John Aubrey, ‘Lady Salisbury’ & the Cow Bladders.

Among the works John Aubrey left unpublished was 'A Collection of Approved Receipts'. A list of medical cures. Today, among the 'Aubrey' manuscripts at the Bodleian Library is MS Aubrey 19, a list of 'Medical recipes'. However, it is not Aubrey's work; instead, it appears to have been created by the Carrow family towards the end of the 17th century.

The book, in 38 leaves, describes scores of cures for aches, fevers, agues, coughs, cankers, bruising and smallpox. There is even a section for women's health.

On ointment for an ache or bruise (in the month of May) uses butter, chamomile, bay leaves and wormwood. For soreness of the eyes, one remedy advises, 'Take Hemlocke leaves stampe them and bind them to the wrist of your arme when you goe to bed And Renew it when you rise in the morning you must lay it to the Contrary arm to that side of your sore eye if both eyes be sor lay it to both'.

There is no indication where the the majority of the remedies have been drawn from, but against some, there are names, and often, these are of women. Sometimes, these names are prefixed 'My Lady'; whether these were indeed titled women, I am unsure. One was Lady Salisbury. Lady Salisbury was the source of a cure for sore breasts, but women did not only provide cures for complaints that afflicted their sex. Mrs Sanders was the origin of a cure for wind colic, Mrs Carr for stones, and Lady Salisbury provided a remedy for sciatica.

Lady Salisbury's remedy for sciatica suggested boiling mallow with chickweed, chamomile, and linseed oil in water until the mixture thickened. Half of the mixture was then poured into a cow's bladder ('that hath not been rubbed') and then laid on the afflicted area, akin to a water bottle. When the water-cooled, another bladder was taken, and the other half of the mixture was applied to the ache. The process was repeated three or four times, or maybe until the patient's supply of cow bladders was spent.

Although this manuscript is not Aubrey’s collection of medicinal cures his natural history manuscript MS Aubrey 1 is peppered with medical remedies. Like the author of MS Aubrey 19, John Aubrey carefully noted down remedies from a range of sources. Throughout the natural history Aubrey emphasised the utility of nature. Thus, a list of plants was attempted ‘that we might know our Store: and wither to repaire for them for medicinall uses.’ And thus many of his recipes use the same plants and herbs used in MS Aubrey 19. However, cow bladders were decidedly absent.