Breathing Easily
The ancient world found ingenious solutions for protective equipment in the workplace – but did its workers benefit?
Medicine & Disease
A Hospital ‘Manned by Women’
The First World War offered new opportunities for enterprising female doctors.
A Cure Worse than Disease
Quarantine is intended to protect, but it can also punish.
Removing That Little Knot
A Victorian doctor offering to cure female ‘lunacy’ came under fire for his scandalous new operation: female genital mutilation.
A Tale of Plagues
The Plague was not just a medieval illness.
Misery in the Head
In the stomach, the mind, or the brain – migraine’s causes and remedies have been debated for 2,000 years.
The Torrid Zone
In the 18th century, Europeans in the tropics found themselves beset by an array of unpleasant afflictions. They blamed black women, the climate and the strength of their own masculinity.
Snuffs and Sneezes Cure Diseases
In the 17th and 18th centuries, patients were encouraged to snuff, snort and sneeze their way out of a whole range of ailments and illnesses.
Finding Keepers: Mental Illness in the 19th century
Caring for the mentally ill in Victorian Britain was hard, unrewarding and dangerously unregulated. Alexander Morison tried to improve things for both the unwell and their carers.
The 17th Century Guide to Sleep
Despite the modern obsession with a good night’s rest, more of us are sleeping less. Perhaps we should pay attention to the advice of early modern doctors.