And Did Those Feet

I gave a walk for the London Festival of Archiecture on Medicine - good turn out and it went well.  I tried to give a medical, architectural, historical and to add in various ideas of health and well-being. London Bridge Revealed – Medicine (Guided Walk) During June the Museum of Walking will lead an eclectic series of walks focusing on some of the key characteristics that make up London Bridge’s past, present and future: its riverside, railway and greenery, and its unique heritage medical and leisure heritage. Both the provision and education associated with Guy’s Hospital and Kings College has a huge legacy in the area, and has attracted private hospitals as well. Not only is the Guy’s tower a significant landmark (purportedly the highest hospital building in the world both at the time of its construction in the 1970s and in the present day), but as one of the largest employers, holds the key to many personal and col...

I have always believed that you put the milk in first because of the risk of cracking your bone china with boiling hot water.  But have just heard what sounds like a definitive answer to the question:   BUT if you are wealthy you can afford cups that don't crack under boiling water AND by the time the hot water comes up from downstairs the water is not so boiling so UPSTAIRS you can put the tea in first DOWNSTAIRS you put the milk in first So which goes in first becomes a measure of class.  Just like everything else in the UK.

'Dead is the Dwarf'  This is a Saxon runic inscription. It appears to be a medical inscription to be worn as a talisman and references a illness characterized in the Saxon period as 'the dwarf'.  Presumably the 'dwarf' was driven out of the body and this runic plaque stops it coming back. More information in the notes section at the bottom of the record in this link. and in British Archaeology Nov/Dec 2017. Page 52

The Guardian quotes the Old Operating Theatre Museum as its source for Snail - water which the Mona-Lisa is recorded as purchasing.  And as the Snail Water at the Museum was used for syphillis then makes the case that she had syphillis. I think this is very much a distant maybe. Because firstly does a woman buying a medicine always buy it for herself? Secondly, snail water was not just used for syphilis, it was used for a variety of ailments in that region of the body. This is part of what the Guardian says. Did the Mona Lisa have syphilis? | Art and design | The Guardian : Perhaps it was the disgusting, punitive nature of this concoction that made it seem a pungent cure. Snail water was still being used in the 18th century; books from the time are very specific about its medicinal value. The Pharmacopœia pauperum (1718) gives this recipe: Take Garden-Snails cleansed and bruised 6 Gallons, Earth-Worms washed and bruised 3 Gallons, of common Wormwood, Ground-Ivy, and C...

Amazing photos http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cushing-tumor-registry-cushing-whitney-medical-library?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura&utm_campaign=1958a2bdcc-Newsletter_05_19_155_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_62ba9246c0-1958a2bdcc-59925109&ct=t%28Newsletter_05_19_155_18_2015%29&mc_cid=1958a2bdcc&mc_eid=1ac2751e09

Unbelievable poverty. Victorian London - Districts - Areas - Bermondsey

Having drawn a blank as to where Peter Treveris printed his pioneering Great Herbal, I rang the local studies Library, in Southwark, and Patricia was able to track down a reference Treveris working at the 'Sign of the Three Widows'. As to why his title page says 'Wodows' we don't know.  We had no luck finding out where in Southwark the 'Sign of the 3 Widows' was however. Patricia used British History Online Old and New London Volume 6 which is about Southwark, and in the Inns section is this: 'Another inn, called the "Three Widows," was probably a perversion of the "Three Nuns"—the ignorant people after the Reformation confounding the white head-dresses of the religious sisterhood with those of disconsolate relicts. Here, "at the 'Three Widows,' in Southwark," a foreigner, Peter Treviris, in the early part of the sixteenth century, set up a printing-press, which he kept constantly at work for several years, as...

After a little bit of digging around. I discovered some very interesting facts about printing in Southwark.  Dawn Kemp, the new Director of the Old Operating Theatre Museum alerted me to Peter Treveris, the Southwark based printer of the first illustrated Herbal in England, ( Peter Treveris’ Grete herball ). I had not heard of this herbal before, and wondered if it had anything to do with the printing of the first Bible in English by Miles Coverdale in the grounds of St Thomas Hospital, Southwark in 1537. Title Page of Grete Herball A little bit of research established that Treveris was established as a printer at the 'sygne of the wodows'  in 1516.  ( The Stationers' Company and the Printers of London , 1501–1557  By Peter W. M. Blayney; ).  Was this the 'Sign of the Widows'? Treveris was an alien, possibly from Trier, and was a publisher/translator. However,  what was a great discovering was that Treveris also published the 'Handywo...

This is the first illustrated guide to herbs printed in England in 1529. and it was printed in Southwark. I am wondering whether it was printed by the same people who printed Covedale's Bible. Special Collections » Peter Treveris’ Grete herball of 1529

After an introduction on the British Museum, after the first 10 minutes this is an interview with Kevin Flude talking about the Old Operating Theatre Museum. londonwalks » Blog Archive » The London Walks Podcast No.27: London Museums

This is an article written following the inaugural meeting of a Book Club looking at books with a medical Theme.   This is a short story written in a highly dramatic form by Conan-Doyle. It does not feature Sherlock Holmes, and perhaps because of that it has a cracking pace.   It is a bit-sized story that can be read in a single tube journey.  There is no detection in it, but the style alerts the reader to the fact that there is going to be a surprising possibly horrific ending. The plot has medicine at its heart. Conan-Doyle was a doctor himself, trained in Edinburgh by Joseph Bell whose forensic skills were one of the main influences leading to the creation of the world's most famous fictional detective. There was no wikipedia page, so I set up the following wikipedia entry outlining the plot. This is a short story by Conan-Doyle which features an arrogant Surgeon, Douglas Stone, who is in love with the married Lady Sannox, one of the most beautiful woma...

 One of the world's most important books? Andreas Vesalius' Fabrica: The Anatomy of a Revolution on AbeBooks

I have just updated the links page on the Old Operating Theatre Museum web site.  What was interesting (apart from how many of them were 'broken' - about 40%)  was that these were mostly academic sites - particularly university sites. Its as if the IT departments have no stability and keep changing things around, while Museums and visitor orientated sites seem to be stable - they have an interest in people finding them! Links to history of medicine, London and Southwark concerned with the Old

Jane Austen was right: Her characters were known for falling ill... but historians say 19th century people WERE prone to disease | Mail Online Other articles http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ culture/books/10105843/Solved- Why-Jane-Austens-characters- get-ill-from-the-rain.html   http://www. cheltenhamfestivals.com/ science/whats-on/2013/pride- prejudice-and-the-doctor/ http://www.ls.manchester.ac. uk/people/profile/?personid= 1765

Grotesque Mummy Head Reveals Advanced Medieval Science - Yahoo! News

200-Year-Old Medical Building Still Healthy After All These Years - PreservationNation

 I am shocked at the picture of the deliberate decay of a fine historic building - not only of a quality that should be preserved on its on merits but one that deserves to be preserved because of its medical connections. I wish you luck in your attempt to preserve it. I cannot understand why anyone would think the demolition of such a fine building can be a useful thing to do. Web petition in last-ditch bid to save historic Ancoats Dispensary | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

Thursday September 27 th at 6.30pm Dickens and the Workhouse The recent discovery that as a youth Charles Dickens lived only a few doors from a major London workhouse made headlines worldwide, and the campaign to save it from demolition caught the public imagination. Ruth Richardson, the historian responsible for these exciting new findings, will explain how profoundly important these years were to his subsequent writing career. Ruth Richardson is a historian and the author of a number of books. Her most recent book is The Making of Mr Gray’s Anatomy, winner of the 2009 Medical Journalists’ Open Book Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Honorary Professor of Humanities and Medicine at Hong Kong University. The lecture will be followed by a free glass of wine and an opportunity to view the museum. Admission price £10.00. (Members of the Florence Nightingale Museum £8.00) To book, please contact Natasha McEnroe on natasham@florence-nightingal...

Open windows could help beat superbugs, says expert - Science - News - The Independent

Over 100 bodies of new born babies buried around a Roman villa at Yewden have been interpreted as evidence for Roman infanticide - the thinking being that the large number of new born babies buried is an abnormal distribution of foetal and new born deaths so they are evidence of infanticide. Therefore might the villa have been a Roman Brothel? The alternate explanation is that the Villa was a cult centre for a Mother Goddess cult and women came here to give birth. Bone cuts on the thighs of a baby may imply embrotomy where a baby trapped in the birthcanal is cut up in order to get the baby out and save the mother's life. These operations were carried out from 4 th Century BC. BBC News - Roman dead baby 'brothel' mystery deepens