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  • Article

The secret lives of Britain’s first Black physicians

Dr Annabel Sowemimo explores the web of connections between early Black British doctors, the role of empire in West Africa and the pernicious reach of scientific racism.

  • 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

A brief history of ventilation

As ventilators continue to play an important part in helping very ill coronavirus patients, medical historian Dr Lindsey Fitzharris traces their development from the first attempts at mouth-to-mouth resuscitation through centuries of medical crises.

  • Article

A history of gestation outside the body

It’s been over 400 years since a Swiss alchemist theorised that foetuses could develop outside the womb. Claire Horn examines incubator technology past and present, and explores the possibilities recent prototypes might bring.

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  • Of the spleen, its description and history, uses and diseases, particularly the vapors, with their remedy. Being a lecture read at the Royal College of Physicians, London, 1722. To which is added some anatomical observations in the dissection of an elephant / [William Stukeley].
  • Medical history of the Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary, from its foundation in 1753 down to the present time : including biographical sketches of the surgeons and physicians who served on its staff / [Lambert Hepenstal Ormsby].
  • The evolution of anatomy : a short history of anatomical and physiological discovery to Harvey, being the substance of the Fitzpatrick lectures delivered at The Royal College of Physicians of London in the years 1923 and 1924 / by Charles Singer ; with XXII plates and 117 figures in the text.
  • American medical biography: or, memoirs of eminent physicians who have flourished in America. To which is prefixed a succinct history of medical science in the United States from the first settlement of the country / By James Thacher ... Two volumes in one.
  • The conclave of physicians, detecting their intrigues, frauds, and plots, against their patients. Also a peculiar discourse of the Jesuits bark: the history thereof, with its true use, and abuse. Moreover, a narrative of an eminent case in physick / By Gideon Harvey.
  • The history of physick, or, an account of the rise and progress of the art, and the several discoveries therein from age to age. With remarks on the lives of the most eminent physicians / Written originally in French by Daniel Le Clerc, M.D. and made English by Dr. Drake, and Dr. Baden. With additional notes and sculptures. [Part 1].
  • The history of health, and the art of preserving it, or, an account of all that has been recommended by physicians and philosophers, towards the preservation of health, from the most remote antiquity to this time. To which is subjoined, a succinct review of the principal rules relating to this subject. Together with the reasons on which these rules are founded / by James Mackenzie.
  • Osmanthus delavayi Franch. Oleaceae Evergreen shrub. Distribution: China. Osmanthus is derived from the Greek for 'fragrant flower', delavayi from its discoverer, the French Missionary with the Missions Étrangères, and plant collector, Pierre Delavay (1834-1895). He sent 200,000 herbarium specimens containing 4000 species including 1,500 new species to Franchet at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He sent seed of O. delavayi to France (1886), but only one germinated, and all the plants in cultivation until it was recollected 40 years later, arose from this plant (Bretschneider, 1896). The flowers are used to make a tea in China, but the berries (drupes) are not regarded as edible. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Historiated initial: physician, right: text on anatomy.
  • The whole works of that excellent practical physician Dr. Thomas Sydenham wherein not only the history and cures of acute diseases are treated of ... but also the shortest and safest way of curing most chronical diseases / [Thomas Sydenham].
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