Feeling under the weather? Try frog’s liver, peacock dung and just a dash of dead man’s skull
December 10, 2013
The above items all form part of a medical recipe contained in a 17th century volume belonging to the Duke of Newcastle. Many family and estate collections contain medical receipt books, in which recipes and instructions for the treatment of various maladies are carefully preserved for future generations. In an age before the widespread provision …
Pills and potions in the archives
February 24, 2012
How did our ancestors cope with ill-health, before the days of ready-prepared packets from the local shop? In working with the archives and early publications in the University’s collections, I’ve been taken by the number and variety of herbal remedies that sit alongside culinary recipes in early household books. The ingredients are sometimes exotic and …
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