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Stories

  • Article

Beating the bodysnatchers

When a rise in grave robbing called for strong measures, mortsafes became the unassailable solution. Allison C. Meier explores.

  • Article

A virtual view of history

Step inside Anne Frank’s house or explore the galleries in a museum destroyed by fire. VR brings history and art satisfyingly close when we’re unable to get there in person.

  • Article

A nose through Blythe House

Recently sold and emptied out, Blythe House was once one of the UK’s biggest museum storage facilities. Here, museum worker Laura Humphreys reflects on her relationship with the store’s architecture, objects and aromas.

  • Article

The power of unicorns

Discover the unlikely connection between pharmaceuticals and unicorns.

All stories (9)

Images

  • The levels of hell depicted as circular stone tiers; purgatory lies outside its walls. Engraving.
  • Hospital de la Santa Cruz, Barcelona: a stone relief, carved into one of the exterior walls. Photograph.
  • The ruins of the priory of St. Mary Overie, Southwark: a stone wall and timber framework. Coloured engraving, 1791.
  • A Chinese lady , seated indoors, playing a string instrument at an open window; left, a carved stone wall. Gouache.
  • Crosswort (Galium cruciata (L.) Scop.): flowering plants rooted in joints of stone wall with separate flower sections. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • Two young women are standing by a stone wall, one is offering the other a rose to smell. Lithograph by E.C. Fischer, 1844, after Héloise Leloir.
  • The muscles of the human body, third layer, seen from the back; the figure balances a club with his right hand and stands before a wall of stone blocks. Colour mezzotint by L. Gautier d'Agoty after A. E. Gautier d'Agoty, 1773.
  • The muscles of the human body, third layer, seen from the back; the figure balances a club with his right hand and stands before a wall of stone blocks. Colour mezzotint by L. Gautier d'Agoty after A. E. Gautier d'Agoty, 1773.
  • Physalis alkekengi L. Rosaceae Chinese lantern, Winter Cherry, Bladder Cherry Distribution: C & S Europe, W. Asia to Japan Culpeper: In his English Physitian of 1652 writes: Winter Cherry ... are of great use in physic ...’ and recommends them for almost all kidney and urinary problems. In particular he seems to advocate the use of green berries in beer, for preventing kidney stones lodging in the ureters. It is called ‘aikakengi’ in the College’s Pharmacopoeia Londinensis of 1618. Belonging to the family Solanaceae, all its parts are poisonous except the ripe fruit. The green fruit and the rest of the plant contain atropinic compounds and will produce a dry mouth, rapid heart beat, hallucinations, coma and death if enough is taken. As the atropine is only present in the unripe fruit eating one will make the mouth go dry (and it has the most unpleasant taste), but it will also relax the smooth muscle in the wall of the ureter which helps passage of ureteric stones. Culpeper’s observations on its usefulness are supported by more modern observations. When ripe, the orange fruit inside its skeletal outer ‘lantern’ is edible, free of atropine, and delicious. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Physalis alkekengi L. Rosaceae Chinese lantern, Winter Cherry, Bladder Cherry. Distribution: C & S Europe, W. Asia to Japan Culpeper: In his English Physitian of 1652 writes: Winter Cherry ...are of great use in physic ...’ and recommends them for almost all kidney and urinary problems. In particular he seems to advocate the use of green berries in beer, for preventing kidney stones lodging in the ureters. It is called ‘aikakengi’ in the College’s Pharmacopoeia Londinensis of 1618. Belonging to the family Solanaceae, all its parts are poisonous except the ripe fruit. The green fruit and the rest of the plant contain atropinic compounds and will produce a dry mouth, rapid heart beat, hallucinations, coma and death if enough is taken. As the atropine is only present in the unripe fruit eating one will make the mouth go dry (and it has the most unpleasant taste), but it will also relax the smooth muscle in the wall of the ureter which helps passage of ureteric stones. Culpeper’s observations on its usefulness are supported by more modern observations. When ripe, the orange fruit inside its skeletal outer ‘lantern’ is edible, free of atropine, and delicious. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
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