Stories
- Article
The doctor who challenged the unicorn myth
Our era of fake news and medical misinformation is nothing new. Estelle Paranque relays the thrusts and parries of a 440-year-old row over a magical cure-all, the unicorn horn.
- Article
Printing the body
The 18th century saw multiple technical developments in both printing and medicine. Colourful collaborations ensued – to the benefit of growing ranks of medical students.
- Article
Fantastic beasts and unnatural history
Find out how a 17th-century compendium of the natural world came to present fantastical beasts –like dragons – as real, living creatures.
- Article
Getting under the skin
Before the invention of X-ray in 1895 there was really only one way to accurately study the human body, and that was to cut it open.
Catalogue
- Archives and manuscripts
M0002461: Portrait of Theophile Bonet (1620-1689) / M0002462: Male figure showing anatomy of the surface muscles, 16th century
Date: 04 November 1931Reference: WT/D/1/20/1/21/6Part of: Wellcome Trust Corporate Archive- Pictures
- Online
Surgical instruments laid out on a table, for use in cataract and hernia operations during the mid 1500s, with two men in 16th century dress standing behind it. Colour facsimile process print after a 16th century manuscript, 1925.
Stromayr, Caspar.Date: [1925]Reference: 568022i- Digital Images
- Online
Thoracic viscera, 16th Century
- Books
Lodoici Vassaei Catalaunensis, In anatomen corporis humani tabulae quatuor / [Loys Vasse].
Vasse, Loys, active 16th century.Date: 1540- Pictures
A human anatomical figure. Drawing, Nepalese, ca. 1800 (?).
Date: 1800Reference: 574912i