Ladies' Dispensatory

<p>Leonard Sowerby's self-healing manual for women <em>The</em><em>Ladies' Dispensatory</em> 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. Sowerby's <em>Dispensatory</em> was written primarily for curing women's health problems and in that regard focuses heavily on gynecologic problems (the <em>Dispensatory</em> includes numerous preparations for inducing abortion) breast complaints personal hygiene and cosmetic applications.<br><br>Balaban Erlen and Siderits have resurrected Sowerby's original manuscript and have provided both historical and medical explanation 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 <em>The Ladies' Dispensatory</em> is a delightfully unique look at health and hygiene in the seventeenth century. Also inlcludes nine maps.</p>