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  • In pictures

Deadly stinks and life-saving aromas in plague-stricken London

In the plague-ravaged London of 1665, could perfume really save your life?

  • Article

Dirt, disease and the Inspector of Nuisances

In the days when ‘bad air’ was thought to spread disease, dozens of Inspectors of Nuisances ceaselessly struggled against the perils of dirt – both visible and invisible.

  • Article

The Key to Memory: Follow your nose

Elissavet Ntoulia explores what a pair of pomanders can tell us about how and why we remember.

  • Article

Why we no longer keep our dead at home

Today in the UK we rarely sit with, touch, or perhaps even see our loved ones after they’ve died. Past practices were very different and, Claire Cock-Starkey argues, were more helpful for those grieving.

All stories (8)

Images

  • A man holding his nose to avoid breathing in a miasma. Drawing.
  • A man holding his nose to avoid breathing in a miasma. Drawing.
  • A man holding his nose to avoid breathing in a miasma. Drawing.
  • Chinese Materia Dietetica, Ming: Black bean sauce
  • Chinese Materia Dietetica, Ming: Alcoholic beverages
  • A jester representing the disinfectant Papier d'Arménie scourges figures representing the infectious diseases cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and smallpox. Colour lithograph by A. Van Geleyn, ca. 1890.
  • A jester representing the disinfectant Papier d'Arménie scourges figures representing the infectious diseases cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and smallpox. Colour lithograph by A. Van Geleyn, ca. 1890.
  • A jester representing the disinfectant Papier d'Arménie scourges figures representing the infectious diseases cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and smallpox. Colour lithograph by A. Van Geleyn, ca. 1890.
  • A jester representing the disinfectant Papier d'Arménie scourges figures representing the infectious diseases cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and smallpox. Colour lithograph by A. Van Geleyn, ca. 1890.
  • A man breathing in nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and a man exhibiting its exhilarating effects. Wood engraving, c. 1840.
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Catalogue

All works (55)