PBA Galleries

Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654), an English botanist, physician, and astrologer, is a legendary figure in the field of herbal medicine. He studied in Cambridge, became apprenticed to an apothecary, and later ran a pharmacy in London. He believed that the use of Latin by doctors, lawyers and priests was a conspiracy to keep power and freedom away from the general public. In keeping with his beliefs, he challenged the monopoly of the medical establishment, and in 1649 published an English translation of the physicians pharmacopoeia “A Physicall Directory” that had up until then only been published in Latin. In addition, he used the English common names of plants in his practice rather than Latin names to communicate with his poorer clients, who might collect their remedies in the nearby countryside. In 1653, he published his famous “The English Physician, or Herball.” Culpeper died of tuberculosis at the young age of 38.