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Stories

  • Article

Revelations of blindness in the Middle Ages

Medieval texts, from Islamic medical treatises to Christian books of miracles, reveal surprisingly varied and complex experiences of blindness. But when medieval scholar Jude Seal experienced visual impairment themselves, they gained an even deeper understanding of the lives they were studying.

  • Article

The seizure dog

Aparna Nair's dog Charlie made her feel safe in the world. His uncanny ability to sense when she was about to experience a seizure also gave her an unexpected ally in her struggles with epilepsy.

  • Article

The relationship between science and art

Often seen as opposites, science and art both depend on observation and synthesis.

  • Article

Female masturbation and the perils of pleasure

Dr Kate Lister exposes the brutal 19th-century ‘cures’ for women who indulged in masturbation.

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Images

  • School of the London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read, Avenue Road, London: seen from the road. Coloured lithograph by E. T. Dolby after H.E. Kendall, 1847 (?).
  • Specimen sheet of embossed type for the blind, which bears an extract from Psalm CXIX. v.17,18 and a price list for other scriptures available in the same format.
  • The Medical Society of London: John Coakley Lettsom presenting to the society the deeds of 3 Bolt Court, City of London. Stipple engraving by N.C. Branwhite, 1801, after S. Medley, 1800.
  • John Coakley Lettsom, physician, with his family, in the garden of Grove Hill, Camberwell.
  • Anatomy lessons at St Dunstan's. Oil painting by J.H. Lobley, 1919.
  • Anatomy lessons at St Dunstan's. Oil painting by J.H. Lobley, 1919.
  • Anatomy lessons at St Dunstan's. Oil painting by J.H. Lobley, 1919.
  • A blind girl reads the Bible by touch to her illiterate family in the dark; one man is tempted to go out and enjoy drunken revels in the daylight; representing light and darkness of the understanding. Engraving by W. Ridgway, 1871, after G. Smith.
  • A blind girl reads the Bible by touch to her illiterate family in the dark; one man is tempted to go out and enjoy drunken revels in the daylight; representing light and darkness of the understanding. Engraving by W. Ridgway, 1871, after G. Smith.
  • A blind girl reads the Bible by touch to her illiterate family in the dark; one man is tempted to go out and enjoy drunken revels in the daylight; representing light and darkness of the understanding. Engraving by W. Ridgway, 1871, after G. Smith.
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