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W. Bruce Fye Center For the History of Medicine: Selections from the W. Bruce Fye History of Medicine Library: Botany and Herbals

Selections from the W. Bruce Fye History of Medicine Library: Botany and Herbals

The development of botanical knowledge is intertwined with the history of medicine, with the use of plants in medical treatment documented to at least 5,000 years ago in written records and 60,000 years in archaeological studies. “Herbals” are books that identify and describe plants and their usage, both medical and non-medical. They provide guidance for use and help pass botanical knowledge on to new practitioners. As seen here, many also include beautiful illustrations.

This exhibit includes books significant to the history of botany, medicine, and science. It also includes books that have lovely imagery. January in the Midwest is cold and snowy, and spending a cozy evening dreaming of warmer weather with garden seed catalogs is a customary practice. At the very least, maybe this exhibit will serve as a reminder that spring is right around the corner. 

Curated by the W. Bruce Fye History of Medicine Library staff with assistance from the W. Bruce Fye Center for the History of Medicine staff.

As you scroll through the author galleries below, click on the images for a closer view.

John Stephenson (1790-1864)

Stephenson, John (1790-1864)
Medical botany, or, Illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin pharmacopœias : comprising a popular and scientific account of all those poisonous vegetables that are indigenous to Great Britain
London: J. Churchill, c1831

John Gerard (1545-1612)

Gerard, John (1545-1612) 
The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes
Amended by Thomas Johnson. London: Adam Islip, Joice Norton, and Richard Whitakers, c1633 


John Gerard was an English barber-surgeon and amateur botanist. During his 7-year apprenticeship to a London barber-surgeon, Gerard cultivated a garden near his cottage in the late 16th century. While his primary interest in plants was their medicinal qualities, he also received rare plants and seeds from around the world, including the first potato (solanum tuberosum) grown in England. 

William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was one of the most powerful men in England at the time. He was the chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, serving her as both Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer. He became Gerard’s patron and installed him as the superintendent of the gardens in the Strand and at Theobald’s in Hertfordshire. Gerard also obtained the position of curator of the garden at the London College of Physicians.    

Charles Frederick Millspaugh (1854-1923)

Millspaugh, Charles Frederick (1854-1923)
American medicinal plants : an illustrated and descriptive guide to the American plants used as homœopathic remedies: their history, preparation, chemistry and physiological effects
New York:  Boericke & Tafel, c1887


Charles Millspaugh was a physician and botanist from New York. While he had an interest in botany from a young age, he pursued a career as a physician.

Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566)

Leonard Fuchs is one of the three German “Founders of Botany” along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock, who worked in the 16th century to establish botany as a field outside of medicine by creating and publishing herbals, or books about the medicinal uses of plants. 

Fuchs was a self-starter, enrolling in university at 14, founding his own school at age 16, becoming a physician at age 23, and a professor at age 25. He created one of the first botanical gardens at the University of Tubingen in Germany. 

Jacob Bigelow (1786-1879)

Bigelow, Jacob (1786-1879)
American Medical Botany
Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, c1817-20


Jacob Bigelow was a physician, botanist, and botanical illustrator from Massachusetts. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in Philadelphia. There, he established an interest in botany under the guidance of Benjamin Smith Barton, a professor of materia medica and botanical patron. Bigelow joined a successful medical practice but kept up with his botanical interests. He first published Florula Bostoniensis in 1814, with two more editions following. These volumes focused first on plants grown within 10 miles of Boston and each volume expanded the area studied until by the third edition, a wide area of New England was covered. These works brought him to the attention of the leading naturalists in Europe and he was able to grow an extensive scientific correspondence. 

Carl von Linné (1707-1778)

Linné, Carl von (1707-1778)
Systema Naturae
Amsterdam: Houttuyn, c1761-85


Carl von Linné was a highly acclaimed Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician. He is best known for popularizing and consistently using the binomial nomenclature, which was first developed by the Bauhin family two centuries prior. Binomial nomenclature is the system which names the species of living things with a two-part Latin grammatical form. 

François Pierre Chaumeton (1775-1819)

Chaumeton, François Pierre (1775-1819), Chamberet, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-Anne-César Tyrbas de (1779-1870), Poiret, Jean Louis Marie (1755-1834), 
Flore médicale
Paris: Imprimerie de C.L.F. Panckoucke, c1828-1832

Pierre Pomet (1658-1699)

Pomet, Pierre (1658-1699)
A Compleat History of Druggs
London: R. Bonwick, et al., c1712


Pierre Pomet was a successful apothecary and chief druggist to Louis XIV of France, the Sun King. He sold medicinal remedies and foodstuffs, such as ground mummies, indigo, and coffee, imported from distant lands. Pomet sourced materials, collected recipes, and recorded collective knowledge during his extensive travels through Europe as markets grew as a result of Dutch, British, and Spanish colonization.

Mary Vaux Walcott (1860-1940)

Walcott, Mary Vaux (1860-1940)
Wild flowers of America
New York: Crown Publishers, c1953


Mary Morris Vaux Walcott was a Quaker artist and naturalist from Pennsylvania. Her father had a keen interest in geology and took the family on summer trips to the Rocky Mountains in Canada, where the children studied mineralogy. After Walcott’s mother died, Mary remained at home to care for her father and siblings, losing the opportunity to study at Bryn Mawr College. 

William Meyrick

Meyrick, William
The new family herbal; or, Domestic physician: enumerating, with accurate descriptions, all the known vegetables which are any way remarkable for medical efficacy; with an account of their virtues in the several diseases incident to the human frame
Birmingham: T. Pearson, c1790

Peter P. Good (Peter Peyto) (1789?-1875)

Good, Peter P. (Peter Peyto) (1789?-1875)
The family flora and materia medica botanica : containing the botanical analysis, natural history, and chemical and medical properties and uses of plants
Cambridge, Mass: Good, c1854

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Credits

This exhibit was designed and curated by the staff of The W. Bruce Fye History of Medicine Library. All books and artifacts are from the Library collection.

To learn more about Mayo Clinic history, heritage and the history of medicine, visit:

List of Current and Past Exhibits