Culpeper's Complete Herbal: Over 400 Herbs And Their Uses

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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:

in writing this work first, to satisfy myself, I drew out all the virtues of the vulgar or common [iv] Robert Hartle, 2017, The New Churchyard: from Moorfields marsh to Bethlem burial ground, Brokers Row and Liverpool Street, Crossrail: London, p. 177. Cottonweed, boiled in lye as a treatment for head lice or infestations in cloth or clothing; inhaled for headaches and coughing Culpeper came from a line of notabilities, including the courtier Thomas Culpeper, who was reputed to be a lover of Catherine Howard (also a distant relative), the fifth wife of Henry VIII. [4] [5] Biography [ edit ] Scialabba, George (30 November 2004). "The Worst Medicine; book review of 'Heal Thyself: Nicholas Culpeper and the Seventeenth-Century Struggle to Bring Medicine to the People' ". Washington Post (online) . Retrieved 31 October 2007.Nicholas Culpeper cited in The herbalist: Nicholas Culpeper and the fight for medical freedom, by Benjamin Woolley, London: HarperCollins, 2004, p. 320. Anemone, as a juice applied externally to clean ulcerations, infections and cure leprosy; or inhaled to clear the nostrils Fleabane, for bites from "venomous beasts", and its smoke for killing gnats and fleas; but dangerous to pregnant women Because of the 'old threadbare Pleas, It would do people harm' to give them access to pharmaceutical information."

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: Bedstraw, boiled in oil and applied externally as a stimulant, or consumed as an aphrodisiac; also applied raw externally to stimulate clotting are so clear to every eye? but that Scripture shall be verified to them, Rom. i. 20: “ The invisible 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. things under the sun farewell. Farewell, my dear wife and child; farewell, Arts and Sciences, which

Transcription from Pharmacopoeia Londinensis: or the London dispensatory, by Nicholas Culpeper, London: printed for Peter Cole, 1649, p. 70. Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654)—Physician-Astrologer". JAMA. 187 (11): 854–855. March 1964. doi: 10.1001/jama.1964.03060240062020. PMID 14100140.