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A history of amulets in ten objects
This article presents a historical survey of ten amulets using objects from the Science Museum collections. What can we learn about the place of amulets in the larger narrative of European healing from the early modern era to the present day?
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A statistical campaign: Florence Nightingale and Harriet Martineau’s England and her Soldiers
An essay on the making of England and her Soldiers, a book written by Harriet Martineau and based on the statistical work of Florence Nightingale.
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Wounded: ‘They had no fever…’ Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) and his method of gunshot wounds management
The paper deals with new surgical paradigm elaborated by French surgeon Ambroise Paré, who proposed a version of wound care where the cauterising was replaced with ligature of vessels and healing balm dressing.
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Coming home - Bally’s miniature phrenological specimens
Close inspection of William Bally’s miniature phrenological specimens – a set of 60 small plaster busts – has led to a reappraisal of their origin and use. Made in 1832, they helped position Bally as ‘one of the best practical phrenologists in England’.
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‘Great ease and simplicity of action’: Dr Nelson’s Inhaler and the origins of modern inhalation therapy
This paper reconstructs the history and reception of the Dr Nelson’s Inhaler as a means of understanding the growth of inhalation therapy in the mid-nineteenth century.
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From the White Man’s Grave to the White Man’s Home? Experiencing ‘Tropical Africa’ at the 1924–25 British Empire Exhibition
This article analyses the exhibition and reception of Tropical Africa at the 1924–25 British Empire Exhibition, drawing attention to affect, the senses, and spatiality. It emphasises the need to look beyond curatorial intent and consider the multiplicity of potential experiences within World’s Fairs.
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The provenance and context of the Giustiniani Medicine Chest
In 1946 the Giustiniani Medicine Chest came into the Science Museum Collection having originally been bought in Italy in 1924 by an agent of Sir Henry Wellcome, for his medical collection. This article assesses its provenance and history.
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Wounded: Healing communal wounds: processions and plague in sixteenth-century Mantua
In 1576 a plague epidemic inflicted physical and psychological wounds on the community of Mantua. This article examines the role of processions in healing those wounds and discusses the programme of processions organised by the city’s health office in conjunction with religious groups including Mantua’s confraternities.
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Mind-Boggling Medical History: creating a medical history game for nurses
Mind-Boggling Medical History is a card game designed to introduce medical history to new and non-traditional audiences for the subject, and to nurses in particular.
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Museums theme – making Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine
The author outlines the development and intellectual underpinnings of the Dibner Award-winning exhibition Split + Splice: Fragments from the Age of Biomedicine (Medical Museion, 2009). Deep connections between biotechnologies, technologies of the self, and the technology that is an exhibition are examined.