Useful Links & Downloadable Texts

Traditional and Herbal Medicine Websites

Dr. Michael Tierra-Planet Herbs–herbal blog, several scanned old texts, and runs a herbal course.
Henriettas Herb page–great site with old texts, articles, archives, image galleries etc.
SWSBM-Michael Moore–Herbal school website; a huge herbal medicine resource with texts, blogs, articles etc.
Greek Medicine–great resource on the Philosophy of Greek Medicine by David Osborn
itmonline–with a bias towards TCM, it also contains useful information on the other Traditions.

Medical Systems

Chinese (TCM)

Acupuncture.com–massive database of Acupuncture and TCM
itmonline–useful information and articles on TCM

Indian (Ayurveda)

Ayurveda.com–site of Vasant Lad
The Chopra Center–teaching and treatments of Ayurveda

Greek-Unani

Tayyebi–Unani company in Pakistan; overview of herbs, formulas, and background on Unani medicine
CCRUM–Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (India); source of various information
Greek Medicine–great resource on the Philosophy of Greek Medicine by David Osborn
Traditional Medicine Network–good introduction to Unani medicine
www.unani.com–Official site of Hakim G. M. Chishti, author of The Traditional Healer’s Handbook
The Avicenna Institute–Official website of the Islamic Natural Healing & Education Network
Hamdard–leader in the field of Unani; website supplies many traditional formulas used in the Western tradition.

Persian/Iranian

unaprod.com–natural products used in Iranian traditional medicine
The Avicenna Institute–Official website of the Islamic Natural Healing & Education Network

Tibetan

Men Tsee Khang–official Tibetan Medicine Astrology and Medicine Institute website
Tibetan Medicine Education Center–a wonderful resource for studying Tibetan Medicine
Bhutanese Medicine (ITMS)–informative site with many Tibetan formulas (used in Bhutan) listed.
Jcrows–Tibetan Medicine handbook listing Tibetan formulas; this website also sells Tibetan Jewel Pills.
Dharmapala Thangka Center–brief explanation of the medical Thangkas of Tibetan Medicine

Alchemy

There is a large overlap between Traditional Medicine & Alchemy
An Alchemists Glossary of Terms, Definitions, Formulas & Concoctions
Alchemy Website on Levity

Useful Downloadable and Readable Texts

Google Books–a huge and ever-increasing resource of old texts; search ‘Dispensatory’; ‘Pharmacopoeia’; ‘Medicine’; ‘Herbal’ etc. to find many hundreds of books, often available as a PDF download. However, many of the copies are of poor quality.
Other sources such as University of Dusseldorf and e-rara contain a large number of downloadable texts in much better quality.

Herbals

A selection of Herbals.
New Kreuterbuch, Hieronymos Boch (1546) (Illustrated, German)
Kreuterbuch, kunstliche Conterfeytunge, Uffenbach & Lonitzer:
   –1678 edition, (e-rara, high quality downloadable)
Tabernaemontanus, Jacob Theodore, New vollkommen Kräuter-Buch (1664) (University of Dusseldorf)
Culpepers Herbal:
    –English Physician Enlarged (downloadable, 1660)
    –The English Physitian Enlarged (downloadable, 1666) – an early edition of Culpepers English Physitian
    –Complete Herbal (online and searchable, 1814 edition)
    –Culpepers Complete Herbal, download PDF (1880 edition )
Botanologia: The English Herbal (Salmon) (English), 1710 – a grand Herbal of English plants with illustrations
    –(Google) low resolution, downloadable
    –(archive.com), high resolution, color, good quality downloadable (297MB)
    –(e-rara) high resolution, color, good quality, downloadable (859MB)
Parkinsons Herbal (Theatrum Botanicum) (John Parkinson) (English), 1640 – famous English herbal with illustrations
    –(Google) low resolution, poor quality
    –(e-rara) high quality, high resolution, downloadable
Gerards Herbal, or The Herball or General History of Plants
    –1597, downloadable
    –GerardsHerbal.com – searchable and downloadable pages
    –(e-rara) 1636 edition, high quality, high resolution, downloadable
A nievve herball (Dodoens), (English) 1578 – a very early English herbal, printed in old English text
A Curious Herbal (illustrated Herbal of 1739, downloadable)
Grieves Herbal, searchable online

Dispensatories and Pharmacopoeias

This is a brief and introductory list of Dispensatories and Pharmacopeias.
Antidotarium Special, Wecker (1574) (University of Dusseldorf)
Pharmacopoeia Radcliffeana, (English) 1716 – Pharmacopeia of Dr. Radcliff
Pharmacopeia Augustana (Latin) – the Augustine Pharmacopeia, a source of many great formulas
Pharmacopeia Augustana (1646) – better quality, from Univesity of Dusseldorf
Pharmacopeia Augustana Reformata (Zwelfer) (Latin) 1672 – a reformed version
Pharmacopeia Bateana (English, 1713) – filled with interesting formulas, translated into English by William Salmon
Pharmacopeia Bateana (English translation, Salmon, 1694) – better quality (University of Dusseldorf)
Pharmacopeia Londinensis, 1667 (Latin) – an early London Pharmacopeia in Latin
Pharmacopeia Londinensis, 1691 (English) – English translation by William Salmon (University of Dusseldorf)
Opera, Mesue, 1623 (University of Dusseldorf)
Medical Experiments (Boyle) (English), 1696 – various tried and proven recipes from the eminent Robert Boyle
A Medical Dispensatory (Renou) (English), 1657 – translated from French, a detailed dispensatory and pharmacopea
A Medical Dispensatory (Renou) (English), 1657 – better quality version (University of Dusseldorf)
Pharmacopoeia pauperum, or, The hospital dispensatory (Banyer) (English), 1718 – a Hospital Dispensatory
Panzoologicomineralogia (Lovell) (English), 1661 – Medical uses of Animal and Mineral medicines
Valerius Corduus, Dispensatory (Latin) (Cordus, Ronedelet) (1622) – a collection of formula in Latin
Valerius Corduus, Dispensatory (Latin) (1637) – a better copy (University of Dusseldorf)

Alchemy, Early Chemistry

The Art of Distillation, John French, 1651; a great introductory text to distillation and the use of chemical medicines prepared from vegetables, animals and minerals. Many great remedies.
Lexicon of Alchemy, or an Alchemical Dictionary, Martin Rulundus, 1612:
-Fully Transcribed, English Text
-Original Latin (Google)

Surgery

The Workes of that Famous Chirurgion Ambrose Parey (Ambroise Paré, 1649) – the work of a famous French surgeon
Several Chirurgical Treatises (Wiseman) (English), 1676 – text on Surgery, including Fractures, Tumors, Skin disease etc.
A Compleat Body of Chirurgical Operations (de La Vauguion, 1702) – from the Royal Hospitals of Paris
Mellificium Chirurgiæ: Or, The Marrow Of Chirurgery (James Cooke, Thomas Gibson, 1704) – an in depth study of Surgery
Eight chirurgical treatises (Richard Wiseman, 1734) – a surgical tract written by ‘Seargeant Surgeon to King Charles II’

Practical Medicine, Medical Treatment

A General Practise of Physick (Wirtzung) (English), 1598 – causes, symptoms and treatment; exhaustive in detail and contains dietary guidelines, simple medicines, as well as recommending classical formula. One of our favorite texts for studying the practice of the Western Tradition.
The Method of Physick (Barrough) (English), 1624 – causes, symptoms and treatment of numerous diseases; great to study!
De Morbis Cutaneis (Turner) (English), 1714 – treatment of skin diseases
A Compleat Treatise of Preternatural Tumors (John Browne, 1678) – the treatment of Tumors
See also Useful Medicinal Texts

Eastern Medical Systems

Charaka Samhita – formative Ayurvedic classic of medicine, entire text readable online
An essay on the antiquity of Hindoo medicine (John Forbes Royle, 1837) – a work on Indian Medicine
Tibetan Medicine: Illustrated in Original Texts – the original English text on Tibetan Medicine written in 1973. Readable online.

Other

The Urinal of Physick (Record) (English), 1665 – an interesting and detailed text on Urine diagnosis
The Secret Miracles of Nature (Lemnius) (English), 1658 – a curious book containing various information, some of it medicinal
The Anatomy of Melancholy (Burton, 1800) – an in-depth work on Melancholy

Herbarium

Hong Kong Herbarium – an enormous resource of plant specimens
L. H. Bailey Hortorium Herbarium – housed at Cornell University, is one of the largest Herbariums in North America

Herbal Illustrations

Botanicalillustrations.org – incredible resource for Botanical Illustrations from Herbals

Plant Names

The World Flora Online – International collaboration that lists all plants with current accepted names and synonyms.
Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (University of Melbourne)

Pharmacological Research

PubMed–National Institute of Medicine; search hundreds of Journals for Herbal and Traditional Medicine research
Dr. Dukes Phytochemical and Ethnobotany database

Videos

The Barefoot Doctors of Rural China – awesome early documentary of Barefoot Doctors (1975) (50 minutes)
Ayurveda – Art of Being (1:45)
Secrets of Ancient Medicine
The Science of Acupuncture (BBC, 49 minutes)
Tabiyat (Unani) Medicine & Healing in India (23 minutes)
The Blue Buddha – Lost Secrets of Tibetan Medicine (45 minutes)
Tibetan Medicine (Tibet Foundation)
Traditional Tibetan Medicine, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang (6 part Introduction to Tibetan Medicine)
Making Tibetan Precious Pills, Dharamsala, India (5 minutes)
An Illustration of Tibetan Medicine (a look at Medical Thangkas) (15 minutes)
Preparing Plants for the Herbarium at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (12 minutes)

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