Flaxseed Oil Benefits the Heart and Brain
Diane Morris | Thursday, December 22nd, 2016 | Flaxseed, Medicine | 4 Comments
My previous blog post described flaxseed’s chemical and therapeutic properties as shown in Dr. Andrew Duncan’s book The Edinburgh New Dispensatory, published in 1803.1 He described flaxseed’s historical uses, its mucilage content, its oil (expressed by crushing the seeds) and the use of its leftover “oil-cake” to feed animals. In describing flaxseed oil (also known as linseed oil), Duncan remarked: […]
Read More »An 1803 Dispensatory Describes Flaxseed
Diane Morris | Thursday, December 8th, 2016 | Flaxseed, Medicine | No Comments
One of the top keywords that bring readers to my blog is “flaxseed.” I’m not surprised, for flaxseed—also called “linseed”—is popular here in North America and elsewhere for its many dietary and medicinal uses. I love to talk about flaxseed! I last mentioned flaxseed in my blog of July 7, 2015, where I described how linseed tea was […]
Read More »Childbed Fever: 18th-Century Cures
Diane Morris | Thursday, July 7th, 2016 | Childbirth, Medicine | No Comments
My previous post on childbed fever described the widespread belief that childbed fever — what today we call puerperal infections — was mainly caused by breathing foul, noxious air that arrived on the wind, permeated hospital furniture and people’s clothing, or emanated from a woman’s own body. In truth, the 18th-century medical practitioners who tended new mothers after delivery had […]
Read More »Linseed Tea: Popular in Jane Austen’s Day and Today
Diane Morris | Thursday, October 9th, 2014 | Jane Austen, Life & Times, Medicine | No Comments
During Jane Austen’s day, linseed tea and other preparations made with linseed were prescribed by doctors and apothecaries to treat a variety of aliments. A simple recipe from Dr. William Buchan’s popular book Domestic Medicine was among those medicines commonly used in 1811: “linseed, an infusion of 1 ounce to a quart of water, may […]
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