Plaque: A Viscous Anthropocene
Chris Otter explores the planetary significance of plaque and the Anthropocene In 1978, the Scottish doctor Walter Yellowlees, an advocate of whole foods and healthy nutrition, stated: I believe it to be true that
Arguing about the ‘Abuse of Hot Liquors’
Monica O’Brien reflects on using medical history to develop students’ critical thinking and argumentation
Remembering Edinburgh’s AIDS Experience during COVID-19
Reiko Kanazawa reflects on a workshop series about Scotland and AIDS crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organising a workshop during a pandemic is daunting. So also is talking about AIDS while each country is
Naming the Invisible Patient: A Historical Dilemma
Aisling Shalvey reflects on the historian’s struggle to honour individuals represented in medical archives
The Invention of the Medical Record
Max Perry reflects on the development of the modern medical record I. The Medical Record as Technology I can tell you a lot about medical records. About the strange things found inside them (an
Perspectives on Child Loss: Two Case Studies from Eighteenth Century Midwives
Rebecca Simpson offers an alternative perspective on stillbirth and infant-loss, focussing on the writings of two eighteenth century midwives. This is one of a series of essays addressing miscarriage, prematurity, stillbirth and neonatal loss, published by The Polyphony to coincide with Baby Loss Awareness week, which runs 9-15 October every year.
Prescribing Restraint: Patient Liberty and Movement in the Insane Asylum
Vesna Curlic explores the debates around patient liberty and restraint in asylum spaces In 1890, an anonymous patient at Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries, Scotland wrote a piece for the institutional magazine, The New
‘Some Nurses’: The Value of Women’s Work
Jemima Short argues that a nineteenth-century lithograph found in Wellcome Collection speaks to inequalities in health care work today.
The Hypodermic Syringe
Writer and doctoral researcher Gillian Shirreffs contemplates the history of the hypodermic syringe.
Why Nightingale?
Why Nightingale? Ashleigh Blackwood, Leverhulme Research Fellow in English Literature at Northumbria University, suggests that women’s medical history might help us understand the inequalities revealed by the current health crisis.