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Stories

  • Article

The birth of Britain's National Health Service

Starkly unequal access to healthcare gave rise to Nye Bevan’s creation of a truly national health service.

  • Article

Deadly doses and the hardest of hard drugs

The invention of the modern hypodermic syringe meant we could get high – or accidentally die – faster than before. Find out how this medical breakthrough was adapted for deadly uses.

  • Article

Inhaling happiness and gasping for a high

The rapid, short-lived high we get from whippets, reefers and vapes can be accompanied by long-term health consequences. The search is on for safer ways to get stoned.

  • Book extract

Ayurveda: Knowledge for long life

The story of medicine in India is rich and complex. Aarathi Prasad investigates how it came to be this way.

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Images

  • Bournemouth: Sanatorium for consumption and diseases of the chest. Lithograph by Day & Son.
  • The North London Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest: elevation view of the garden facade with balconies indicated, people walking among trees at ground level. Process print by Sprague & Co., ca.1879, after A. Howard.
  • The National Hospital for Diseases of the Heart, London: a doctor and nurse use an electro-cardiograph to give a patient a heart test. Photograph, ca. 1922.
  • Gloriosa superba L. Colchicaceae Gloriosa lily. Gloriosa rothschildiana is now a synonym. Climbing plant. Distribution: Southern Africa to Asia. National flower of Zimbabwe, state flower of Tamil Nadu. Contains colchicine which is poisonous, teratogenic and used for treating gout, Familial Mediterranean fever and Behcet's disease. Its toxicity limits its use as a anti-cancer agent. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Gloriosa superba L. Colchicaceae Gloriosa lily. Gloriosa rothschildiana is now a synonym. Climbing plant. Distribution: Southern Africa to Asia. National flower of Zimbabwe, state flower of Tamil Nadu. Contains colchicine which is poisonous, teratogenic and used for treating gout, Familial Mediterranean fever and Behcet's disease. Its toxicity limits its use as a anti-cancer agent. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • The Hospital for Consumption, Brompton Road, Fulham: viewed from the road. Lithograph by T. G. Dutton after F. J. Francis, 1844.
  • The Hospital for Consumption, Brompton Road, Fulham: viewed from the road. Lithograph by T. G. Dutton after F. J. Francis, 1844.
  • Brompton Hospital: foundation stone laid 11th June, 1844.
  • The Hospital for Consumption, Brompton Road, Fulham: viewed from the road. Wood engraving by O. P. Nicholls after F. W. Hulme.
  • The Hospital for Consumption, Brompton Road, Fulham: viewed from the road. Wood engraving after F. J. Francis, 1844.
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Catalogue

All works (277)