, while lobelia (formerly heralded as a sort of cure-all) was continued in use for many complaints, it had lost ground against chamomile, st johns wort, artemesia absinthium, and a few other species which were rising in prominence.

Of interest as well here is a short tract against onanism ("self pollution"!) and material involving spiritism.

307 pages.

Fifteen Lectures on Medical Botany: Now Available!

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The 1830s represent an interesting period in medical history in which the old mercury and leeches of the system of Galen were replaced by botanical and "simples"-based medical practice until the era of fully "rational" chemical and biological science began a half century later. The essential premise here is that former medical practice was dangerous (objectively true) and botanical treatment superior and more "godly" (debatable.) What I do not debate is that administering lobelia or capsicum is "probably" safer than dosing people up on mercury, antimony, or dangerously powerful emetics.

186 pages.

American Medicinal Leaves and Herbs: Now Available!

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This interesting little work is another of the botanically important circulations produced at the dawn of the 20th century by the US Department of Agriculture- it is fully illustrated by Rita Metzner, whose Instagram you can see here. It lists over 30 species of note that grow within the region of the continental United States- mostly native plant life, with a few European garden escapees. The number of uses is quite large; from expectorants and purgatives to general balms. That is all secondary however as the work was mainly meant for farmers and rural dwellers to be able to identify and exploit species in order to prevent continued US reliance on imports of plant material which were used within a clinical setting as medicine in an era before modern standards and preparations.

67 pages.

The Family Companion and Physician: Now Available!

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This semi-short work is a fine one, because it combines herbal remedies (the recipes thereof, that is) with what amounts to diagnosis, and bridges the gap between prior works (which tended to be quite superstitious) and latter ones (which were more scientific in the truly modern sense. In the mid 19th century, the scientific and the spiritual segued into one another seamlessly. The incantations of grimoires slowly got displaced by the apothecary receipts of the more recent era. It includes as well a short lecture on health which is at times hilarious, blaming "self abuse" (now known as masturbation) for lunacy and various developmental disabilities.

I cannot recommend the concoctions utilized here in this booklet but some of the species and preparations are indeed chemically active and at the time would likely have been tested with at least some degree of rigor. It is an interesting look at the eras' medicinal lore. One of the best, actually.

65 pages.

The Incubus: Now Available!

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This short work is partially about nothing more technically supernatural than the topic of sleep paralysis, also known in colloquial terms at the time as the night-mare. This frightening topic is, literally speaking, not yet even quantified fully by science so I suppose that element is still of occult import; but of greater interest here are two other subtopics; herbal preparations for the condition, and a bit of back-story and lore regarding the older, demonic principle of the incubus supposedly responsible for such a phenomenon. This work is over 200 years old but displays a fairly advanced amount of rational insight.

56 pages.

The Family Nurse: Now Available!

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This excellent work is at once a manuscript of folk medicine, an apothecarian work, a recipe book, and a compilation of basic life tips from the 1830s; indeed, it is one of those "receipt books" from the era which, in domestic work, displaced some of the more odd content of the prior eras' cosmopolitan grimoires. Gone is the alchemy in favor of more rational medicinal workings.

Containing a fairly lengthy herbal remedy section and recipes for ointments and salves as well, it's surprising how much of the content is still utilized today- it humorously refers to the banes of both alcohol and opium while suggesting sometimes a little kick of gin should be added to a recipe or two, to solve for "patient discomfort."

163 pages.

Valuable Herbal Prescriptions: Now Available!

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This homeopathic tract contains a number of remedies (technically late pre-modern folk remedies) for ailments ranging from dyspepsia to hysteria. It also contains a small amount of social reformist sentiment. As with "Weeds Used as Medicine" it was beautifully re-illustrated by Rita Metzner, whose instagram can be seen here.

Some of the weights and measurements used herein are archaic in form (such as the drachm) but overall it's an interesting piece of historical medical literature with quite a few botanical species of note.

56 pages.

Weeds Used as Medicine: Now Available!

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This interesting booklet was released in the early 20th century as a helpful government bulletin designed to inform farmers that some of the weeds they were constantly removing from their land were medicinal in nature and potentially of at least enough value to make the work of exterminating them mildly profitable. It has been beautifully re-illustrated by the talented Rita Metzner. You can see some of her other works here.

It covers quite a few species; datura is here notable along with poison hemlock as plants that are no longer generally considered to be valid within medicine. Catnip is also mentioned somewhat amusingly here as more valuable on the medicinal end; these days of course its primary reason for sale is as a narcotic for peoples' miniaturized lions and tigers. The general medical use of each species, along with a description of its prevalence and appearance, is paired as well with some interesting asides regarding the commercial nature of early 20th century herbal medicine.

58 pages.

The Art of Rita Metzner: Illustrator of "Weeds as Medicine" and "Valuable Herbal Prescriptions"

Some time ago I decided it was impossible to personally illustrate all of the herbal works I desired to release; I needed someone to do that part of the work for me, having edited or partially edited a half dozen or so works I couldn't complete. Rita Metzner had submitted a link to her art along with many others and was selected as the best possible candidate for an illustrator. Indeed, the result is very nice. As you can see, she doesn't do just herbal works, but also some rather fantastical (dare I say vaguely occult?) works as well.

Link to Rita's Instagram

Below I wanted to display a couple of the herbal pictures; the first from the (completed, processing) Weeds as Medicine, the second from Herbal Prescriptions, which should be complete before the beginning of July or just thereafter.

The Blessed Thistle.

Poppy Plant.

Quick Literary Update Time!

Alright everyone, I am steaming through a new work (one that will fit in the demonology category) written from a strictly christian perspective; "Is the Devil a Myth?" by Wimberley, an early 20th century writing of note within the realm of then-modern Victorian philosophy.

I have finished editing my two herbals; what then should I do? Part of me wants to set a couple of days aside and just illustrate them; as for having someone else do so, I'd feel bad not paying a decent total for the work, but these two minor titles are not likely to become large-scale in sales, and I could at best pay a pittance and justify the artistic work by putting the name of the artist on the work- I've had numerous people offer to illustrate for free but, it just doesn't feel "quite right" to take such an offer, even if the work would probably be better than what I can do.

I think I'll illustrate the works myself- it's just a matter of setting aside time to do so when I feel more artistic!

As for forthcoming works, I have acquired another slew of titles to edit and crafted several outlines for more works of my own manufacture, including one about a developmentally arrested caveman and his family and their adventures.

General Update: Herbals Forthcoming!

I have decided to fixate upon three medically related works for the month of April and, once they are done (could be soon, I might have to pay an illustrator, I'm tired of slowing my work down to draw up, scan, format, and re-edit interior images!) I intend to begin working on another manuscript of my own composition on the topic of robotics, automation, synthetic life, and similar topics.

These three works are summarized:

1. Weeds as Medicine: A government-crafted tract on the medicinal use, form, and habit of several dozen species considered at the time to be pests nonetheless worth harvesting to supplement the income of farmers. Things like foxglove, poison hemlock, and yarrow are mentioned here.

2. Valuable Herbal Prescriptions: A work I had already edited in January but never illustrated; a homeopathic work of sorts, combining the design of a short herbal into a medicinal form for basic remedies.

3. Counterblast to Tobacco: An extremely early public health manifest against smoking written by the infamous King James I, of "Daemonologie" fame, the lord of the burning times themselves.

If any artist I pay to complete the illustrations for the first two works quickly I may indeed also release the South Sea herbal, which at first appears freakishly short, but is actually about as long as the others, and merely in an old, compacted form as many herbals were prior to the enlightenment.