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  • Article

Written on my body

Scars mean David Jesudason has never enjoyed seeing his reflection. Recounting the stories behind the marks on his face and body, he finds the only one that symbolises hope and happiness.

  • Article

Good animals, bad humans?

Could an animal be more evolved than a human? Victorian psychologists thought that in some cases the answer could be ‘yes’.

  • Article

Tripping for spiritualism and science

Getting high in the name of religion or creativity has been practised for centuries. Now it seems hallucinogenics could help treat mental illnesses too.

  • Article

Dress and the magic of touch

Fashion, of course, is largely about appearance, but the feeling of clothes on your skin is a complex sensory experience. Shahidha Bari contemplates the human connections in the business of creating and wearing clothes.

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Images

  • The human consciousness
  • Diagram showing balls representing different stages of consciousness
  • (left) A man who has hanged himself, (right) a man who has drowned being reuscitated. A manuscript with details describing techniques to resuscitating people who have drowned, hung themeselves, collapsed or lost consciousness.
  • Vicia faba L. Fabaceae. Broad beans, Fava bean. Distribution: N. Africa, SW Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: 'Fabarum. Of Beans. Of Bean Cods (or Pods as we in Sussex call them) being burned, the ashes are a sovereign remedy for aches in the joints, old bruises, gout and sciaticaes.’ The beans are perfectly edible for the majority, but 1% of Caucasians, predominantly among Greeks, Italians and people from the Eastern Mediterranean regions, have a genetic trait in that they lack the ability to produce the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. As a consequence, eating broad beans or even inhaling the pollen, causes a severe haemolytic anaemia a few days later. This condition is known as favism. The whole plant, including the beans, contains levodopa, a precursor of dopamine, and some patients with Parkinsonism report symptomatic improvement after commencing on a diet that contains these beans regularly. A case of neuroleptic malignant-like syndrome (fever, rigidity, autonomic instability, altered consciousness, elevated creatine phosphokinase levels) consequent on abrupt discontinuation of a diet containing plenty of broad beans, has been described in a patient with Parkinsonism. This is usually seen when patients abruptly discontinue L-dopa therapy. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • A woman asleep in an armchair: her book is slipping out of her hand, the rest of the room is in disarray; representing oblivion. Lithograph by H. Bertremieux after G.S. Newton.
  • A louche man approaches a well-dressed man who has looked at hs girlfriend and asks him "What do you want, clown?". Coloured lithograph by E.J. Pigal. 1822.
  • An unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments; representing the effects of chloroform on the human body. Watercolour by R. Cooper.
  • An unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments; representing the effects of chloroform on the human body. Watercolour by R. Cooper.
  • An unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments; representing the effects of chloroform on the human body. Watercolour by R. Cooper.
  • An unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments; representing the effects of chloroform on the human body. Watercolour by R. Cooper.
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