This manuscript is a diverse and well-organized recipe collection with more than 520 different recipes on topics ranging from alchemy and medicine to solutions for simple household problems such as fleas. A direct…

Hieronymous Brunschwig (c. 1453 – c. 1513) was a surgeon in the Imperial Free City of Strasbourg who published on subjects including medicine, the plague, and surgery, though his most important works were those…

Found in its original plain binding of parchment, this work was most likely compiled by a practitioner of alchemy and medicine. Containing a handwritten copy of Liber lucis by John of Rupescissa (Johannes de Rupescissa)…

An early work on the preparation of aqua vitae or the “water of life” (alcohol), by the process of distillation. This treatise describes the distillation process and necessary instrumentation in detail. Aqua vitae was…

Maranta of Venosa's work on antidotes to poisons. Only engraved title page has been digitized at this time.

First edition. This copy lacks parts of pages 2 and 7 as well as pages 183-184 and 255-256. The missing text on pages 2 and 7 was replaced in handwritten pencil at an unknown date. The work was edited by the physician…

Work on the anatomy and physiology of the circulatory system. Explores the structure and function of veins and arteries. Correctly describes the heart as a four-chambered organ and accurately describes the flow of the…

John Mayow (1643–1679) was an early researcher of respiration and the nature of air. Mayow published tracts on respiration and rickets while studying at Oxford in 1668; in 1674 these were edited and reprinted with three…

Bowls like this one were used to catch the blood released by bleeding. The appearance of blood was a useful diagnostic tool for physicians, who examined it for clues about the body's internal state. This large bowl was…

Gold painted metal can and lid both with extensive dark blue lettering and decoration.The main label reads "LANGLEBERT'S PSYLLIUM SEEDS." The can is full of small brown psyllium seeds, a source of soluble dietary fiber.

Alexander Marcet (1770-1822) was a Genevan physician who specialized in urinary calculi. Marcet was one of few medical practitioners of the time who used chemistry in their explanation and treatment of disease. He was…

The cover and title page are digitized from the first edition of this seminal work responsible for exposing dangerous adulterations to foods and beverages. Food and drug purity legislation followed later in the…

In a small workshop a medical alchemist tends to the foot of a seated patient while the man's wife and child look on. At left, an assistant grinds a substance--likely a medicine or salve--in a small mortar and pestle.…

The title page is digitized from the fourth edition of this seminal work responsible for exposing dangerous adulterations to foods and beverages. Food and drug purity legislation followed later in the nineteenth…

Lecture notes recorded by Jean-Baptiste-Alexandre Stroehlin in Paris when he attended lectures given by Matthieu Orfila. The lectures are organized around specific chemicals, thus there are headings such as "Carbonates"…

Long stem, round bottom flask with custom flange. Needle-size hole on opposite side of flange allows for release of pressure.

This notebook contains recipes and formulas developed or copied by E. F. Carey while working as an assistant pharmacist in Rhode Island and as the owner operator of a pharmacy in Massachusetts between 1863 and 1875.…

Diagram depicting a medico-galvanic battery, a type of portable shock-producing electrotherapeutic device commonly in use between 1870 and 1920. Such devices provided both direct and alternating current and were thought…

Bottle of Strychnine Sulfate tablets in a brown glass bottle with cork top closure.

Strychnine is a highly toxic, colorless, crystalline alkaloid used today as a pesticide for rodents or birds. When inhaled, swallowed,…

Blue glass bottle, stained by residue from its contents, with metal screw cap lid and white paper label. The topical ointment once held in this bottle was intended for pain relief. According to the label, the ointment…

Small orange box containing a topical rub intended to treat corns, bunions, and warts.

Willis Tracy Hanson, Sr. (1858-1933) was a New York businessman known for selling patent medicines. These remedies could be…

Select plates digitized including drawings of plant specimens, maps illustrating locale of plant specimens as well as magnified illustrations of plant parts.

Featured on the back cover of Puck magazine, this cartoon entitled "The Pasteur Boom—High Times for Hydrophobists" mocks those who traveled to France to receive Louis Pasteur's (1822-1895) new vaccine for the rabies…

This photogravure by Gebbie & Husson Co. Ltd. reproduces Thomas Eakins' painting known as The Agnew Clinic (or The Clinic of Dr. Agnew). Eakins was commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania Medical Class of 1889 to…