The Ladies Dispensatory

Leonard Sowerby's self-healing manual for women, "The Ladies' Dispensatory", emerged in England in 1652 amidst an abundance of medical self-help books for the lay citizen. Written for both the common patient and the amateur health provider, these manuals of home remedies provided their readers with a variety of potential solutions to common ailments or disease. The editors have here resurrected Sowerby's original manuscript and have provided both historical and medical explanations of its uses and usefulness. From a common garlic remedy to "fortify the brain" to "a hog's heel, burned to powder" for easing colic, "The Ladies' Dispensatory" is a look at health and hygiene in the 17th century.