Exploring our archives

Acupuncture has been practiced in China, Japan and Korea for centuries and along with other ‘traditional’ or ‘complementary’ therapies remains a controversial topic in Western medicine. In the Hooke folio, an account of a meeting on the 18 January 1682 records the Royal Society discussing a letter from a Wilhem Ten Rhyne, from the factory of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) which asks that his manuscript on the use of acupuncture in Japan be published in English. The letter also describes the use of artemisia vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort, a herb used traditionally in Europe and America. In Oriental medicine it is known as moxa and is used in combination with acupuncture to stimulation circulation. The use of moxa to cure gout had also been discussed in a meeting of 1st August 1678, leading to a wider discussion about the effects of heat on the human body. This led to the observation that, like Chinese and Japanese doctors, Galen had paid more attention to the pulses in various parts of the body than was usual among surgeons of the day.

The Royal Society continued to debate the benefits of both moxa and acupuncture: a letter of 1692 from Wilhelm Ten Rhyne answers a list of queries about the specific uses of the techniques in Japan. These remedies had also been noted by Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) in his ‘History of Japan, giving an account of the ancient and present state and government of that empire. . .To which is added, part of a journal of a voyage to Japan, made by the English in the year 1673’. Kaempfer’s manuscript was not published for almost a century acquired by the botanist and President of the Royal Society Hans Sloane who saw to the translation of the work by Johann Caspar Scheuchzer and its publication in 1727.

The benefits of ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ medicines are still hotly debated. While some claim that acupuncture essentially has a placebo effect, other research has suggested more tangible medical effects, most recently in treating Parkinson’s disease. The effects of artemisia vulgaris are a matter of continuing debate, some studies (for example the study of Cardini and Weixin published in JAMA in 1998) suggest it can assist in breach births by promoting fetal activity. A recent Royal Society policy paper on the issue stresses the importance of large scale randomised control trials in exploring the effects of types of therapies.

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A vaguely Valentine’s Day related post today

Observing the transit of Venus, the time at which the planet passes between the sun and earth, is a constant feature of the early records of the Royal Society, who received correspondence from around the world recording the precise times at which it was observed. The purpose of this romantic exercise, similarly to the mapping of the transits of Mercury, was to make observations relating to the position of the sun and planet, using the parallax method. This was pioneered by Edmund Halley, who explains the theory in Philosophical Transactions (translated here for those not keen to read the original in Latin). Mapping transits also has practical applications in navigation as it provides a natural clock with the aid of which longitudes, still a thorny problem in the seventeenth and eighteenth century due to the dearth of reliable timekeepers, could be calculated according to the difference in time between locations on a reference meridian. Perhaps this explains the interest of the East India Company, who allowed Halley to visit St Helena, where he built an observatory, the remains of which can still be observed on the island.

Halley’s work promoted international collaboration between scientists as well as voyages of exploration: most notably Captain Cook’s voyage to Tahiti to observe the 1769 transit. Romantics will have to wait a while to emulate the early stargazers, however, as the next transit is predicted to be visible in 2012.

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Malaria is a major health problem and is thought to be responsible for about 18% of all deaths of children aged under five years in sub-Saharan Africa, or between 700 000 and 900 000 children each year, as well as aiding the spread of other diseases such as HIV/AIDS by weakening the immune system. Trials to develop an effective vaccine are ongoing. However, treatments using the anti-malarial properties of the bark of the chinconcha tree have been known for centuries, and used for many years against the disease until its active ingredient, quinine, began to be produced artificially.

The folio records a letter from the Royal Society’s prolific correspondent and later member Henri Justel, which mentions ‘Jesuits Bark’, the name being given to the bark of the Peruvian chinconcha tree. The letter does not survive, but the bark was not forgotten and together with numerous other substances it was boiled together with water, spirit of wine and white wine (RB. 6. 213, 1685) in Mr Pappin’s ‘digesting’ machine. Impressed, Pappin reported back that the bark lasted three or four time longer than bones before being reduced to a powder. There is no mention of the medical properties of the bark here, however, and the next reference to it in the Royal Society records occurs in the Philosophical Transactions of 1737/8. By this time the bark is clearly in demand: the author Dr Grey gives detailed information about the four different types of tree in Peru, their various effects and preparations, and reports that the drug enters Europe through Panama. He goes on to express concern that the exploitation by the Spanish will soon wipe out the local indigenous population who had been well aware of the anti-malarial properties of the plant well before the arrival of the colonisers, and that the bark will become scarce due to over-exploitation.

Anti-malarial drugs and the development of insecticides that kill the mosquitos carried the disease were of course a valuable tool in the exploration and final colonisation of Africa by European powers during the next century. This provided impetus for the identification of the parasite of the genus Plasmodium and the artificial production of quinine. Concerns like those expressed by Grey about the availability and intellectual property surrounding anti-malarial drugs still exist today. Problems with malaria prevention include the tendency for insects to develop resistance to insecticides like DDT, as well as their potentially negative environmental and health effects. The Royal Society has continued to engage with the problem of malaria: Hiliary Ranson is currently conducting research into the DNA of insecticide-resistant plasmodium in an attempt to evolve a method of blocking the process of development of resistance. Her research is demonstrated by this interactive tool. The recent winner of the Royal Society’s Pfizer Award, Dr Alex Nzila has taken a different approach: focusing on drug resistance in humans, he has shown that resistance can be reduced by combining an existing anticancer drug, methotrexate, with folic acid.

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Recently the film Perfume was released. It’s based on the novel by Patrick Süskind set in eighteenth-century France and explores the protagonist’s obsessive desire to create a perfume, which ultimately takes a deadly turn.

Interestingly, the science of perfume making was a topic of discussion in the Hooke Folio. Whilst the focus is initially on perfume made with jasmine, the mixing of jasmine with orange flowers and rose petals is also examined - particularly in terms of the liquid and scent produced when pickled, and how to make the scent long lasting. They also look to the practices of perfume makers in other countries, for example the President praises the skills of Chinese perfume makers, whilst a comparison is made between the strength of perfume worn by women in Britain and those in Spain and Italy.

Seemingly women in Britain were scorned by their Italian and Spanish counterparts for their sensitivity to the ‘highest perfumes’, particularly in terms of finding the smell ‘offensive’. However it is suggested that this is because Britain has ’somewhat peculiar … air for that purpose’ using an anecdote from Mr Henshaw, who describes how an Italian woman developed a dislike for strong perfume (which she formerly prized) after spending a period of time in Britain.

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As you probably know, we are experiencing the second hottest January on record. Although official records began around a century after the date of the Hooke folio, predicting and understanding the weather was also important to Hooke and his contemporaries.

In the early part of the folio there are discussions about how to measure very low temperatures and also how Barometers can be refined and developed to make them more accurate. There are also quite a lot of letters where people write in complaining that their Barometers are not working. They are also interested in extremes of weather and the folio details correspondence about a hurricane in Tangiers and how the changes in the barometer reflected the change in weather. Interestingly, Hooke’s diary, also records the weather. To start with he divides the page in half where half contains the events of the day and the other details the weather, though later he records all this information together.  

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Well, we are still not exactly sure! As Lisa Jardine and Robyn Adams wrote in their recent article in Notes of Records of the Royal Society the folio was found under mysterious circumstances. It has been indexed to some extent by Hooke’s posthumous editor William Derham. Based on the original inscription on the cover, Derham suggests that the first hundred pages are extracts from the Journal Books, the official record of meetings, during the period in which Henry Oldenburg was Secretary of the Royal Society. The rest of the manuscript, which runs to 635 pages in total appears to consist of original minutes from the period during which Robert Hooke was Secretary, 1677-1682 with a few additional pages from 1691.

The original minutes of the Royal Society are preserved in the archives, with the exception of the period in which Hooke was Secretary, for which there are binders left empty for the missing pages. It seems, however, that the Royal Society did have some of Hooke’s minutes: in February 1682 the Council demanded that he ‘deliuer up into the hands of either of the Secretary’s all such Books and Papers as any way belong to the society or came to his hands upon the account of his being Secretary’ and later that Spring a committee was appointed to meet in the Repository and correct omissions and mistakes in the journal books. Minutes of a council meeting the next year report having ’stichted paper books of Minutes taken by Mr Hook they begin the 25^th of October 1677 and end the 23^rd of February 1680/1′. Also in their possession ‘Another bound book of Mr. Hookes minutes, about ¼ full, it begins March 1680/1 and ends July 26 1682′. Finally, the council ‘Resolved that the minutes of the Mr Hooke be written into books suiting with the rest’.

So, the mystery deepens. These council minutes imply that at the original copy of the minutes was in the hands of the Council and, if their instructions were carried out, there would have been an additional copy to be entered in the records. Did Hooke reclaim his notes at some point after this, and if so, for what purpose?

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