Some of the most famous images in the history of medicine can be found in Andreas Vesalius’s “De humani corporis fabrica,” published in 1543 by Johannes Oporinus. Medical illustration prior to Vesalius tended to be rather crude and schematic, but the woodcuts that appeared in the Fabrica managed to capture an extraordinary amount of detail [Read more]
Medical knowledge has undergone, shall we say, significant changes since the medieval and early modern periods. Humorism – the idea that the bodily health depended on the proper balance of the four humors of blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile – has been thoroughly debunked. We understand germ theory. A broken bone is a [Read more]
April is National Poetry Month and, as in past years, we’re celebrating by showing off an example of poetry that has a medical flavor. Matthew Green’s long poem “The Spleen” is perfect for the occasion. Although Green (1696-1737) was not a literary scholar, he had a keen wit and a certain natural flair for poetry. [Read more]
There are a number of home remedies that claim to cure hangovers. Greasy breakfasts, black coffee, and attempting to sleep it off all come to mind.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’re probably aware that the Potterverse is about to expand with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This new film follows the adventures of Newt Scamander, the wizard who authored the textbook Harry and his fellow Hogwarts students used in their Care of Magical Creatures class. While we Muggles (or No-Majs, as we’re called in North America) are unlikely to encounter any hippogriffs, acromantulas, and grindylows in person, if you venture up to Becker’s Archives and Rare Books you can see them in some of our historical texts!
The end of fall is the season when the veil between our world and the spirit world is thinnest. That means Halloween is the best possible time to try to communicate with ghosts and spirits!
September 25 – October 1 is Banned Books week. Hopefully you saw Susan Fowler’s earlier Becker Brief about Banned Medical Books (if not, check it out here!), but we also wanted to take the time to post about historical banned books. One of the works in our special collections that was once censored by the [Read more]
We are very excited to announce that Archives and Rare Books has decided to implement Aeon, a library requesting software created for special collections.
This work is disrespectfully dedicated to those who feel that a knowledge of the Human Body, sufficient for the needs of the future Medical Practitioner, can be adequately obtained without post-mortem investigation. It will be seen that with the aid of a few objects borrowed from the gardener, or cook (if she be out), the [Read more]
If you were to look at where all of the pre-1800 books in our collections were published, you would notice that some cities show up over and over, such as Venice, Paris, Lyon, Basel, and Frankfurt.