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  • The uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections, demonstrated, I. From the known laws of the animal œconomy. II. From the structure of the parts of the human body. And, III. From a great variety of amusing and well-attested instances of persons who have return'd to life ... With proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting the precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death. Illustrated with copper plates / [Jacques-Bénigne Winslow].
  • The uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections, demonstrated, I. From the known laws of the animal œconomy. II. From the structure of the parts of the human body. And, III. From a great variety of amusing and well-attested instances of persons who have return'd to life ... With proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting the precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death. Illustrated with copper plates / [Jacques-Bénigne Winslow].
  • The uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections, demonstrated, I. From the known laws of the animal œconomy. II. From the structure of the parts of the human body. And, III. From a great variety of amusing and well-attested instances of persons who have return'd to life ... With proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting the precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death. Illustrated with copper plates / [Jacques-Bénigne Winslow].
  • The uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections, demonstrated, I. From the known laws of the animal œconomy. II. From the structure of the parts of the human body. And, III. From a great variety of amusing and well-attested instances of persons who have return'd to life ... With proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting the precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death. Illustrated with copper plates / [Jacques-Bénigne Winslow].
  • The uncertainty of the signs of death, and the danger of precipitate interments and dissections, demonstrated, I. From the known laws of the animal œconomy. II. From the structure of the parts of the human body. And, III. From a great variety of amusing and well-attested instances of persons who have return'd to life ... With proper directions, both for preventing such accidents, and repairing the misfortunes brought upon the constitution by them. To the whole is added a curious and entertaining account of the funeral solemnities of many ancient and modern nations, exhibiting the precautions they made use of to ascertain the certainty of death. Illustrated with copper plates / [Jacques-Bénigne Winslow].
  • The white silhouette of a butterfly representing the fragility of those living with AIDS against a grey/black tablet form; with the message in German, ''Help. Disease and death. They are part of life. People with AIDS are fellow human beings. We help them by making them accept. Through encounters and integration"; one of 3 posters advertising the AIDS-Hilfe Tirol. Colour lithograph by Nicolai Buchinger.
  • The mahatmya of the fifth adhyaya. The bottom half of the painting depicts Pingala's life as a Brahman, his argument with his wife and his death by poisoning. The upper half illustrates the narrative of their subsequent births as birds: they fight in an ascetic's skull in a cremation ground and are given new divine bodies. In the new form they are taken to the court of Dharmaraja, the judge of the actions of mortals
  • The mahatmya of the fifth adhyaya. The bottom half of the painting depicts Pingala's life as a Brahman, his argument with his wife and his death by poisoning. The upper half illustrates the narrative of their subsequent births as birds: they fight in an ascetic's skull in a cremation ground and are given new divine bodies. In the new form they are taken to the court of Dharmaraja, the judge of the actions of mortals
  • Speculum ægrotorum: the sicke-mens glasse: or a plaine introduction wherby one may giue a true and infallible iudgement, of the life or death of a sicke bodie, the originall cause of the griefe, how he is tormented and afflicted, what thinges are medicinable to the diseased person: and the day and houre in which he shall recouer, or surrender his vitall breath. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the foure humors, and how they are ingendered and distributed in our humane bodies; with certaine and manifest signes to discerne of whate complexion any man is: and the operation that eating, drinking, rest and exercise, worketh in euery person: with certain speciall preseruatiues for the eye-sight / Composed by John Fage.
  • Yama, the Lord of Death, holding the Wheel of Life which represents Samsara, or the world on a Tibetan Thangka. In the central circle is a snake chasing a pig chasing a rooster chasing the snake which represents craving, hatred and ignorance. The six sections, surrounding the central circle, show representations of the six realms - the realm of the gods, the realm of the titans, the realm of the humans, the realm of the animals, the realm of the hungry ghosts and the realm of the demons.
  • Atropa belladonna L. Solanaceae. Deadly nightshade. Dwale. Morella, Solatrum, Hound's berries, Uva lupina, Cucubalus, Solanum lethale. Atropa derives from Atropos the oldest of the three Fates of Greek mythology who cut the thread of Life (her sisters Clotho and Lachesis spun and measured the thread, respectively). belladonna, literally, means 'beautiful lady' and was the Italian name for it. Folklore has it that Italian ladies put drops from the plant or the fruits in their eyes to make themselves doe-eyed, myopic and beautiful. However, this is not supported by the 16th and 17th century literature, where no mention is ever made of dilated pupils (or any of the effects of parasympathetic blockade). Tournefort (1719) says 'The Italians named this plant Belladonna, which in their language signifies a beautiful woman, because the ladies use it much in the composition of their Fucus [rouge or deceit or cosmetic] or face paint.' Parkinson says that the Italian ladies use the distilled juice as a fucus '... peradventure [perhaps] to take away their high colour and make them looke paler.' I think it more likely that they absorbed atropine through their skin and were slightly 'stoned' and disinhibited, which made them beautiful ladies in the eyes of Italian males. Distribution: Europe, North Africa, western Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: 'Solanum. Nightshade: very cold and dry, binding … dangerous given inwardly … outwardly it helps the shingles, St Antonie's Fire [erysipelas] and other hot inflammation.' Most of the 16th, 17th and 18th century herbals recommend it topically for breast cancers. Poisonous plants were regarded as 'cold' plants as an excess of them caused death and the body became cold. They were regarded as opposing the hot humour which kept us warm and alive. Poultices of Belladonna leaves are still recommended for muscle strain in cyclists, by herbalists. Gerard (1633) writes that it: 'causeth sleep, troubleth the mind, bringeth madnesse if a few of the berries be inwardly taken, but if more be taken they also kill...'. He was also aware that the alkaloids could be absorbed through the skin for he notes that a poultice of the leaves applied to the forehead, induces sleep, and relieves headache. The whole plant contains the anticholinergic alkaloid atropine, which blocks the peripheral actions of acetylcholine in the parasympathetic nervous system. Atropine is a racemic mixture of d- and l- hyoscyamine. Atropine, dropped into the eyes, blocks the acetylcholine receptors of the pupil so it no longer constricts on exposure to bright light - so enabling an ophthalmologist to examine the retina with an ophthalmoscope. Atropine speeds up the heart rate, reduces salivation and sweating, reduces gut motility, inhibits the vertigo of sea sickness, and is used to block the acetylcholine receptors to prevent the effects of organophosphorous and other nerve gas poisons. It is still has important uses in medicine. Atropine poisoning takes three or for days to wear off, and the hallucinations experienced by its use are described as unpleasant. We have to be content with 'madness', 'frenzie' and 'idle and vain imaginations' in the early herbals to describe the hallucinations of atropine and related alkaloids as the word 'hallucination' in the sense of a perception for which there is no external stimulus, was not used in English until 1646 (Sir T. Browne, 1646). It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be sold in premises which are registered pharmacies and by or under the supervision of a pharmacist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • A man, half human and half skeleton. Coloured etching after R. Dighton, 17--.
  • A man, half human and half skeleton. Coloured etching after R. Dighton, 17--.
  • The angel of death (a winged skeletal creature) drops some deadly substances into a river near a town; representing typhoid. Watercolour, 1912, after R. Cooper.
  • The dance of death: death and the portrait. Coloured aquatint after T. Rowlandson, 1816.
  • A woman shown half as clothed human being and half as skeleton. Coloured etching, 17--.
  • An experiment on a bird in an air pump: a philosopher is demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo. Mezzotint by V. Green, 1769, after J. Wright of Derby.
  • An experiment on a bird in an air pump: a philosopher is demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo. Mezzotint by V. Green, 1769, after J. Wright of Derby.
  • An omniscient virtuoso gestures boastfully at all the knowledge that lies available to him. Etching by G.M. Mitelli, c. 1700.
  • The funeral procession of Tom and Jerry, the mourners including gamblers, pugilists and down-and-outs. Coloured aquatint by G. Cruikshank, 1823.
  • The dance of death. Oil painting.
  • The dance of death. Oil painting.
  • The dance of death. Oil painting.
  • The dream of a patient in Jungian analysis: a tree, of which the roots form a cleft through which a path leads to a valley. Drawing by M.A.C.T., 1976.
  • The arts of Minerva reduce the power of Time to end life, but death from old age or from plague still exists. Engraving by G. Glover, 1639.
  • A man, half human and half skeleton. Etching.
  • A young man and a young woman looking through an opening in a wall; alternatively, a human skull. Lithograph.
  • A young man and a young woman looking through an opening in a wall; alternatively, a human skull. Lithograph.
  • 'Vanitas' head: female head in wax representing life & death
  • 'Vanitas' head: female head in wax representing life & death