Whilst it is impossible to know exactly when we first started using herbs and plants for medicinal purposes, archaeological evidence suggests that herbs have been used in Scotland since the Bronze age. Indeed the use of herbs as healing remedies goes back to the very beginnings of medicine itself, from 3700 B.C. Egypt, followed by the Chinese and later the Greeks and Romans. The earliest written account of herbal remedies comes from China and dates back to 2800 B.C.
In Scotland there has been a long held tradition of herbal folk medicine. However, written accounts of commonly used remedies did not appear until very much more recent times, knowledge of plants having been initially passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. Particularly in the more remote areas of Scotland, folk medicine was handed down by tradition, with little change, until the 17th Century. Opportunities for medical education were limited, and means of transport extremely bad, making it difficult for medical practitioners to reach patients out with the principal towns. As a result many had to rely to a great extent upon remedies which were available locally.
The provenance is unknown for the College’s 18th century herbal but it is believed to come from lowland Scotland. It was digitised courtesy of the Scottish Archive Network and is an excellent example of the way in which the remedies, previously passed from generation to generation as an oral tradition, began to be collected together in hand-written volumes. Many examples of similar documents can be found within collections of household manuscripts, correspondence and accounts, and it would appear that many households across the social spectrum kept such documents
Many herbals, particularly those belonging to Scottish land-owning families, were very decorative, typically leather bound and often interspersed with ornately decorated pages with drawings and elaborate hand-writing. Individual volumes were often written in different hands with recipes and remedies occasionally being attributed to individuals. Indeed a particular 18th century volume (in the National Library of Scotland) entitled ‘Physick and Cookery of various Kinds’ compiled by Martha Bruce, Countess of Elgin, contains contributions from eminent individuals including Dr Herman Boerhaave’s cure for Chilblains and Asthma and remedies from Dr Ratcliffe, Physician to Queen Anne.
Herbals often contained not only herbal remedies but also recipes and beauty and household remedies, and in later years, the traditional household herbal came to resemble more of a cookery book with sections for herbal remedies being relegated to the back of the volume. The remedies and recipes often remained unchanged with the same herbs and methods being used for centuries.
This particular volume is only a small illustration of the abundance of similar material which can be found in public and private collections of household papers, and provides a small insight into the strong tradition of herbal medicine which has existed in Scotland down the ages.
Volume entitled ‘Adversaria Cleghorn’, ‘begun Edinr Janry 12th 1782’, containing medical speculations and case histories.
Cleghorn was one of the two physicians appointed to serve at Glasgow Royal Infirmary when it opened in 1794 (he worked and taught there until 1798), was a chemistry lecturer at the University of Glasgow for many years and was a president of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
A continuation of the previous volume, containing medical speculations and case histories by the physician, Robert Cleghorn.
This book came to the College from the library of the Glasgow Eye Infirmary, having previously belonged to Andrew Freeland Fergus, ophthalmologist and former President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. It was in quite poor condition when it was scanned - the binding had all but fallen apart, and this allowed us to get better pictures of each page. Once scanning was complete it was sent away for conservation. The book has recently returned from the conservator's workshop; it's now housed in a lovely new binding and stored alongside our rare book collections.
Richard Liebreich (1830-1917) was a German ophthalmologist and physiologist. In addition to this volume, the College library holds a similar atlas from 1863 and a short pamphlet.
Private case book of Dr Robert Cleghorn,containing details of unusual post-mortem examinations and cases dealt with by him in ‘the Infry’ [Glasgow] with occasional gossip and speculations of clinical practice. Note bound inside from Ebenezer Watson “This book was one of several which were sent to my father from the library of Dr Cleghorn as a present for attending him on his death-bed. It is entirely in Dr Cleghorn’s handwriting & was not intended for publication. It is now deposited in the library of the Faculty of Physicians & Surgeons as a curious relic of the olden time, 30th April 1882.”
Professor Robert Cleghorn, 1755-1821, graduated from Edinburgh, became a physician in Glasgow - in private practice and at the Royal Infirmary - then held successive appointments as a lecturer in materia medica, 1788-1791, and chemistry, 1791-1818, at Glasgow University.
Inventory of the surgical instruments of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Note on inside states 'Presented for Preservation to the Directors of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary by John Rowan, Honorary Consulting Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Hospital, August 1925.'
Journal of a tour in Prussia, Saxony, Austria, Styria, the Tyrol, Switzerland, the German States, Holland, Belgium and France, during the autumn of 1850 by George Buchanan MD, containing detail on landscape, inns, social events, peasant dress, the road and the roadside, with pencil and water-colour sketches, notably of local costumes.
Continues the series of Vaccination Registers, recording the programme of inoculation carried out by the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. This volume is untitled, but the flyleaf at the back is marked, 'List Book of Inoculations of Faculty'. This volume covers the years 1832-1854.
Roll of the anatomy classes of Professor George Buchanan at the Anderson College of Medicine, Glasgow, 1860-1874
Turkey and the Crimea in 1855, volume first, containing incidents of travel on the way to the seat of the war, through France Piedmont, Italy and Greece, by George Buchanan AM, MD, surgeon to the British Hospital, Dardanelles, afterwards to the General Hospital in Camp before Sebastopol.
Turkey and the Crimea in 1855, volume second, containing incidents of life in quarters at Scutari, Ther Apia and Dardanelles and of camp life in the Crimea.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the second volume, covering 1802-1803.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the third volume, covering 1803-1804.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the fourth volume, covering 1804-1806.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the fifth volume, covering 1806-1808.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the sixth volume, covering 1808-1811.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the seventh volume, covering 1811-1814.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the eighth volume, covering 1815-1819.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the ninth volume, covering 1819-1825.
The ten volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme carried out in Glasgow, probably by the FPSG. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case. Later entries are less informative, although they do record the results of inoculation.
This is the tenth volume, covering 1825-1831.
The volumes in this series comprise a record of the inoculation programme against smallpox carried out in Glasgow by Members and Fellows of the then Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The early volumes contain detailed entries identifying patients and inoculators, with comments on each case, such as the success of the inoculation and the quality of transmitted matter.
This is the first volume, covering 1801-1802.
Find the locations of each illustration using the map below:
"An extra meeting of the Society was held this evening, and the President occupied the chair.
The minutes of last meeting were read and approved.
Mr Lister gave a lengthened exposition of the atmospheric germ theory of putrefaction, and illustrated it by the exhibition of M. Pasteur’s experiment with flasks containing urine.
He next directed attention to the employment of Carbolic acid for the destruction of the germs presumed to exist in the air, and which Mr Lister supposed to be the exciting cause of putrefaction in wounds; and for the details of a case in which a young man sustained an incised wound of left side of thorax, with penetration through the diaphragm and protrusion of omentum through the wound externally.
The protruding portion of omentum was cut off; and although the left pleural cavity was so distended with air and haemorrhage as to cause displacement of the heart to the right side of the chest, the young man made a perfect recovery under the Carbolic acid dressings.
Mr L then described the effects of a ligature applied on the antiseptic system to the carotid of a horse, and showed the portion of the artery, and the superjacent skin, as well as the ligature, all of which had been removed from the horse, which had died from some disease unconnected with the operation, 13 days after.
He also narrated a case of ligature of the external iliac artery by the same method, and the history of a case of necrosis of the tibia, in which some of the dead bone had come away, but was presumed to have been absorbed.
The mode of dressing wounds with Carbolic acid was next described; the part of Carbolic acid in 20 of water being recommended for an internal application; and for external dressing, after experimenting with a number of different substances, Mr Lister had arrived at the conclusion that emplastrum plumbi with a fourth of its weight of bees wax and impregnated with Carbolic acid is the most suitable. The strength of the dressing ought however in all cases to be regulated by the nature of the wound.
A discussion following, was, chiefly owing to the late hour, confined principally to the cause of putrefaction in wounds, and the theory which had been advanced by Mr Lister to account for the antiseptic properties of the Carbolic acid."
Transcript
"The current coat of arms was approved by College council in 1862. In the top left and bottom right quarters we can see the symbols for the physicians and surgeons, the poppy and the lancet, with the staff of Asclepius, a Greek god of healing and medicine, in the centre.
In the top right quarter we have the royal arms of Scotland, included to show the connections to the royal foundation of the College by King James VI.
In the bottom left quarter is the shield of arms of the city of Glasgow, included to show the importance of the local position of the College in the community. Above the central shield of the crest is a lamp in front of an open book, representing enlightenment and continued learning.
There are two goddesses on the crest, chosen to represent the scientific and medical and surgical characteristics of the College. On the right is Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health. And on the left, Minerva, the Roman goddess of science and art.
Then we have the College motto. At the top, "Conjurat Amice", which translates to "together in friendship". This represents the physicians and surgeons working together. At the bottom, "Non vivere sed valere vita", which loosely translates to "not just to live life but to have a healthy life".