On Peter P. Good, A Materia Medica Animalia

Abstract

This is a rare book in several senses. Not only are surviving copies scarce, but there is nothing much like it. Although a search of any serious library will reveal dozens—or even hundreds—of books with “materia medica” in the title, it can be confidently predicted that all of them will focus on substances derived from plants. Good did not set himself to swim completely against this tide; he had edited The Family Flora and Materia Medica Botanica before he turned his attention to the animal kingdom.