Duncan Napier was a Victorian botanist and herbalist. His early start in life was hard as he was orphaned at an early age. From his youth he was fascinated by plants and nature. His interest in herbal medicine started when he found a book about it on an Edinburgh market stall. He had been apprenticed to a baker and, possibly because of the flour dust, had developed a chronic cough. After reading the book's recipes he experimented and made a Lobelia Cough Syrup that cleared up his cough within six months.