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Tag: diseases and disorders

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  • 1609 image of amazed people.

    Disfiguring disease in medical and popular perceptions

    19/10/2016

    The next seminar in the 2016–17 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 25th October. Speaker: Professor Luke Demaitre (University of Virginia) Disfiguring disease in medical and popular perceptions: ‘aspectus’ and ‘spectaculum’ Abstract: Pre-modern records attest to various disfigurements caused… Continue reading

  • A great deal of dying in Dr Herz

    12/04/2016

    In 1893 a middle-aged American physician lay ‘dying’ in a Bournemouth hotel. Cornelius Herz was wanted by the French authorities to answer charges in connection with the death of a business partner. A warrant for his arrest was even executed… Continue reading

  • Diabetes and public health

    07/04/2016

    The theme for World Health Day 2016 is “Beat diabetes”. How did diabetes become a public health issue? Maybe public health officers from the past can shed some light. Diabetes is a complex condition. We’ve known of its existence for… Continue reading

  • Spotlight: pass the port, Dr Jenner

    10/08/2015

    When Edward Jenner, the vaccination pioneer, died in 1823, he left over 800 books among his personal effects. They are listed in an inventory preserved in the Wellcome Library (MS 3028). They include, unsurprisingly, a large number of works on… Continue reading

  • Gout or the joint evil

    14/07/2015

    The Library has recently catalogued the Heberden collection (Library reference SA/HEB).This is a collection of records acquired by the Heberden Library of the British Society of Rheumatology on the subjects of rheumatology, arthritis and gout.   Gout is a form… Continue reading

  • Hooked in by the (Derby) neck

    21/11/2014

    Intriguing images are useful in capturing the attention; they could make a difference to whether or not a person takes an interest in what you have to say. Take the image below, seen in my local paper; you can imagine… Continue reading

  • International League Against Epilepsy

    24/10/2014

    The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) is a voluntary international organisation for physicians working in the field of epilepsy. It is committed to ensuring that health professionals, patients and their care providers, governments, and the public world-wide have access to… Continue reading

  • The Sick Rose

    02/06/2014

    Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow, Richard Barnett’s new book, The Sick Rose is about disease and the art of medical illustration. Largely based on images from the Wellcome Library collections, its contents are at times explicit and uncompromising representations of  illness.… Continue reading

  • An Iron Lung for Polio

    23/05/2014

    A recently broadcast BBC television programme, The Battle to Beat Polio, features historical footage from a Wellcome Library film. The film in question is The Both Mechanical Respirator, 1939 and it has an interesting story of its own. Polio or… Continue reading

  • Diagnosing diabetes: a wee taste of honey

    14/11/2013

    On World Diabetes Day (14th November), our attention is often drawn to the rise of the disease today or the 20th-century discovery of insulin as a treatment. However, the earliest reference to diabetes possibly goes back as far as 1500BCE in… Continue reading