Stories
- 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
Epidemic threats and racist legacies
Epidemiology is the systematic, data-driven study of health and disease in populations. But as historian Jacob Steere-Williams suggests, this most scientific of fields emerged in the 19th century imbued with a doctrine of Western imperialism – a legacy that continues to influence how we talk about disease.
- Article
Aphasia and drawing elephants
When Thomas Parkinson investigated the history of “speech science”, he discovered an unexpected link between empire, elephants and aphasia.
- Article
Between sickness and health
In early 2020, the subject Will Rees was studying – imaginary illnesses – took on a new relevance as everyone anxiously scanned themselves for Covid symptoms each day. But this kind of self-scrutiny is nothing new, as he reveals.
Catalogue
- Pictures
- Online
A lecturer (William Kitchiner?) about to address a lecture on optics with the aid of candles, a telescope and magic lantern to a seated audience, he is interrupted by a Kentish hop merchant. Coloured etching, 1809, after G.M. Woodward.
Woodward, G. M. (George Moutard), approximately 1760-1809.Date: [1809?]Reference: 15968i- Pictures
A staunch magistrate surprised by the apparition of a radical demon. Etching by G. Cruikshank, 1835.
Date: 1 August 1835Reference: 12244i- Pictures
- Online
A convalescing woman trying in vain to rouse her slumbering hired nurse: the cat scavenges her food and the candle sets light to the carpet. Coloured etching by N. Heideloff, 1807, after T. Rowlandson.
Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827.Date: October 1807Reference: 11876iPart of: Miseries of human life- Pictures
- Online
King George III analysing the residue from a large glass retort containing a small figure; representing the English view of Napoleon. Coloured aquatint by T. West, 1803.
West, Temple, approximately 1740-1783.Date: July 1803Reference: 12196i- Books
Ghost-seers, detectives, and spiritualists : theories of vision in Victorian literature and science / Srdjan Smajic.
Smajic, Srdjan, 1974-Date: 2010