Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events

Stories

  • Article

The poor child’s nurse

Charming family scenes in Victorian ads for children’s medicines were at odds with some of the dangerous ingredients they contained.

  • Interview

Refugee health on a pound a day

Two refugees living a hand-to-mouth existence in the UK explain how trauma has affected their health, and how a little kindness is bringing them hope.

  • Article

Eugenics and the welfare state

Indy Bhullar explores the ideas of William Beveridge and Richard Titmuss, who were strongly influenced by eugenic thinking, and yet championed the idea of the welfare state.

  • Article

Journeying home

A serious health scare was the catalyst to Chris beginning the process of understanding his experiences more clearly, and using that new insight to help other intersex people.

All stories (15)

Images

  • Child care; Infant Mortality rate 1851-1901
  • Advice to mothers on causes of child mortality. Colour lithograph by O. Gri︠u︡n, 1925.
  • Advice to mothers on causes of child mortality. Colour lithograph by O. Gri︠u︡n, 1925.
  • A health visitor holding a small child, promoting a campaign against tuberculosis and infant mortality. Colour lithograph by A. Leroux, 1918.
  • Catharanthus roseus (L.)G.Don Apocynaceae. Madagascar Periwinkle Distribution: Madagascar. It is the source of vincristine and vinblastine, which impair cell multiplication by interfering with microtubule assembly, causing metaphase arrest and are effective medications for leukaemias, lymphomas and some solid tumours. The mortality from childhood leukaemia fell from 100% to 30% once it was introduced - not a drug that could ethically be tested by double-blind trials. These chemicals were initially discovered by investigators in 1958 who were looking for cures for diabetes so tested this plant which was being used in the West Indies to reduce blood sugar levels. There are 70 different alkaloids present in this plant, and some - catharanthine, leurosine sulphate, lochnerine, tetrahydroalstonine, vindoline and vindolinine - lower blood sugar levels. However, the toxicity of this plant is such that this is not a plant to try at home for diabetic management. The vincristine content of the plant is 0.0003%, so two kilograms of leaf are required to produce sufficient vincristine for a single course of treatment for a child (6gm). Fortunately it is a vigorous weed and easy to grow in the tropics. Artificial synthesis has now been achieved. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Parents' drinking weakens children's vitality : comparison of children in 50 abstaining and 59 drinking families in one village in Finland ... drink menaces vigor and lives of children.
  • [Bookmark asking for help for the Fench Red Cross to aleviate children dying of a lack of milk, hygiene, baby linen, medical care, air and light. There is an advert for Citiba rayon stockings on the back].
  • [Bookmark asking for help for the Fench Red Cross to aleviate children dying of a lack of milk, hygiene, baby linen, medical care, air and light. There is an advert for Citiba rayon stockings on the back].
  • A solitary unhappy child compared with a happy child playing with her parents: CHILD project in Uganda. Colour lithograph by the Uganda Nutrition and Ministry of Health, 1998.
  • Egyptian wall relief, taken 1989
All images (13)

Catalogue

All works (221)