IAO director Saskia Wilson-Brown recently visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In her ongoing quest to visit every botanical garden, she took a moment to check out the Benjamin Rush Botanical Gardens at the Mütter Museum, tended by the oldest private medical society in the United States: the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Here is her report from the field!
The Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia doesn’t allow photos in the exhibit hall. This makes sense, because most of the items on display present some variation of human remains. As we all know, dead men tell no tales. Nor do they provide consent.
As the museum explains, their collection includes “specimens and objects that reflect the human history of anatomy and medicine.” In other words, they display preserved body parts (and – to be fair – also some wax reconstructions) dating mostly from the 19th and 20th century, but some from as far back as the 7th century BCE. These were kept to educate the colonial physicians in Philadelphia. This was probably very useful, but it makes for a challenging visit for so many reasons (including the consent issue). As a result, I didn’t stick around long enough to dive very deeply into the exhibits. Nevertheless, I asked an enthusiastic museum docent for insights into any connections with smell, and they answered with a rehash of something that we probably all know by now, namely that “bad air” was often considered a factor in illness. Apparently, there are some fascinating books in their library. Unfortunately a wedding (yes, a wedding in a gallery of corpses) prohibited me from exploring further.
The Benjamin Rush Botanical Garden, conveniently located out of view of what I decided to call the Gallery of Suffering, presented a less squirmy aspect of historic medical knowledge with a beautiful collection of natural, living, botanical specimens. The garden was suggested in 1787 by Rush as a place to exhibit the plants that were so crucial to colonial medicine. Rush, in fact, considered botany to be a branch of medicine, and an important method in advancing “the cause of health and thereby lessen human misery”. While the garden didn’t come to fruition until 1911, it is carefully curated to honor Rush’s vision.
It was in November when I visited and Philadelphia was not exactly experiencing its first blush of spring. It was a biting cold day, and both plants and their human visitors were huddled up against the coming winter. Nevertheless, there were some interesting little green friends braving the weather. Here were some highlights!
Iris, Blue Flag (Iris versicolor): The curators note its efficacy at treating inflammatory skin conditions, constipation, rheumatoid arthritis. The Lady Bird Johnson Center notes that its rootstocks are “dangerously poisonous”, so beware. Iris root, of course, when powdered and processed is known as orris, which yields a beautiful, fatty, violet-adjacent smell.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): Native to Europe, it was used in colonial medicine to improve digestion, to help heal wounds, to enhance kidney, liver and gall bladder function and to break a fever. According to Lady Bird Johnson Center, the foliage has a pleasant smell when crushed.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officials): Helped with indigestion and cold sores. It also helped to cure mild depression, perhaps because – according to the Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition (2003): “Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) leaves are used as a tea, tincture, or formulated as pills for multiple uses, including as a sedative” though the article goes on to clarify that placebo-studies suggest only mixed evidence for its efficacy. As with the other plants, there are potential negative side-effects, so do your research.
Peppermint (Mentha piperita): What can this plant not do? Indigestion! Irritable Bowel Syndrome! And, while some ancient Greeks believed that mints was a sexual depressant, others considered it enough of an aphrodisiac to forbid it in the army. In any case, it smells great.
While advances in 19th century chemistry moved medicine away from its sole reliance on plants, in 17th and 18th century Philadelphia the natural pharmacopeia would have presented a cornucopia of healing. It is obvious for any student of U.S. History but nevertheless important to note that many of these plants were native to the region, and had long been used by the tribes that resided in and around the nascent city. More specifically, these were the Lenape, and slightly further afield, the Susquehannock, Shawnee, and the Iroquois. Much of this knowledge we owe to them.
Thanks to the Mütter Museum for so lovingly tending these botanical friends to humans everywhere.
SOURCES
https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/diversity/philadelphia-indigenous
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=irve2
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=acmi2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/melissa-officinalis
https://www.redandblack.com/awkward-aphrodisiacs-mint-and-garlic/article_33af71f2-9eee-11e3-8253-0017a43b2370.html
