Early Medicine
Explore medicine and health in Europe before 1700. Read expert articles on disease, disability, wellbeing and other subjects, and learn about the rich holdings of the Wellcome Library. Also read event updates and conference reports, and discover digitised items from our collections.
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Close encounters: a manuscripts workshop
A free manuscripts workshop for PhD students at Wellcome Collection, 01 June 2018 Engaging with an artefact from the past is often a powerful experience, eliciting emotional and sensory, as well as analytical, responses. Researchers in the library at Wellcome… Continue reading
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Arabo-Persian physiological theories in late Imperial China
The last seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 27 February. Speaker: Dr Dror Weil (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin) Bodies translated: the circulation of Arabo-Persian physiological theories in late… Continue reading
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Smell and medical efficacy in 18th-century England
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 13 February. Speaker: Dr William Tullett (Institute of Historical Research, University of London) Smell and medical efficacy in 18th-century England Abstract: In recent years a growing scholarship… Continue reading
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Plague in Italy and Europe during the 17th century
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 30 January. Speaker: Professor Guido Alfani (Bocconi University, Milan) Plague in Italy and Europe during the 17th century: epidemiology and impact Abstract: After many years of relative… Continue reading
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Medieval Ideas about Infertility and Old Age
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 16 January. Speaker: Dr Catherine Rider (University of Exeter) Medieval Ideas about Infertility and Old Age Abstract: When they discussed fertility and reproductive disorders it was common… Continue reading
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History of Pre-Modern Medicine Seminar Series, Spring 2018
The History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series returns this month. The 2017–18 series – organised by a group of historians of medicine based at London universities and hosted by the Wellcome Library – will conclude with four seminars. The series… Continue reading
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The archaeology of monastic healing: spirit, mind and body
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 21 November. Speaker: Professor Roberta Gilchrist (University of Reading), ‘The archaeology of monastic healing: spirit, mind and body’ This paper highlights the potential of archaeology to… Continue reading
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Anxiety and compassion: emotions and the surgical encounter in early 19th-century Britain
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 7 November. Speaker: Dr Michael Brown (University of Roehampton), ‘Anxiety and compassion: emotions and the surgical encounter in early 19th-century Britain’ The historical study of the… Continue reading
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Kitchen alchemy in the 16th century
Since late antiquity, alchemical texts have had a reputation for being difficult to read. Besides often being written in Latin, which automatically limited the readership, these treatises employed a hermetic language, following the tradition of the secrecy of esoteric knowledge.… Continue reading
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The uses of ox bezoar in pre-modern Japan in ritual and medical practices
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 24 October. Speaker: Dr Benedetta Lomi (University of Bristol), ‘The uses of ox bezoar in pre-modern Japan in ritual and medical practices’ This paper focuses on the therapeutic… Continue reading