medical history Archives - British Society for the History of Medicine https://bshm.org.uk/category/medical-history/ Wed, 13 May 2026 10:51:51 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 The Hidden Nurse Dictionary https://bshm.org.uk/the-hidden-nurse-dictionary/ https://bshm.org.uk/the-hidden-nurse-dictionary/#respond Wed, 13 May 2026 10:50:43 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=21250 The Lancaster Health and Medical Museum Collection, an affiliated society of BSHM, publishes a short article each month about one of the treasured objects in their collection. Bryan Rhodes describes how one of these objects revealed a hidden book by a remarkable author. This week marks International Nurses’ Day, and this blog celebrates an interesting […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/the-hidden-nurse-dictionary/feed/ 0 Oasis of Glass, Desert of Brick: The Peckham Experiment’s Radical Vision https://bshm.org.uk/oasis-of-glass-desert-of-brick-the-peckham-experiments-radical-vision/ https://bshm.org.uk/oasis-of-glass-desert-of-brick-the-peckham-experiments-radical-vision/#respond Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:59:09 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=21232 In the interwar years in Britain, a crisis of national fitness exposed by the First World War prompted the Fabian Society to propose a centralised, expert-led welfare state to manage the population from the top down. The Peckham Experiment in south-east London offered a defiant alternative, says Jennifer Okerenta.    The Peckham Experiment was born […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/oasis-of-glass-desert-of-brick-the-peckham-experiments-radical-vision/feed/ 0 How deadly was smallpox? Rethinking a familiar statistic https://bshm.org.uk/how-deadly-was-smallpox-rethinking-a-familiar-statistic/ https://bshm.org.uk/how-deadly-was-smallpox-rethinking-a-familiar-statistic/#respond Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:22:34 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=21175 A familiar figure appears repeatedly in textbooks and scholarship alike: that smallpox killed 20–30 percent of those infected. It is a striking statistic—but how reliable is it? Eric Schneider and Romola Davenport have revisited this question. In 1707, as smallpox spread across Iceland, one observer described a haunting scene: farms stood silent, livestock wandered unattended, […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/how-deadly-was-smallpox-rethinking-a-familiar-statistic/feed/ 0 Reconstructing an Early Modern Panacea https://bshm.org.uk/reconstructing-an-early-modern-panacea/ https://bshm.org.uk/reconstructing-an-early-modern-panacea/#respond Thu, 27 Feb 2025 11:03:35 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=19837 For nearly two millennia, Theriac—a panacea developed in antiquity—was produced and praised across Europe. By the 19th century, it was dismissed as quackery. Today it has been reconstructed and will soon be tested. Danuta Raj explains. In recent years, historical reconstruction has emerged as an innovative approach in research, bridging traditional historiography with hands-on practices […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/reconstructing-an-early-modern-panacea/feed/ 0 Emil Kraepelin, the little known guru of British psychiatry https://bshm.org.uk/emil-kraepelin-the-little-known-guru-of-british-psychiatry/ https://bshm.org.uk/emil-kraepelin-the-little-known-guru-of-british-psychiatry/#respond Mon, 20 Jan 2025 15:36:46 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=19612 Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) is one of the psychiatrists who have shaped world psychiatry. His views have had more lasting influence on psychiatry than Freud, yet he is little known by the public, explains Peter Carpenter.  Kraepelin arguably is the most significant figure in the development of the ideas of British psychiatry. The impending centenary of […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/emil-kraepelin-the-little-known-guru-of-british-psychiatry/feed/ 0 The Royal Lancaster Infirmary Collecting Barrel  https://bshm.org.uk/the-royal-lancashire-infirmary-collecting-barrel/ https://bshm.org.uk/the-royal-lancashire-infirmary-collecting-barrel/#respond Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:07:21 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=19548 Soon after its opening in 1896, the general committee of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) discovered that they needed an additional £4200 for essential items. Bryan Rhodes describes an object used to raise funds. Building work on the new Lancaster Infirmary began in 1893, and by 1896 this ‘state of the art’ new hospital was […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/the-royal-lancashire-infirmary-collecting-barrel/feed/ 0 Plague Houses and Pandemics – Some comparisons between 1665 and 2020 https://bshm.org.uk/plague-houses-and-pandemics-some-comparisons-between-1665-and-2020/ https://bshm.org.uk/plague-houses-and-pandemics-some-comparisons-between-1665-and-2020/#respond Thu, 19 Sep 2024 20:32:53 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=19033 Charles ll issued an edict in 1665 that every parish should identify a shed, a tent or a house to accommodate those identified with the plague. Alison Wall looks at the role of such isolation in times of pandemic. Plague, pest or pestilence houses – the terms can be used interchangeably – were buildings set […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/plague-houses-and-pandemics-some-comparisons-between-1665-and-2020/feed/ 0 Electricity and Pancakes https://bshm.org.uk/electricity-and-pancakes/ https://bshm.org.uk/electricity-and-pancakes/#respond Mon, 03 Jun 2024 10:47:49 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=18550 Adrian Thomas describes how the poet William Cowper used electricity to treat a friend who suffered a stroke. I had a significant birthday recently, and as a birthday treat, we decided to visit Olney in Buckinghamshire where the poet William Cowper (1731-1800)  lived. In his day Cowper was arguably the most popular and influential poet […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/electricity-and-pancakes/feed/ 0 “The forgotten man of Africa” https://bshm.org.uk/the-forgotten-man-of-africa/ https://bshm.org.uk/the-forgotten-man-of-africa/#comments Tue, 14 May 2024 08:26:54 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=18422 Standing on the deck of the exploring vessel Pleiad in July 1854, Edinburgh trained doctor William Balfour Baikie was about to lead an expedition into the interior of Africa to test the validity of a cure for malaria, writes Wendell McConnaha. Baikie had been seconded to the mission sponsored by the merchant Macgregor Laird and […]

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]]> https://bshm.org.uk/the-forgotten-man-of-africa/feed/ 1 An unflattering view of English medical education in the 1840s https://bshm.org.uk/an-unflattering-view-of-english-medical-education-in-the-1840s/ https://bshm.org.uk/an-unflattering-view-of-english-medical-education-in-the-1840s/#respond Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:05:23 +0000 https://bshm.org.uk/?p=18109 In about 1841, Belgian doctor Constantin Pierre Crommelinck toured various psychiatric institutions in England, France, and Germany. His report reviewed not just various English asylums and also the training of English doctors. Peter Carpenter recounts his none too flattering findings.   Constantin Pierre Crommelinck (1814-1884) was the son of a Belgium surgeon who trained as […]

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