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Stories

  • Article

The problem of the punctured heart

During World War II a young American surgeon working in England perfected shrapnel-removal techniques that saved dozens of lives. Discover how one case sealed his reputation as the founder of cardiac surgery.

  • Article

Making sunstroke insanity

Medical historian Dr Kristin Hussey takes a closer look at sunstroke and mental illness, and how, in the late 19th century, they connected at the crossroads of colonial science and the idea of whiteness.

  • Article

A nose through Blythe House

Recently sold and emptied out, Blythe House was once one of the UK’s biggest museum storage facilities. Here, museum worker Laura Humphreys reflects on her relationship with the store’s architecture, objects and aromas.

  • Article

Rethinking the placebo effect

The placebo effect has long been harnessed for both legitimate and fraudulent use, but we’re only just discovering how and why our bodies respond positively to dummy drugs, as Anjuli Sharma reveals.

All stories (16)

Images

  • Franco-Prussian War: wounded German soldiers on their way home from France. Wood engraving.
  • British soldiers disembark as they return home from India to their wives and families. Process print after H.O'Neil.
  • World War I: a soldier writing a letter home. Colour process print, ca. 1916.
  • World War I: a soldier writing a letter home. Colour process print, ca. 1916.
  • A man in a soldier's uniform is instructing men with cutlasses to remove a reluctant recruit from his home. Coloured wood engraving.
  • A soldier unexpectedly arrives home from the wars and is greeted with surprise by his family. Engraving by J. Goodyear after Miss L. Sharpe.
  • A soldier with a plume of peacock feathers in his helmet carries a young woman home on his horse with goblins giving him directions. Engraving by Ludwig Friedrich after Eduard Steinle.
  • An American soldier tied up with a rope forming the letters "VD" and therefore unable to return from army duty in Europe to his home in America. Colour lithograph by F.O. Schiffers, 1946.
  • The Royal Hospital, Chelsea: viewed from the Surrey bank with boats on the river. Engraving by J. Storer after S. Prout, 1805.
  • The Royal Hospital, Chelsea: viewed from the Surrey bank with boats on the river. Engraving by T. White.
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