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Stories

  • Book extract

Eating their own kind

In his grisly history of cannibalism, zoologist Bill Schutt asks what drives an animal to feast on its own flesh and blood.

  • Article

Witches

Many of the women persecuted as witches in the 16th-century “witch craze” were over 50 and exhibited signs of menopause. Helen Foster suggests that the stigma of the wicked witch still affects older women and how they deal with menopause.

  • Article

The tale of the toxic kidneys

In 1954 a serendipitous coming together of skills and circumstances allowed the first successful organ transplant to take place. Read how Richard Herrick’s life was prolonged by his identical twin’s generosity.

  • Article

The mystery of the malignant brain

In 1884 a neurologist successfully used a patient’s symptoms, plus a new kind of map, to locate a brain tumour. Discover how his best-laid plans for treatment worked out.

All stories (8)

Images

  • Java (Indonesia): animals and indigenous people, including Javan labourers, Javan warriors, a bride of a higher class and a native sportsman being attacked by a tiger. Lithograph.
  • World War One: a large snake, symbolic of a gas attack, strikes at a sleeping soldier. Colour halftone after a crayon drawing by L. Raemaekers.
  • Alpha 1,3 galactosyl transferase
  • Hippopotamuses with elephants in African jungle, representing the Behemoth of the Old Testament. Colour wood engraving attributed to Edmund Evans, 1867.
  • John Woodward. Mezzotint by W. Humphrey.
  • Aldermen of the City of London Corporation represented as Chinese and as monsters in procession to Westminster to protest against the Treaty of Paris, 1763. Etching after J.H. O'Neale, 1763.
  • Emily M. Madden's cat Mouton. Drawings by Emily M. Madden, 1856-1859.
  • Different species of cimex, including the bedbug (fig. 1). Coloured etching by J. Pass, 1801.
All images (8)

Catalogue

All works (78)