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  • Article

The cures and demons of sleep paralysis

Discover the murky past of sleep paralysis, the terrifying disorder once associated with demonic possession

  • Article

Race, religion and the Black Madonna

Mystery and controversy surround the dark-skinned religious icon who represents the Virgin Mary throughout the Catholic world.

  • Article

Revelations of blindness in the Middle Ages

Medieval texts, from Islamic medical treatises to Christian books of miracles, reveal surprisingly varied and complex experiences of blindness. But when medieval scholar Jude Seal experienced visual impairment themselves, they gained an even deeper understanding of the lives they were studying.

  • Article

Diagnosing the past

Historical texts rarely supply enough detail for a definitive diagnosis, so medical historians need to proceed with caution.

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Images

  • The costume of the original inhabitants of the British Islands, from the earliest periods to the sixth century; to which is added, that of the Gothic nations on the western coasts of the Baltic, the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Danes / By Samuel Rush Meyrick ... and Charles Hamilton Smith, Esq.
  • Anglo Saxon Medical Manuscript.
  • Physicians offering draughts and medicine, Anglo-Saxon.
  • Archaeological burial objects from the Anglo-Saxon period
  • Scorpion and snake fighting, Anglo-Saxon. circa 1050
  • Four sketches, from different angles, of an Anglo-Saxon skull, from cemetery at Brighthampton, Oxon (Kingdom of the West-Saxons, Sixth to Tenth Century A.D)
  • Two physicians applying the method of cauterisation to clearly defined points of the back and side of two patients. Pen drawing after an Anglo Saxon tenth century manuscript.
  • Two surgeons applying the method of cauterisation to clearly defined points on the chests of two male patients, the senior surgeon wears a pointed hat (?). Pen drawing after an Anglo Saxon tenth century manuscript.
  • Sensation of the day : will visit this town two great and startling novelties : Mr. W. Campbell the celebrated young Scottish giant ... weighs the enormous weight of 48 stone 9 lb ... he is accompanied by that great and beautiful sight Miss M. E. Bland the anglo-saxon wonder! A sight all ladies ought to see. Fourteen years of age ... and weighs the astounding weight of 18 stone 3 lb.
  • A wicker man inside which people are sacrificed, surrounded by the principal deities of the Saxons. Etching by Smith after R. Verstegen and A. Sammes.
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