The first - Flora of Suffolk was published in 1860 by Prof. the Rev. J.S.Henslow, a Vice-President of Ipswich Museum, and E.Skepper, who was a chemist (pharmacist) with a shop in Abbeygate Street, Bury St.Edmunds. The shop, numbers 12 and 13, is now "Leesons Photographic". It was a chemists' shop for many years, lastly as "Nunn, Hinnell, Clark and Burdon". The prescription books of this practice, 62 volumes covering the period 1837-1918, have been preserved in the Suffolk Records Office in Bury St.Edmunds. There are in all 99,570 prescriptions and I have made a (very superficial) study of them. Although most of the drugs used in Skepper's time were of plant origin, the prescriptions are perhaps more of interest to the social historian than to botanists. For example, the names of servants or children are seldom given but titles of the gentry always given in full (e.g.Sir T. Culham's servant, or Mrs Howe's child, but The Rev. Lord Chas. Fitzroy and Sir H.J.Blake Bart. of Barton ).
Most prescriptions were for pills, which were hand made and covered with gold or silver leaf for the rich - to hide the taste, and most contained mercury (usually as 'submuriate') the 'cure-all' of the period and then the only useful drug against syphilis. Today it is considered a dangerous poison. Leeches were often prescribed, carried home in special bottles.
Before determining which plant products were used it is first necessary to crack the pharmacist's code and their use of Latin. For example, 'P.Nux Vom.' is strychnine, the powdered ('pulveris') seeds of Strichnos nux-vomica, and 'P.capsici' is powdered Guinea Pepper, Capsicum frutescens, used against cramps of the stomach or bowels. Most of the plant extracts used came from overseas but a few plants which appear in our most recent flora, Simpson's Flora of Suffolk (1982), were used. Many, it must be admitted, are introduced colonists, but now considered Suffolk plants by Simpson. They include the following, given with their prescription 'code' and usage :-
'Tict.Valerian' - tincture of Common Valerian, Valeriana officinalis, a true native of our marshes and fens. It provides an effective nerve tonic- tranquillising without side effects.
'P.Digital.' - powdered foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, producing somewhat 'uncertain quality' digitalin, a heart stimulant. Today digitalin is synthesized, giving a uniform product. Culpeper in his "Herbal" claims " It has a gentle, cleansing quality, and withal very friendly to nature". It was used by the Italians to heal fresh wounds.
'Ext.Humuli'- extract of hops, Humulus lupulus, a doubtful native. The flowers contain a natural antibiotic and it has sedative and diuretic properties. Country people stuff a pillow with dried hops to induce a good night's sleep.
'Tv.Hyoscam.' - Henbane, Hyoscyamus niger, possibly a native of our sandy coast. Culpeper claims that "the leaves applied as a warm fomentation are good for swelling of the testicles or woman's breasts" and it has sedative and analgesic properties. It has been used to treat Parkinson's disease today.
'Pulv.Rhei' - Rhubarb, Rheum tataricum. Known in Suffolk from a single record at Brantham. Well known as a mild purgative, but the powdered root in small doses checks diarrhoea.
'Powdered wormseed' - Treacle Mustard, Erysimum cheiranthoides. Used today to kill intestinal worms. lt was once made into a syrup mixed with honey and a small quantity of vinegar and considered beneficial for asthmatic complaints.
'Ext.Conii' - Extract of Hemlock, Conium maculatum. A common native plant in Suffolk. Although a sedative and pain reliever (e.g. in terminal cancer )an overdose produced paralysis. Look what it did for Socrates!
'Syr.Papa.alb.' - White or Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum. A frequent casual or garden escape. Morphine and codeine are extracted from opium. The drugs properly used have been of immense value to mankind.
'Unguento Sabinae' - ointment of Juniper, Juniperus communis. Simpson considers J.communis rare in Suffolk and the south European Savbin, J.sabina, would have been the source of the drug once used to induce abortion, destroy worms in children, or, when mixed with hog's lard, cure their scabby heads.
'I. florentina' - Fleur-de-Lys, Blue Iris , Iris germanica, the dried root is aromatic (odour of violets) and was used mainly to improve the taste of medicines. From the Mediterranean but a common garden throw-out.
One interesting prescription for Tritici repens ( = Couch Grass, Agropyron repens ) was almost the same as one by Nicholas Culpeper in 1649 - "which openeth obstructions of the liver and gall, and the stopping of the urine." i.e. "Take 2 tablespoonfulls of the grass, boil in 20 oz. of water for 10 minutes and then strain. Take this quantity during the day".
Some animal products can also be mentioned here :- 'Oss. Sepia' - Cuttlefish 'bone', Sepia officinalis; Hartshorn - no specific deer mentioned, (a source of ammonia) and Oyster shells (calcium carbonate).
Unfortunately the prescriptions do not give the disease for which the drugs were being used, nor the result of the treatment. We must hope that Skepper was as good a pharmacist as he was a botanist. However, in Skepper's time doctors could do relatively little for their patients, but at least 'old wives' remedies were disappearing. Few were using the old remedy for whooping cough: - "First catch a mouse, then fry it in a little lard. Either eat the flesh or drink the juice from the pan." Nor were they curing warts by rubbing a hodmedod (snail in Suffolk) on them. We must be particularly thankful for antibiotics of fungal origin today.
Geoff Heathcote
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