The families

The great natural groups of the materia medica — snakes, spiders, mercury salts, Kali family, nightshades and more — each family's traditional signature, and every member of this library linked beside it.

The Snakes — Ophidia 6 remedies

The venom family's chapter runs through blood and nerve: bleeding that darkens and will not clot, swelling that purples, the left side and the worse-after-sleep of Lachesis, the calm low pulse of Naja, the aphasia of Bothrops, the cold black blood of Elaps, the bursting vein of Vipera. Survival's chemistry — the strike, the stalk, the digestion of the prey — recorded in each portrait.

• Lachesis muta — Made from the venom of the bushmaster, South America's giant viper — whose peptides taught modern medicine how to lower blood pressure.
• Crotalus horridus — Made from rattlesnake venom — the hemotoxin of the American diamondback, and the classical remedy of dark blood and sinking fevers.
• Bothrops lanceolatus — Made from the fer-de-lance venom — the pit viper whose peptides taught pharmacology how to lower blood pressure, and the classical remedy of bleeding and broken speech.
• Naja tripudians — Made from cobra venom — the serpent whose neurotoxin taught pharmacology the nerve-muscle junction, and the classical remedy of the malignant, low-pulse heart.
• Elaps corallinus — Made from the coral snake's venom — the small American serpent whose neurotoxic bite is a genuine emergency, and the classical remedy of the cold, black-bleeding venom state.
• Vipera berus — Made from the adder's venom — the viper of the European heath whose bite antivenom answers, and the classical remedy of the swollen, bursting vein.

The Spiders — Araneae 4 remedies

The spider chapter is rhythm and trigger: the dancing, music-loving restlessness of Tarentula; the vertigo that sound, motion and closed eyes set off in Theridion; the clockwork cold bones of Aranea; the blue-edged septic wound of the Cuban tarantula. Sensitivity with a pattern — every trigger mapped, every rhythm timed.

• Tarentula hispana — Made from the Spanish wolf spider — the Lycosa of the legendary tarantella dance, and the classical remedy of rhythm and relentless motion.
• Theridion curassavicum — Made from the orange spider of the Antilles — the tropic tree-spider whose venom is a genuine ion-channel research subject, and the classical remedy of the noise-and-motion vertigo.
• Aranea diadema — Made from the cross spider — the garden orb-weaver of Europe, and the classical remedy of the periodicity and the coldness.
• Tarantula cubensis — Made from the Cuban spider's venom — the blue-edged inflammation of the septic chapter, and the classical remedy of the foul, spreading wound.

The Bees and Insects 6 remedies

The insect chapter stings and swarms: the rosy, thirstless swellings of the bee; the burning bladder and blistering beetle; the red threads of cochineal; the damp-worse asthma of the cockroach; the stinging, better-motion joints of the ant; the anguished chill of the bedbug. Small chemistries, sharp effects — each portrait the sting it records.

• Apis mellifica — Made from the honeybee's venom — melittin, the membrane-piercing peptide, and the source of the only true cure for bee-sting allergy.
• Cantharis vesicatoria — Made from the Spanish fly — the blister beetle whose cantharidin is now, remarkably, an approved modern drug for molluscum contagiosum.
• Coccus cacti — Made from cochineal — the cactus-dwelling insect that dyes the world red as carmine, and the classical cough remedy with the thread of pink mucus.
• Blatta orientalis — Made from the oriental cockroach — the most unusual source in the library, long used in respiratory tradition, and a subject of genuine clinical research in respiratory medicine.
• Formica rufa — Made from the wood ant — the formic-acid stinger of the forest floor, and the classical remedy of stinging, swollen rheumatism.
• Cimex — The classical remedy prepared from the bedbug — the uninvited companion of every old bed, and the classical remedy of the intermittent chills.

The Mercury Family 5 remedies

The mercury chapter offends and flows: sweat, saliva and stool that offend; trembling and night aggravation; the hard hot tonsils of the red iodide, the pale syphilitic-throat chapter of the yellow, the purge-liver of calomel, the crimson blotches of cinnabar. The metal of the old gland shelf, recorded to its last salt.

• Mercurius solubilis — Made from mercury — the quicksilver of alchemists, the poison of hatters and mirror-makers, and the classical remedy of everything offensive and sweaty.
• Mercurius iodatus flavus — Made from yellow mercuric iodide — the pale salt of the mercury-and-iodine shelf, and the classical remedy of the syphilitic-throat chapter's glands and tonsils.
• Mercurius iodatus ruber — Made from red mercuric iodide — the red salt of the mercury-and-iodine shelf, and the classical remedy of the hard, swollen tonsils.
• Mercurius dulcis — Made from calomel — the mild mercury chloride of the old pharmacopeias, the centuries' standard liver-and-bowel purge, and the classical remedy of the sluggish liver and the scrofulous glands.
• Cinnabaris — Made from cinnabar — the crimson ore of mercury, the vermilion of emperors' scrolls, and the classical remedy of the syphilitic throat and the red-blotted skin.

The Kali Family — Potassium 8 remedies

The potassium salts run the nerve and the mucus: the 2–4 a.m. asthma and stitching back of Kali carb; the stalled white second stage of Kali mur; the yellow wandering discharges of Kali sulph; the ropy strings and punched ulcers of Kali bich; the hot sweating bones of Kali iod; the bromide fog; the 3 a.m. asthma of the nitrate; the grey brain-fag of the phosphate. One element, the library's saltiest chapter.

• K carbonicum — Made from potassium carbonate — the old 'salt of tartar' of the soap-boilers, and the classical remedy of the 2 a.m. asthma and the stitching back.
• Kali muriaticum — Made from potassium chloride — common salt substitute and hospital electrolyte, and the biochemic 'salt of the second stage of inflammation'.
• Kali sulphuricum — Made from potassium sulfate — the yellow 'biochemic' salt, and the classical remedy of yellow, changeable discharges.
• Kali bichromicum — Made from potassium dichromate — the orange salt of the chrome industry whose ulcers are occupational-disease history, and the classical remedy of stringy mucus.
• Kali iodatum — Made from potassium iodide — the iodine salt that was medicine's first effective syphilis treatment and remains a real expectorant, with 'iodism' as its toxic twin.
• Kali bromatum — Made from potassium bromide — the Victorian sedative that calmed seizures and then poisoned a generation, and the classical remedy of numbed nerves and ruined skin.
• Kali nitricum — Made from saltpetre — the nitrate of gunpowder and preserving, whose nitrate chemistry became modern cardiology's most famous drug family.
• Kali phosphoricum — Made from potassium phosphate — the nerve-salt of the old biochemic system, and the classical remedy of mental prostration.

The Natrum Family — Sodium 5 remedies

The sodium salts hold the water and the grief: the silent, salt-craving grief of Nat mur; the sun-sick, milk-intolerant Nat carb; the damp-worse asthma and head-injury darkness of Nat sulph; the sour wormy child of Nat phos; the ringing, whirling ear of the salicylate. The body's own ocean, in five salts.

• Natrum muriaticum — Made from common salt — the sodium chloride of every cell and every tear, and the classical remedy of silent grief and the reserved, salt-craving constitution.
• Natrum carbonicum — Made from sodium carbonate — the soda of the old alkalies, and the classical remedy of the sun-sick head and the intolerant digestion.
• Natrum sulphuricum — Made from Glauber's salt — the sulfate purgative of the old dispensaries, and the classical remedy of ailments from damp and the head-injury's dark sequel.
• Natrum phosphoricum — Made from sodium phosphate — the biochemic acid-neutraliser, and the classical remedy of the sour, wormy, gouty child.
• Natrum salicylicum — Made from sodium salicylate — the salt of the willow chemistry, and the classical remedy of the ear noises and the Meniere-like vertigo.

The Calcarea Family — Calcium 3 remedies

The calcium salts build the frame: the sour-sweating, egg-craving, fear-dark child of the carbonate; the slow-growing, large-headed, slow-knitting phosphate; the knotted veins, loose teeth and stony glands of the fluoride. Structure, growth and hardness — the skeleton's three salts.

• Calcarea carbonica — Made from oyster-shell calcium carbonate — common chalk; the great constitutional remedy of slow, solid, chilly constitutions.
• Calcarea phosphorica — Made from calcium phosphate — the mineral that builds every bone, and the classical remedy of the growing child and the slow-healing adult.
• Calcarea fluorica — Made from calcium fluoride — the mineral of enamel and bone, and the classical remedy of hard, stony, elastic-tissue states.

The Magnesia Family 3 remedies

The magnesium salts quiet the cramp: the radiating, heat-and-pressure-loving cramp of the phosphate; the milk-aggravated colic of the carbonate; the liver-bound, milk-worse constipation of the chloride. The muscle's mineral, in three forms.

• Magnesia phosphorica — Made from magnesium phosphate — the cramp salt of the biochemic shelf, and the classical remedy of radiating cramps better for heat and pressure.
• Magnesia carbonica — Made from magnesium carbonate — the white chalk of the antacid shelf, and the classical remedy of the milk-aggravated colic.
• Magnesia muriatica — Made from magnesium chloride — the bitter salt of the bitter lakes, and the classical remedy of the liver-bound, milk-worse constipation.

The Arsenicum Family 4 remedies

The arsenic chapter burns and races: the midnight-anxious, sip-and-pace album; the hot, glandular, restless iodide; the intensely itchy psoriasis of the bromide; the exfoliating scaling of the metal. One poison, four portraits — restless to the last salt.

• Arsenicum album — Made from arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃) — a white powder that is a deadly poison in overdose, and a genuine leukaemia drug in controlled hospital doses.
• Arsenicum iodatum — Made from arsenic triiodide — the marriage of the great poison with the thyroid element, and the classical remedy of restless exhaustion with burning discharges.
• Arsenicum bromatum — Made from arsenic tribromide — the halogen salt of the great poison, and the classical remedy of the intensely itchy psoriasis.
• Arsenicum metallicum — Made from metallic arsenic — the grey element itself, and the classical remedy of the exfoliative, scaling skin.

The Acids 10 remedies

The acid chapter corrodes and drains: the warty, splintered, bleeding Nitric; the grey apathy of Phosphoric; the trembling bleeder of Sulphuric; the protruding piles of Muriatic; the dissolving, cold-loving Fluoric; the offensive collapse of Carbolic; the ringing rheumatism of Salicylic; the strong-smelling gout of Benzoic; the milk-rheumatism of Lactic; the alternating convulsion of Hydrocyanic. Corrosion and depletion — the shelf's sharpest chapter.

• Acidum nitricum — Made from nitric acid — the aqua fortis of the alchemists, whose fuming corrosion gave chemistry its name for a metal test, and the classical remedy of warts and bleeding points.
• Acidum phosphoricum — Made from phosphoric acid — the mineral acid of the body's own energy chemistry, and the classical remedy of apathetic exhaustion from grief or growth.
• Acidum sulphuricum — Made from sulfuric acid — the oil of vitriol of the alchemists, the battery acid of the modern world, and the classical remedy of trembling debility with the hemorrhage of the weak.
• Acidum muriaticum — Made from hydrochloric acid — the stomach's own acid, the chemistry of digestion itself, and the classical remedy of the protruding, powerless piles and the bedridden weakness.
• Acidum fluoricum — Made from hydrofluoric acid — the glass-etching acid whose fluoride chemistry serves and scars modern industry, and the classical remedy of destructive bone states.
• Acidum carbolicum — Made from carbolic acid — phenol, the chemistry that founded antiseptic surgery, and the classical remedy of the offensive discharge and the collapse of the weak.
• Acidum salicylicum — Made from salicylic acid — the willow-bark chemistry that became aspirin, the world's most-used drug, and the classical remedy of rheumatism with ringing ears.
• Acidum benzoicum — Made from benzoic acid — the urinary antiseptic of the old pharmacopoeias, still present in medicine as sodium benzoate, and the classical remedy of strong-smelling urine with gout.
• Acidum lacticum — Made from lactic acid — the acid of the working muscle and the fermenting milk, a genuine molecule of modern physiology, and the classical remedy of the rheumatic milk-diathesis.
• Acidum hydrocyanicum — Made from hydrocyanic acid — the prussic acid of the laurel family, with a genuine emergency antidote in every modern department, and the classical remedy of the convulsive, clonic spasm.

The Nightshades — Solanaceae 7 remedies

The nightshade chapter heats and dries: the hot, red, throbbing, light-and-noise-mad Belladonna; the darkness-fearing rage of Stramonium; the jealous muttering of Hyoscyamus; the legendary mandrake; the damp-reactive Dulcamara; the children's spasms of the horse nettle; the burning, homesick Capsicum. One family's atropine, seven portraits.

• Belladonna — Made from deadly nightshade — the plant that dilates the pupils, dries the body and heats the brain; the source of the drug atropine.
• Stramonium — Made from thorn apple — the Datura of medieval witchcraft, cousin to belladonna, whose tropane alkalines drive the wildest mania in the library.
• Hyoscyamus niger — Made from henbane — the witch's herb of the Middle Ages, whose scopolamine rides behind the ear of every seasick traveller today.
• Mandragora — Made from the mandrake root — the man-shaped root of legend, the tropane alkaloids of the nightshade family, and the classical remedy of the rheumatic and the ulcerated.
• Dulcamara — Made from bittersweet nightshade — the climbing Solanum of hedgerows whose glycoalkaloids guard it, and the classical remedy of ailments from damp.
• Solanum carolinense — Made from the horse nettle — the prickly nightshade of the American fields, its solanine the genuine chemistry of the family's toxicity, and the classical remedy of the children's spasms.
• Capsicum annuum — Made from cayenne pepper — the chilli whose capsaicin is a genuine modern analgesic and a Nobel-winning receptor's key, and the classical remedy of the burning throat and the homesick heart.

The Buttercup Family — Ranunculaceae 9 remedies

The buttercup chapter irritates and blisters: the sudden terror of Aconite; the tearful changeability of Pulsatilla; the slow urinary burn of Clematis; the swallowed indignation of Staphysagria; the blistering Ranunculus pair; the small joints of Actaea spicata; the gloomy spine of Cimicifuga; the drowsy brain of Helleborus. The family's protoanemonin, in nine mirrors.

• Aconitum napellus — Made from monkshood (Aconite) — one of the most violently poisonous plants in the garden, whose poison drives the heart and nerves into overdrive.
• Pulsatilla nigricans — Made from the pasque flower — a wind-blossom whose sap blisters; the gentlest of the great remedies, beloved of children.
• Clematis recta — Made from upright virgin's bower — the meadow Clematis whose blistering ranunculine sap also fills the buttercups, and the classical remedy of the urinary passage.
• Staphysagria — Made from stavesacre seeds — the Delphinium whose seeds were sold for centuries as the natural lice poison, and the classical remedy of suppressed indignation.
• Ranunculus bulbosus — Made from the bulbous buttercup — the meadow flower whose protoanemonin blisters the skin of every picker, and the classical remedy of the shingles and the intercostal neuralgia.
• Ranunculus sceleratus — Made from the cursed crowfoot — the marsh buttercup whose blistering juice has the name to prove it, and the classical remedy of the burning blister and the shingles-like nerve.
• Actaea spicata — Made from the black baneberry — the woodland Actaea of the buttercup family, and the classical remedy of the small-joint rheumatism of the hands.
• Cimicifuga racemosa — Made from black cohosh — the American forest herb that became a real menopause medicine, and the classical remedy of the gloomy, rheumatic woman.
• Helleborus niger — Made from the Christmas rose — the winter-blooming Helleborus whose helleborin poisonings were classics of the old toxicology, and the classical remedy of the drowsy, dilated, dropsied brain.

The Daisy Family — Compositae 6 remedies

The daisy chapter heals and irritates: the bruised denial of Arnica; the deep forgotten bruise of Bellis; the torn flesh of Calendula; the septic bites of Echinacea; the raging, teething Chamomilla; the grinding, touch-me-not Cina. Wounds and bites — the family's two trades.

• Arnica montana — Made from leopard's bane — the alpine flower of mountain pastures, whose real bruise-healing chemistry survives in modern ointments, and the classical first remedy of every accident.
• Bellis perennis — Made from the common daisy — the lawn flower of wound-folk-medicine, and the classical remedy of deep, forgotten bruises.
• Calendula officinalis — Made from the pot marigold — the golden flower of kitchen gardens whose wound-healing reputation modern research keeps confirming.
• Echinacea angustifolia — Made from the purple coneflower of the American prairies — the immune herb of the Eclectic school, and the classical remedy of blood-poisoning states.
• Chamomilla vulgaris — Made from German chamomile — the apple-scented herb of teething children whose apigenin is still studied as a natural calming compound.
• Cina maritima — Made from wormseed — the Artemisia of the dry steppes whose santonin was medicine's first reliable worm cure, and the classical remedy of the cross, grinding child.

The Umbellifers 3 remedies

The umbellifer chapter stills and convulses: the hard glands and turning vertigo of Conium; the arching rigid spasm of Cicuta; the milk-vomiting stupor of Aethusa. The carrot family's poison, in three portraits — paralysis and convulsion the family's two poles.

• Conium maculatum — Made from hemlock — the poison of Socrates, whose paralysing chemistry is real, and the classical remedy of hardening glands and vertigo.
• Cicuta virosa — Made from water hemlock — the marsh poison whose cicutoxin drives the most violent convulsions in the plant kingdom, and the classical remedy of the rigid spasm.
• Aethusa cynapium — Made from fool's parsley — the hemlock-relative of European hedgerows whose poisonings taught the vomiting-of-milk portrait, and the classical remedy of the milk-intolerant infant.

The Antimonium Family 2 remedies

The antimony pair drowse and crust: the rattling, coated, can't-raise-it chest of tartar emetic; the whitewashed tongue and touch-me-not crusts of the crude sulfide. One metal's two salts, the emetic era's faithful record.

• Antimonium tartaricum — Made from tartar emetic — antimony potassium tartrate, the old expectorant whose very name taught medicine the word 'emetic'.
• Antimonium crudum — Made from black antimony sulfide — the mineral of the old purges, and the classical remedy of the thick white tongue and the 'don't touch me' child.

The Copper–Zinc–Iron Group 4 remedies

The workhorse metals guard and carry: Cuprum the cramp-and-spasm guardian; Zincum the twitching, discharge-watching fidget; Ferrum the flushed-but-empty blood; Ferr phos the soft first flush of every fever. Muscle, nerve and blood — the body's three workhorses.

• Cuprum metallicum — Made from copper — the red metal of wiring and coins, an essential trace element, and the classical master of spasms and cramps.
• Zincum metallicum — Made from zinc — the metal of galvanised roofs and sunscreens, an essential micronutrient, and the classical remedy of restless nerves.
• Ferrum metallicum — Made from iron — the metal of blood itself, the world's most common deficiency, and the classical remedy of the falsely florid, easily exhausted circulation.
• Ferrum phosphoricum — Made from iron phosphate — the biochemic 'first-stage' salt, and the classical remedy of the first flush of fever and inflammation.