Medicinal Gallery

Persian pharmacy, 13th century artwork

Persian pharmacy. 13th century Arabic artwork entitled The Preparation of Medicine from Honey'. This image was produced in Baghdad, Iraq, whilst it was still part of the Persian Empire. It is from a 1224 Arabic translation of the manuscript De Materia Medica, written by the ancient Greek physician Dioscurides (c.40-c.90 AD), in which he described herbs and herbal remedies. A doctor can be seen stirring the medicine in a large bowl over an open fire (centre), while the large pots (urns) used to store it are at top

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Soursop, Annona muricata

Soursop, graviola or guyabano tree, Annona muricata, Corossol a fruit herisse. Handcoloured steel engraving by Alphonse-Leon Noel after a botanical illustration by Edouard Maubert from Pierre Oscar Reveil, A. Dupuis, Fr. Gerard and Francois Herincq's La Regne Vegetal: Flore Medicale, L. Guerin, Paris, 1864-1871. Soursop, graviola or guyabano tree, Annona muricata, Corossol a fruit herisse. Handcoloured steel engraving by Alphonse-Leon Noel after a botanical illustration by Edouard Maubert from Pierre Oscar Reveil, A. Dupuis, Fr. Gerard and Francois Herincq's La Regne Vegetal: Flore Medicale, L. Guerin, Paris, 1864-1871. Soursop, graviola or guyabano tree, Annona muricata, Corossol a fruit herisse. Handcoloured steel engraving by Alphonse-Leon Noel after a botanical illustration by Edouard Maubert from Pierre Oscar Reveil, A. Dupuis, Fr. Gerard and Francois Herincq's La Regne Vegetal: Flore Medicale, L. Guerin, Paris, 1864-1871. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Children under a sunlamp, 1960 C016/2693

Phototherapy. Children sitting under a sun lamp. Such lamps have a very bright, broad spectrum output. At the longer wavelength end of the spectrum (red and infrared) this gives a sensation of warmth on the skin while the higher wavelengths (blue and ultraviolet) promote the production of Vitamin D. In many northern European countries such therapies used to be given during winter periods, ostensibly to make the children healthy'. Photographed in Russia in 1960

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY