Water germander, from William Woodville's
'Medical botany', 1790.
'Medical botany', 1790.
Water germander was known from ancient times to have a 'peculiar antiseptic power', and was effective 'in all pestilential and putrid diseases'.
'Medical botany', a guide to the use of plants in medicine, was written and illustrated by William Woodville (1752-1805), and published in 1790. The book contains descriptions and illustrations of the medicinal properties of a wide range of plants.
Smallpox inoculation
Woodville studied medicine at Edinburgh University. After publishing 'Medical botany', he turned his attention to inoculation and the work of Edward Jenner on smallpox inoculation.
This book was on show in 'Plague!', our exhibition on Scotland's history of disease, which ran at the National Library from 11 December 2015 to 29 May 2016.