Tag Archives: History of medicine

Sizing up the female body

March 8, 2010 · by · in Health news, History of medicine

On the subject of health beliefs and prejudices, I’ve been looking at research showing that women who drink alcohol may be less at risk of becoming overweight. Being a woman who enjoys the occasional half of real ale, my initial response was an insightful ‘Ha! That’s because we’re out enjoying ourselves instead of sitting at  […]

All welcome at the Wellcome Library

January 27, 2010 · by · in History of medicine, Uncategorized · 1 Comment

Did you know anyone can become a member of the Wellcome Library, one of the world’s great medical history collections? And better still, it’s free to join? I had a tour of the library last week as part of my History of the Human Body course. I was blown away by the scope and extent of […]

A visit to the theatre of pain

January 13, 2010 · by · in History of medicine, Reviews · 1 Comment

What’s the most important advance in surgery of the last 200 years? Until Saturday, I’d probably have said ‘anaesthetics’. Like most people, it’s the thought of pre-anaesthetic operations that disturbs me most. Now I know that any sensible patient awaiting removal of their gangrenous leg, or painful kidney stones, would have waved away the laudenum […]