English Medical Notebook, 17th Century
Transcribed and compiled by Reilly Gambelli and Ana Bittner
Introduction
The English Medical Notebook, 17th Century is housed in the Wellcome Library in the bustling city of London. Begun in 1650, this old medical notebook contains remedies for common coughs, fevers, and stomach aches, ranging to a cure for the plague and recipes for mead and different types of wine. All this information could indicate that this notebook belonged to a family. Though there is little indication of who penned the book, the name Martha appears on the inside of the back cover, indicating that this book could have belonged specifically to a woman. Within Elaine Leong’s “‘Herbals she persueth’: reading medicine in early modern England”, Leong quotes Gervase Markham, an English writer who published The English hus-wife, when she states that “physic was considered by Markham to be ‘one of the most principal virtues which doth belong to our English hous-wife’” (1). We cannot confirm the owners or authors of The English Medical Notebook, but the role of a common house wife in London highlighted by Marham, and the expense related to contracting a physician for ordinary citizens would have encouraged familial medical recipe books (2).
Interestingly, The English Medical Notebook, 17th Century may also highlight “how British households engaged with and circulated new ideas” about medicine in the 17th century, a concept that Jack B. Bouchar and Amanda E. Herbert discuss in their article “One British Thing: A Manuscript Recipe Book, ca. 1690-1730” and that Elaine Leong expands on (3). “The ideal woman would then further confirm her knowledge by 'conference' - that is by seeking counsel and by participating in active discussions on her newly gained knowledge (4).” Evidence to support a wider conversation around medicine within the household can be found with the introduction of two new authors, which can be concluded due to the drastically different handwriting, and the introduction of outside recipes; one example is a reference made to Dr. Bonham, a prominent physician in the early 17th century (5).
1: Leong, Elaine. "'Herbals She Peruseth': Reading Medicine in Early Modern England." Renaissance Studies 28, no. 4 (2014): 556-78. Accessed September 27, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24423854.
2: HAROLD J. COOK. “The Rose Case Reconsidered: Physicians, Apothecaries, and the Law in Augustan England.” Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences 45, no. 4 (October 1, 1990): 527–555.
3: Bouchard, Jack B, and Amanda E Herbert. “One British Thing: A Manuscript Recipe Book, ca. 1690–1730.” The journal of British studies. 59, no. 2 (April 2020): 396–399.
4: Leong, Elaine. "'Herbals She Peruseth': Reading Medicine in Early Modern England." Renaissance Studies 28, no. 4 (2014): 556-78. Accessed September 27, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24423854.
5: Cook, Harold J. “Good Advice and Little Medicine: The Professional Authority of Early Modern English Physicians.” The Journal of British studies 33, no. 1 (January 1994): 1–31.
For the full text, check it out here!
The English Medical Notebook, 17th Century, 1650. Shelfmark MS6812. Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
For the full text, check it out here!
The English Medical Notebook, 17th Century, 1650. Shelfmark MS6812. Courtesy of the Wellcome Library, London.
Transcriptions
Cough Consumption, Cough of the Lungs f.16r
The Lady Hoptons drinke for
the Cough in younge or old
most Approved.
Boyle posset ale a pretty quantity and
boyle it Cleere then put a pretty quan-
titive of Liquoris Anise seeds penyroy-
all and hysop with some reisms washed
and stoned boyle all these well in
the posset ale, and drinks of it war
me Morninge and Eveninge, or as often
as you fee Cause
An Exellent Syrupe used by
The Lady Hopton against the
Consumption and Cough of
The Lunges
Take hysop water and Coltsfoot wa-
ter of each a quart to which put two
pound of sugar. of the herbs of Colts-
foote sytrach maiden haire scabious
hysop penyroyall of each one handfull
boyle all theise herbs till you perceibe the
Consumption : Cough : rheume f.16v
the virtue of them to be out then
power the water from the herbes and
Let it Coole, then put the sugar to the
water and so make a sirupe and take
a Little of it in a spoone as often as you
are troubled with the Cough or rheume
Master Bakers Medicine for the
Cough of the Lungs, most
Approved.
Take three pints of runninge water
halfe a pound of Portugall Sugar with thyme
figgs and halfe a spoonefull of reisms of
the Sun Clean washed and the stones
pickt out, a penyworth of maiden
haire let all these boyle togeather
till the one halfe or more be Consumed
then straine it through a fine Cloth and
Every morninge drink two Spoonfulls
of it Luke warme, and you shall find
present remedy.
For griping panic in the gutts
and belly, a present remedy
gripings belly. stoppage stomak f.17r
Take possett ale ale boyle it, then take
of Cammomill a pretty quantetye
with anise seeds and Licoris bruse them
a Little then boyle them a while
in the posset ale and so drinke it
For winde and stoppage
in the stomack
Take a little draught of Sack
put into it a branch or two of worm
wood & so much of Spearmynt, steep
them a few hours in the wyne then
heat it very warme and drinke it
eyther goeinge to bead or fasting in
the morninge. /
Probatum by diners
For the Same
Take mynts dry them to pouder
the inner kernells of Ashen keys dryed
into pouder, with Sugar Candy beaten
mingle all togeather and keep it in a
box, and at night goinge to bed take
a little quantety on the point of a knife
Stone. Geyser. feauer. f.17v
A Singular water for the stone. Take strong ale a gallon or moreanise seeds lycoris fenell rootes and parsly rootes. the seeds of parsley fenill gromill and Caraways pellatory of the wall stone. Crop birtch leaves filapendula perrcespeare Woodroofe burnes penyroyall an water Crefses the seeds the weight of six pence one nutmeggs one date stone in pouder and a quarter of a pound of Reysms of the Sun: of the herbs an handfull hippes and hawes and Crabbs in a bagge and so distill all in a limbeck
An Easye glyster to begiuen in a burning feauer and is very good.
Take kitchen sugar with small boere or posset ale let it be luke warm Let only the Cold be taken of and So give it A very good Tulip easely made for a feauer
Feuer. Melancholy a Purge. f.18r
Take of distilled water of Suc-
cory Burage, Endine or Sorrell and
also of Sirupe of Violets and of
oyle of vitriol unto Euery 3 spoonfulls
of water put one spunfull of the Syr-
rupe and of the oyle of vitryol two
or three droppes.
An Excellent purging whey
against Melancholy by
Dr. Burges and it is especi-
ally to be taken in May
Take of Burrage & of Buglosse of
Each two handfulls of Balme hearts
ease fumitory Agrimony of Each one.
handfull of Betony Scabious hearts fong
St Johns wort the blevings of it of each
one handfull of Seny Cowslip flowers
rosemary blevings and pollipody rootes
of each one ounce also of reisms of the
sun one handfull and a Little whole mace
And halfe an ounce of Sweet fenell seeds
first Clarefir your what and then boile
all these things in it one hower, but
For the Winde Chollick f.18v
Take grauill seed parsley seeds Elysander seede Coriander seed fenell serd anyle seede Caraway seed of each halfe and a ounce grains one quarter of an ounce all these beaten somwhat grosly, Lycoris halfe an ounce, nutmegs and ginger of each a quarter of an ounce all these sliced small, white sugar candy five ounces beaten mingle all these togeather and keepe them in a box dry, and every morninge fastinge and every eveninge when you in bedd take of it in a spoone what quantety you please.
An Excellent Approved f.18v
Vomit for an Ague
Take of the herbe assarabecka of the leaves Leaves thereof pound them, straine out the Juice thereof and steep it a while in a little beere then drink it a Little before the fitt Comes you must confider [consider] the strength of him that takes it for ii or 3 Leaves is enough for the strongest, but to some 3 as for a child, to some 5, to some 7 & to some 9 accordinge to their age and strength, make ready good store of pofset Ale to drinke in the workinge thereof, that it may worke with the more ease and less danger
For the same an excellent Approved medicine f.19r
Take a peice of a dead mans skull and beat it exeeding small into pouder and a morter, take one spoonfull therof and steep it all night in beere about the quantety of a reasonable draught, take it at the Cominge of the fitt but make but one draught therof, it is a present? remedy and can seth
Canseth neither vommit nor purge.
For the wind in the stomack /a julip/ f.19v
Take possett drinke and boyle there on some broad tyme some sweet fennel seeds some Coriander seeds, and so drinke it as you please
A good julippe in a feaver
Take small ale barley c\Creame or the juice of sour oranges or lemons
A Delicate Julippe by M Roufwelf f.20r
Take [illegible] of faire water a quart of hard sugar three vnces [ounces], of sinamon a little stick boyle them a white then put them in a bason and to them the Juice of three Lymons, of white wine for spoonfulls of rose water sixe spoonfulls, straine them and reserve it to drinke and extremety of heat and thirst. 4 or 5 spoonfulls at a tyme, the Cold of it beinge a little abated
To make siruppe of Damske Roses f.20v
Take of the budds of damaske Roses a good quantety, stampe them and straine them into a narrow mouthed glass and set it in the sun, covered with sallet Oyle [oil] an inch deepe untill it pitch then take away the oyle and straine it, let it simber over the fire with the double weight of sugar, & make a siruppe of it
For the headache a good remedy
Take a pretty draught of surfeit water with a little sugar in it, and it will presently cause ease
The virtues of pouder of earth wormes by Doctor Bonham
f.21r
One dragme of this powder mixed with the Juice of marigolds and nt some sweet wyne as muscadell or matheglyn, doth Cure the epylepsis, Also with white wyne and Mirhe it helpeth the dropsie, the Jaudis with new wyne, as also the stone and ulcers in the reines or bladder, it stays with the loofenes of the belly, helpeth barrenness, & expetheth the secondine, Aswageth the paine of the Sciatica, openenth the obstructions of the liver taketh away Tertian Agues, & expetheth all wormes bred in the guts begine given and takes with the decoction or def[s]tilled water Of Germander wormeword southernwood Garlic Censtory or such like, See Topfell his history of inpentix [appendix] in the end concepninge earth wormes where is noted the maner how this pouder [powder] is to be made Fol:3io
An approused speciall Medicine for the stone
Take Cherrystone kernells one spoonfull six Almonds blanched three tymes Beater and strained then take a pint of white wyne & six spoonfulls of Red rose water, & as much of beane flower water let them all simber vpon [upon] the Embers for a quarter of an hour then put to it 3 vnces of sugar and to drinks it warme morninge and evenige
f.21v
For makinge of the beane flower water you must at the tyme of the yeare take halfe a peck of beane flowers & as much of wild tyme & steepe them a whiles in milke & so let it be distilled
Aglister for the stone
Take of Beets of mallows of violet Leaves of pellotiry of the wall & Calamite of each one handfull, boyle all theise in a pinte of milke & turne it with some white wyne, which beinge strained put thernato the yolks of two eggs one spoonful of honey 10 & a little bay salt fennel seed & a little Anyse
Approached medicine for the Ague
Take one handfull of red nettle topps and as much spyders Cobwebbe and Crummes of wheaten bread with a little red vinegar and a little bay salt binde this to both handwrests and bottoms of the feete
