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Stories

  • 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

The hidden history of homesickness

Gail Tolley delves into the history of homesickness and discovers that its rich past holds a clue to how we view the experience today.

  • Article

History of condoms from animal to rubber

Come on a journey from the first recorded condoms in the 16th century to the modern female condoms in the 1990s – and everything in between.

  • Article

Deadly doses and the hardest of hard drugs

The invention of the modern hypodermic syringe meant we could get high – or accidentally die – faster than before. Find out how this medical breakthrough was adapted for deadly uses.

All stories (21)

Images

  • Hairstyles through history. 10, 17th Century, cavalier.
  • Hairstyles through history. 10, 17th Century, cavalier.
  • Hairstyles through history. 10, 17th Century, cavalier.
  • Hairstyles through history. 10, 17th Century, cavalier.
  • Plan of Wellcome museum galleries: 1st floor showing new arrangement, 1942, Dr Daukes scheme: Renaissance, 17th century, 18th century, 19th & 20th centuries, history of disease, research.
  • A schoolmaster pointing to the text read by one of his pupils while his other two pupils observe. Etching by D. Deuchar after A. van Ostade.
  • An old woman sitting and reading a book. Etching after Rembrandt.
  • A young man laments the death of a young woman. Engraving by J. Brown after T. J. Barker, c.1834.
  • A lady fainting after bloodletting. Oil painting after Eglon Hendrick van der Neer.
  • A lady fainting after bloodletting. Oil painting after Eglon Hendrick van der Neer.
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Events

  • Seminar

Priests and Drugs in 17th-Century Paris

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Past

Part of Exploring Research

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