Medicine & Disease

Malaria was one of the scourges of the British Indian Empire. William Gardener writes how a remedy was at last provided by the introduction of a South-American tree.

Medical explanations of human character and conduct are by themselves (as William James pointed out) usually “destructive and insufficient.” It seems highly possible that Joan of Arc suffered from tuberculosis. But this analysis of her medical background, write John and Isobel-Ann Butterfield, does nothing to lessen our admiration for her heroic and inspired life.

Jerome Carson and Elizabeth Wakely explore the mental illnesses suffered by some famous historical figures and consider the impact on their lives and achievements.

Henry Bashford looks back at the birth of one of modern medicine's pillars.

Henry Bashford traces the development of a key aspect of modern medicine.

Sarah Wise admires an assessment of lunacy in 19th-century London.

In recent years the reputation of Mary Seacole as a pioneering nurse of the Crimean War has been elevated far beyond the bounds of her own ambition. Meanwhile that of Florence Nightingale has taken an undeserved knocking, as Lynn McDonald explains.

Ian Bradley looks at the life of Vincent Priessnitz, pioneer of hydrotherapy, whose water cures gained advocates throughout 19th-century Europe and beyond and are still popular today.

An international group of scientists has successfully sequenced the entire genome of the Black Death, the epidemic that killed 60% of Europe's population in the 14th century.

Richard Lansdown introduces Hugh Welch Diamond, one of the fathers of medical photography, whose images of the insane both reflected and challenged prevailing ideas about visually recording insanity.