Culpeper, Nicholas (1995). Culpeper's Complete Herbal: A Book of Natural Remedies of Ancient Ills (The Wordsworth Collection Reference Library) (The Wordsworth Collection Reference Library). NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company. ISBN 1-85326-345-1.

Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654)—Physician-Astrologer". JAMA. 187 (11): 854–855. March 1964. doi: 10.1001/jama.1964.03060240062020. PMID 14100140. Culpeper attempted to make medical treatments more accessible to lay persons by educating them about maintaining their health. Ultimately his ambition was to reform the system of medicine by questioning traditional methods and knowledge and exploring new solutions for ill health. The systematisation of the use of herbals by Culpeper was a key development in the evolution of modern pharmaceuticals, most of which originally had herbal origins. [8]

a Physician should be predestinated to the cure of his patient; and the horoscope should be inspected,

Culpeper though had attended university and was used to reading Latin. This meant he was able to study the text during his apprenticeship at an apothecary and note its many faults. He was approached to write a translation of Pharmacopoeia, and in late August 1649 it was published. At the time, the text caused outrage among physicians who saw it as a way to reveal their medicinal secrets to the ‘common masses’. Culpeper not only translated the text, making it legible to those who could read, but also included recipes alongside their healing properties, meaning the public could access the information and no longer required the expertise of a physician, as Culpeper states: Culpeper, Nicholas (1835). The Complete Herbal. University of California Libraries (1835ed.). London: Thomas Kelly. receive as much benefit by this, as by my Dispensatory, and that incomparable piece called, SemioticaThe English Physician Enlarged: With Three Hundred and Sixty-Nine Medicines, made of English Herbs, that were not in any impression until this. Being an astrologo-physical discourse of the vulgar herbs of this nation ... . Barker, London [1800] XML (Digital edition) pdf by the University and State Library Düsseldorf

Written in informal, accessible language, it provided a handy index of ailments, making it easy to find the correct herb for a cure. The tone of the book added to its success and popularity: it was funny, rude, and full of anger. Also, it was very cheap compared to other herbals of the day; Culpeper's was priced at only three pence, the same amount it would have cost to buy a pound of almonds. The price made the text accessible to those with little money, who previously would have relied on the service of expensive physicians. When asked why rival herbals were sold at such a high price Nicholas answered:

I] command all and singular Apothecaries, within this our realm of ENGLAND or the dominions thereof […] do not compound, or make any Medicine, or medicinal receipt, or praescription; or distil any Oil, or Waters, or other extractions [...] after the ways or means praescribed or directed, by any other books or Dispensatores whatsover [...] not otherwise &c. upon pain of our high displeasure." Culpeper's translations and approach to using herbals have had an extensive impact on medicine in early North American colonies, and even modern medications. [10] Culpeper was one of the first to translate from Latin documents discussing medicinal plants found in the Americas. His Herbal was held in such esteem that species he described were introduced into the New World from England. [10] Culpeper described the medical use of the foxglove, the botanical precursor to digitalis, used to treat heart conditions. His influence is demonstrated by the existence of a chain of "Culpeper" herb and spice shops in Canada, North America and beyond, and by the continued popularity of his remedies among New Age and alternative holistic medicine practitioners. [8] having published in print such a treatise of Herbs and Plants as my Country men may readily make use of, for their own preservation of health or cure of diseases […] that so by the help of my book they may cure themselves, and never beholding to such Physitians as the inquiry of these times affords." Culpeper saw medicine as a public asset, not a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged as too high compared with the cheap, universal availability of nature's medicine. He felt the use of Latin and the high fees charged by doctors, lawyers and priests worked to deprive the public of power and freedom.

Dittany, as an abortifacient, to induce labour; as a treatment for poisoned weapons, and to draw out splinters and broken bones; the smell is said to drive away "venomous beasts". (One species of dittany, Dictamnus albus, is now known to contain alkaloids, limonoid triterpenoids, flavonoids, sesquiterpenoids, coumarins, and phenylpropane [11])

TEARS, LIQUORS, AND ROZINS.

Affordable, witty and highly practical, Culpeper's herbal went on to become one of the most popular and enduring books in publishing history, so much so that it is still in print today. From the age of 16 he studied at Cambridge, but it is not known at which college, although his father studied at Queens', and his grandfather was a member of Jesus College. He was then apprenticed to an apothecary. After seven years his master absconded with the money paid for the indenture, and soon after, Culpeper's mother died of breast cancer. [6] In 1640, Culpeper married Alice Field, the 15-year-old heiress of a wealthy grain merchant, which allowed him to set up a pharmacy at the halfway house in Spitalfields, London, outside the authority of the City of London, at a time when medical facilities in London were at breaking point. Arguing that "no man deserved to starve to pay an insulting, insolent physician" and obtaining his herbal supplies from the nearby countryside, Culpeper could provide his services free of charge. This and a willingness to examine patients in person rather than simply examining their urine (in his view, "as much piss as the Thames might hold" did not help in diagnosis), Culpeper was extremely active, sometimes seeing as many as 40 patients in a morning. Using a combination of experience and astrology, he devoted himself to using herbs to treat his patients. The way it was. Nicholas Culpeper—the complete herbalist". Nurs. Clin. North Am. 1 (2): 344–345. June 1966. PMID 5177326.