Nicholas Culpeper, published The English Physitian in 1652; although never licensed by the College of Physicians, he achieved wide recognition among the wider public. A revised second edition followed in 1653, in which he expanded the work by adding further plants. Culpeper was fluent in Greek and Latin and had impressed his tutors at Cambridge, where he attended from age 18. Leaving before he graduated, he later became an apprentice to an apothecary.[1]

          Culpeper’s unpopularity with the College of Physicians began in 1649, when he translated the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis from Latin into English.[2]  By standardising recipes and preparations for apothecaries and physicians, he made them less exclusive and accessible to the wider public. It was his deliberate defiance of the College of Physicians, along with his lack of a formal qualification, that influenced his reputation as a quack.[3]

          In the publication of The English Physitian in 1652, Culpeper reproduced 328 definitions, in some cases precisely, from John Parkinson’s Theatrum Botanicum (1640). He drew a further two definitions from John Gerard’s Herbal and one from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History.[4] However, unlike Parkinson, Culpeper incorporated astrology. Consultation with the stars was not unusual in the seventeenth century, as both physicians and patients widely accepted astrological medicine. Culpeper assigned herbs to planetary rulers and, in some cases, to signs of the zodiac. These celestial correspondences were then interpreted through Galen’s humoral theory, producing explanations that differed from Parkinson’s botanical classifications.[5] Culpeper was a capable scholar whose knowledge and intellect ensured that his book went beyond a mere translation of others’ work.

          Although labelled a quack, Culpeper’s success came from his decision to publish his work in English. He deliberately reduced Parkinson’s contents to native plants and omitted illustrations, producing a smaller, more affordable volume that sold for just three pence.[6] His vision was to make natural remedies accessible to ordinary people, stripping away the exclusivity of physicians and the prohibitive costs that placed medical knowledge beyond the reach of most. The expanded second edition became one of the most successful medical works ever translated into English; it remains in print and reappears on average once every decade.[7]

 

[1]  Patricia Meares, ‘Nicholas Culpeper 1616-1654 Correcting the Record’, in The Herbalist, 74 (2008), 115–122 (p. 116).

[2] See: Matthew Wood, ‘A ‘weapon dressed as a book’: the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis’, <https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/blog/weapon-dressed-book-pharmacopoeia-londinensis> [accessed 28 November 2025].

[3] Unqualified doctor. See: OED, s.v., ‘Quack’, <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/quack_n2?tab=meaning_and_use> [accessed 29 November 2025].

[4] Graeme Tobyn, ‘Culpeper’s Herbal The English Physitian and its Debt to Apothecary John Parkinson’, in Medical History, 68.3 (2024), 237–253 (p. 239); ‘Gerard’s Herbal’, Fruits of the Earth: Plants in the Service of Mankind, King’s College London Special Collections, <https://kingscollections.org/exhibitions/specialcollections/fruits-of-the-earth-plants-in-the-service-of-mankind/the-herbal/gerards-herbal> [accessed 1 December 2025].

[5] Graeme Tobyn, ‘Dr Reason and Dr Experience: Culpepper’s Assignation of Planetary Rulers in The English Physitian’, in From Māshā ‘ Āllah to Leplen: Theory and Practice in Medieval Renaissance Astrology, ed. by Charles Burnett and Dorian Gieseler Greenhaum (Lampeter: Sophia Centre Press, 2015), pp. 475–492 (p. 477).

[6] Graeme Tobyn, ‘Culpeper’s Herbal The English Physitian’, (p. 240)

[7] Meares, ‘Nicholas Culpeper 1616-1654’, p. 115.

Editorial Notes

The entry is transcribed from the second edition, The English Physitian Enlarged (1653). See First Edition 1652 here. All punctuation and capitalisation are as in the original. Spelling is lightly modernised, and the Vertues and Use sections are spaced for readability.

Entry: Hemlock

Hemlock is one of the classifications Culpeper took from Parkinson’s herbal. Its entry follows the standard format used throughout the book, organised by description, place, time, virtues, and use. A close reading of Culpeper’s edition alongside Parkinson’s original reveals how Culpeper drew on Parkinson’s information, retaining some elements, omitting others, and adding his own. Hemlock is thought to be responsible for Aristotle's death; Parkinson refers to this in his description.

Compare both entries…

Hemlock[1]

Description.

The common great Hemlock groweth up with a green stalk four of five foot high or more, full of red spots sometimes, and at the Joints very large winged leaves set at them which are divided into many other winged leaves, one set against another dented about the edges, of a sad green colour branched towards the top where it is full of Umbels[2] of white Flowers, and afterwards with whitish flat seed: The Root is long, white, and sometimes crooked and hollow within, the whole Plant and every part hath a strong, heady, and ill flavor’d scent, much offending the senses.

 

Place.

It groweth in all Countries of this Land by Walls and Hedges sides, in waste grounds and untilled[3] places.

 

Time.

It Flowreth and Seedeth in July, or thereabouts.

 

Vertues and Use.

Saturn claims Dominion over the Herb[4]; yet I wonder why it may not be applied to the privities[5] in a Priapismus;[6] or continual Standing of the Yard[7], it being very beneficial for that Disease; I suppose my Authors Judgement was first upon the opposite Disposition of Saturn to Venus[8] in those faculties, and therefore he forbid the applying of it to those parts that it might cause Barrenness, or spoil the Spirit Procreative, which if it do, yet applied to the Privities it stops lustful thoughts.[9]

 

Hemlock is exceedingly cold[10] and very dangerous, especially to be taken inwardly:[11] It may safely be applied to Inflamations, Tumors, and Swelling in any part of the Body (save the Privy parts)[12] as also to St. Anthonies fire[13], Wheals, Pushes[14], and creeping Ulcers[15] that rise of hot sharp Humors, by cooling and repelling the heat.[16]

 

The Leaves bruised and laid to the Brow or Forehead, is good for their Eyes that are red and swollen, as also to take away a Pin and Web[17] growing in the Eye, this is a tried medicine,;

 

Take a small handful of the herb and half so much Bay Salt[18] beaten together, and applied to the contrary Wrist of the Hand for twenty four Hours, doth remove it in thrice dressing.[19]

 

If the Root hereof be roasted under the Embers, wrapped in double wet Papers, until it be Soft and tender, and then applied to the Gout in the Hands or Fingers it will quickly help this evil.[20]

 

If any shall through mistake eat the Herb Hemlock instead of Parsly, or the Root instead of a Parsnip (both which is very like)[21] whereby hapneth a kind of Phrensie[22], or Pertubation[23] of the Senses, as if they were stupefied[24] or drunk, The Remedy is as Pliny[25] faith, to drink the best and strongest pure Wine, before it strike to the Heart, or Gentian put into Wine[26], or a draught of good Vinegar, wherewith Tragus doth affirm that he cured a Woman that had eaten the Root.[27]

 

Side Notes (Printed on the side of the original page):

Inflamations, St. Anthonies Fire, Tetters[28], Ring Worms, Eyes, Pin and Web.

Gout. Lechery[29].

[1] See: Second Edition 1653, The English physitian enlarged: with three hundred, sixty, and 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, (London, 1650), p.122.

 

[2] Umbel: A cluster of flowers, each on stalks of almost equal length, all arising from a single point.

 

[3] Untilled: soil left untouched, unploughed, or in its natural state.

 

[4] Each planet had its own humoral quality. Saturn was furthest away from the Sun and was therefore associated with cold and dry. Saturn governs melancholy. Herbs under his dominion were used to counter excess heat or to restrain bodily appetites. See: ‘The Planetary Humors’, The Astrological Explorer, <https://www.theastrologicalexplorer.co.uk/the-planetary-humors/> [accessed 1 December 2025].

 

[5] Privities: Genitals

 

[6] Priapismus: A continuous, sometimes painful, erection which occurs without sexual arousal.

 

[7] A seventeenth Century Colloquial term, for an erection. Culpeper used this term alongside the Latin Priapismus, which was less likely to be understood by the layman audience he was aiming the book at. For another seventeenth century example of this term, used in context, See: Leonard Sowerby, The ladies dispensatory : containing the natures, vertues, and qualities of all herbs, and simples usefull in physick. Reduced into a methodicall order, for their more ready use in any sicknesse, or other accident of the body. The like never published in English. With an alphabeticall table of all the vertues of each herb, and simple (London: 1652), p. 141.

 

[8] Venus was seen as warm and moist and is associated with the reproduction. See: Matthew and Crystal, ‘The Planetary Rulership of Plants’, Ancient Astrology, 3 March 2019, https://www.ancientastrology.com/articles-/the-planetary-rulership-of-plants [accessed 1 December 2025].

 

[9] ‘My Author’s Judgement’ refers to Parkinson, who, in his definition of hemlock, stated that it was not safe to use hemlock on the male genitals, ‘the remedy is more dangerous than the disease’. Culpeper is mocking his entry and disagrees with Parkinson's view by saying the urgency of the condition and a need to cure it, outweighs the potential damage to a man’s sexual potency. See: Graeme Tobyn, ‘Culpeper’s Herbal The English Physitian and its Debt to Apothecary John Parkinson’, in Medical History, 68.3 (2024), 237–253 (p. 247)

 

[10] Cold is a reference to Humoral Theory, in which ailments and infections were treated with a contrary plant; hemlock is described as cold and can be used to heal ‘hot’ conditions such as inflammations, ulcers, etc. See: ‘Humoral Theory: The basis of medical thought for millennia’, <https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/documents/exhibitions/plantsandprayers/5.-humoral-theory-the-basis-of-medical-thought-for-millenia.pdf> [accessed 29 November 2025]

 

[11] Not to be ingested.

 

[12] Privy parts: Genitals, (unless in extreme cases such as Priapismus, as already stated).

 

[13] St. Anthony's Fire is a historical term for a condition caused by ergot poisoning. Also known as Ergotism, the disease comes from fungus infected Rye Kernals, and has seen several serious outbreaks through the Early Modern era. See: G. Cervellin, ‘One holy man, one eponym, three distinct diseases. St. Anthony’s fire revisited’, in Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 92.1 (2021). 1–8 (p. 3).

 

[14] Wheal, Pushes: Both terms for a pimple, pustule or boil. See: OED, s.v., ‘wheal’; s.v., ‘pushes’

 

[15] Creeping ulcers: An ulcer that slowly extends across the surface, marked by a winding, wave shaped border. See: The Free Dictionary, s.v., ‘ser·pig·i·nous’ <https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/serpiginous> [accessed 29 November 2025]

 

[16] See note seven.

 

[17] Pin and Web: Lesion or clouding of the eye, perhaps Cataracts. See, OED, s.v., ‘pin’, II.4.a.

 

[18] Bay salt: Sea salt.

 

[19] Apply to the opposite wrist: Galen contrary theory, the belief was that if the cure was applied to the opposite area, it would counter-balance the negative effects of the ailment. Apply three times, removing dressing after twenty-four hours. See: Ian Johnston, ‘Galen and His System of Medicine’, in Oxford Handbook of Science and Medicine in the Classical World, ed. by Paul T. Keyser, and John Scarborough (2018; online edn, Oxford Academic, 10 July 2018), <https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199734146.013.40>, [accessed 29 November  2025] (5.2, The Practical Application, IV)

 

[20] Treatment for Gout: Slow roast the root between wet paper so not to burn it, apply to affected area.

 

[21] Parsnip and parsley, along with hemlock are all part of the Apiaceae family. Sometimes similar in appearance, caution is needed when harvesting. See: Xiao-Jing Wang, Qing Luo, Tong Li, Ping-Hong Meng, Yu-Ting Pu, Jie-Xia Liu, Jian Zhang, Hui Liu, Guo-Fei Tan, Ai-Sheng Xiong, ‘Origin, evolution, breeding, and omics of Apiaceae: a family of vegetables and medicinal plants’, Horticulture Research, 9 uhac076 (2022), 1–28 (p.). <https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhac076> [accessed 20 November 2025]

 

[22] Early modern term for Frenzy, see: OED, s.v., ‘Frenzy’

 

[23] Pertubation: Agitation to the mind or soul, see: OED. S.v., ‘pertubation’

 

[24] Stupefied: Shocked or stunned, see: OED. s.v., ‘stupefied’

 

[25] Pliny: Pliny the Elder authored Natural History, which is one of the earliest surviving encyclopedias. See: Emily Albu, ‘Pliny the Elder, Natural History — Selections’, in Primary Sources on Monsters: Demonstrare Volume 2, ed. by Asa Simon Mittman and Marcus Hensel (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018), pp. 43–48 (p. 43).

 

[26] Pliny’s advice on using strong wine and adding Genetian (a long root, see: OED. S.v., ‘Gentian’) to wine to help counter-act the poison. See: Pliny the Elder, Natural History, trans. H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library, vol. IX (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938), Book XXXII, p. 497, available at <https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL418.497.xml> [accessed 30 November 2025]

 

[27] Tragus refers to Hieronymus Tragus, a German botanist. He claimed in his book, New Kreütter Buch that he cured a woman who had ingested Hemlock, and cured her with vinegar. See: ‘Hieronymus Bock’, Prabook, <https://prabook.com/web/hieronymus.bock/2349889> [accessed 1 December 2025].

 

[28] Tetters: An irruption of the skin. See: OED. s.v., ‘tetter’

 

[29] Lechery: Lusful lewdness. See: OED. s.v., ‘lechery’

 

Bibliography