One of the most advanced hospitals in Europe from the late 16th century until the early 20th century was the Sacra Infermeria or Holy Infirmary in Malta founded by the Knights Hospitalier. #Malta #Knights Our latest blog. bshm.org.uk/blog/

It is curious that with all the media attention hantavirus is attracting, the most famous outbreak caused by hantavirus (but not the Andes strain) is rarely mentioned. This was the 1993 Four Corners hantavirus outbreak. Here is some footage from the time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydtd...

Celebrating #nurses. This week marks International Nurses Day, and our latest blog describes the unexpected discovery of the most successful nurses' dictionary, the work of an exceptional nurse and activist, (Violet) Honnor Morten. bshm.org.uk/blog/

McGill University and University of Ottawa 2026 Special Event Histories of Global Mental Health: An International Conference 25-26 June 2026 Montreal, Canada Full details available at: www.mcgill.ca/tcpsych/trai... #histmed

1 week left for our CFP on the Colonial Medical Ennui - workshop held August 27-28, St Andrews

In the interwar years in Britain, a crisis of national fitness prompted the Fabian Society to propose a centralised, expert-led welfare state to manage the population from the top down. The Peckham Experiment in SE London offered a defiant alternative. #health Our latest blog. bshm.org.uk/blog/

We know #smallpox was deadly - but how deadly? In our latest blog Eric Schneider and Romola Davenport challenge the traditional figure by modelling mortality and immunity together. bshm.org.uk/blog/

A great recorded webinar by Freya Jephcott on "Scientific Hallucinations: Unreal Landscapes in Epidemic Investigations" www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaE3...

International forensic pathologist and war crimes witness Dr John Clark will give our 2026 Poynter Lecture “Buried Evidence” on Sat 20 June online and in person at 17.00 at the Univ of St Andrews Information & registration. bshm.org.uk/buried-evide...

We're days away from the opening of our new temporary exhibition Edinburgh: City of Medicine- 300 Years of Edinburgh Medical School! You'll be able to see it for yourself from Friday. The exhibition will run until Easter 2027.

This is one of the oldest manuscripts of the "Canon of Medicine." Originally composed around 1025 CE by Ibn Sina at the Buyid court in Hamadan (modern Iran), it combined Greco-Roman sources with Islamic medical science and remained a key text in European medical curricula until the 19th century.

A moving story of a gifted surgeon, his accomplishments in blood transfusion in the run up to World War II and racism in the US medical world, "Genius Unbroken" is the story of Charles Drew (1904-1950). Our book review: bshm.org.uk/book-reviews...

Wound man is an iconic and enduring image in surgical history. Art historian Jack Hartnell has written "an important, beautifully constructed book: "Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image". (Princeton University Press) Our review: bshm.org.uk/book-reviews/

Quirks, Quacks and Cul-de-sacs: new volume of our journal, Topics in the History of Medicine, is now available – free online to all. bshm.org.uk/thom/v5

The new edition of our journal Topics in the History of Medicine, "Quirks, Quacks and Cul-de-Sacs" is now available online for free. bshm.org.uk/thom/v5/ We hope you enjoy it.

Additional Facts: Most patients experienced no improvement, and reported intense nausea, dizziness, burning throats, headaches, and gastric irritation from swallowing traces of the chemical. Despite this, creosote inhalers flourished for two decades. #Victorian #tuberculosis #medical #history

Deadline extended for Osler Travel Award for UK undergrad medical students. Worth up to £4000, for the awards will allow students to research #medicalhistory in the US and Canada using sources not available in the UK or online. Candidates now have until 28 Feb 2026 to apply. bshm.org.uk/students/

“tuberculosis is not a relic of medical history. It remains the leading infectious cause of death worldwide” www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Samuel Hitch and the Gloucester General Lunatic Asylum is a book for those interested in the management of mental illness in early Victorian times and those researching the establishment of the profession of #psychiatry. Our latest review: bshm.org.uk/book-reviews/

Book Review: Harry Yi-Jui Wu’s ‘Mad by the Millions: Mental Disorders and the Early Years of the World Health Organization’ @ Somatosphere somatosphere.net/book-review-...

This painting depicts Saint Apollonia, a virgin martyr, whose torture included having all her teeth pulled out or shattered. For this reason she is often regarded as the patroness of dentistry.

The Heritage department has been gifted a unique collection from the family of Captain Jack Ennis, a prisoner of war under the Japanese in Singapore during World War Two. You can read more on our blog: surgeonshallmuseums.wordpress.com/2025/11/11/m...

A gentleman skeleton at a ball asks a lady skeleton to dance; representing the effect of arsenical dyes and pigments in clothing and accessories. Wood engraving, 1862. Image: Wellcome Collection, London.

Deadline fast approaching. Osler travel grants up to £4000 for UK medical undergraduates to research #medicalhistory in US/Canada using resources not available in UK or online. Applications close 17 November. More information from: bshm.org.uk/students/

Modern ethical research committees are "remarkably uninterested" in the ethics of research of the past. In a series of essays, this book aims to to create a greater awareness. #medicalethics #medicalhistory Our latest reviews: bshm.org.uk/book-reviews...

In 1837, James McCune Smith became the first Black doctor to graduate from a UK university. You can use the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) to learn about the many Black individuals who have contributed to the development of medicine and medical communities in the UK and Ireland

Join me on Oct 16 for a free virtual book talk on the medical history of uranium with science and tech historian @lucyjanesantos.bsky.social. #histmed #booksky

#Dengue fever is spreading globally in warm areas as climate change advances. Randall M Packard, Emeritus Professor in the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins, has made a major contribution with his historical review: Fevered Cities. A History of Dengue Epidemics. bshm.org.uk/book-reviews...

The programme and abstracts from three keynote addresses, dozens of presentations and posters from our #BSHMCongress 2025 are now available at bshm.org.uk/congress-2025/.

The new Osler Travel Grant offers up to £4000 for UK medical undergraduates to travel to the US and/or Canada to to do research in #medicalhistory using resources not available in the UK or online. Applications are now open. See bshm.org.uk/students/

Our opening keynote speaker at #BSHMCongress in Leeds Lara Marks revealed the 50 year journey of #monoclonal antibodies to become a vital part of modern medicine for diagnostics and treatments.

One week to go - our 2025 #medicalhistory Congress in Leeds. It promises a wonderful programme of talks ands posters. If you're joining us, please use #BSHMCongress in your social media.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh announces the launch of a new website, The People’s Dispensary featuring a digitised and transcribed collection of 18th century case notes of the Edinburgh Public Dispensary from its foundation in 1776. buff.ly/UzShOzg

A 19th century Bristol doctor, a talented man of varied interests, James Cowles Prichard, wrote extensively on the natural history of the human race and on nervous diseases. Was he a psychiatrist or an anthropologist? #medicalhistory Our latest book review. bshm.org.uk/book-reviews...

Big discount on day rate for full time students attending our #medicalhistory Congress in Leeds 10-13 Sept. But don't wait. Registration closes tomorrow.

#art Trota of Salerno, a 12th-century physician and medical writer from Salerno, Italy, is a figure of immense significance in the history of women's health and medicine. she wrote texts that provided guidance on female health

This incredibly large kidney stone has taken the shape of the pelvis and calyces of the kidney, effectively forming a cast of the spaces inside the kidney. Kidney stones like this are known as staghorn calculi.

Substitutes for medical attendance in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 1880-1912 - just one of dozens of varied presentations at the BSHM Congress in Leeds from 10-13 Sept. There's just time to register. Join BSHM now for a discount. #medicalhistory bshm.org.uk/congress-2025/

The University of Edinburgh Medical School was established in 1726, the oldest medical school in the UK. This floor plan dates from 1896. Mr Iain Macintyre talks about the history of medical learning at our Congress from 10-13 Sept in Leeds. Registration closes 19.8. bshm.org.uk/congress-2025/

CSMBR Online Lecture Series 𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐲𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞-𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐙𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐢 Massimo Sbarbaro - University of Ljubljana 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐰: www.youtube.com/watch?v=toy3... #CSMBR #MiddleAges #Merchants #Zibaldoni #AntonioDePortis #Hygiene #Italian

Congratulations. A super project. In total, 190 manuscripts were conserved, catalogued and digitised. More than 7,000 pages of medieval medical recipes are now freely displayed on the Cambridge Digital Library.

It's also not too late to visit the exhibition! #PrisonNursingUnlocked will be in London until 19th Dec 2025. Unsure if you can make the trip? Why not check out our virtual version of the exhibit, which you can access here: buff.ly/L61g4CU

From bloodletting to trephination, uncover the early—and often astonishing—practices that laid the groundwork for modern surgery. You won’t look at your local barber the same way again after you listen to our latest podcast episode! Beyond the Knife is available wherever you find your podcasts.

Somatosphere will be hositing a Book Forum on Romani Chronicles of Covid-19: Testimonies of Harm and Resilience, edited by Paloma Gay y Blasco and Martin Fotta. The Intro, by Jean Segata & Carol Silverman, and the first article, by Éric Fassin, are now online somatosphere.net/series/serie...

Visiting @anatomicalcat.bsky.social at Surgeons’ Hall Museums in Edinburgh. Incredibly knowledgeable, Cat is a passionate advocate for the collections, insuring that, in the stories told, fundamental humanity is not lost, and is greater than the mere sum of its parts. @surgeonshall.bsky.social

Losing Sight of the Shore describes Scottish doctors’ involvement in global exploration during the British Imperial age. #medicalhistory #scotland #empire See our latest book review: bshm.org.uk/book-reviews...

Copper token by Basil Burchell advertising one of his remedies- sugar plumbs for worms. The ‘sugar-plumbs’ were made with the active ingredient being lead acetate, which probably caused more harm to the children than the worms!

For all you early birds who got up late, we extended the discount at the BSHM Congress on 10-13 September, but only until midnight tomorrow. Don't go to sleep without registering. #medicalhistory. bshm.org.uk/congress-2025/

This dental phantom was made around 1900 for dental students to practice their skills before treating real patients. A hat-maker’s dummy has been added to represent the head of the patient. The jaws contain removable brass teeth allowing various dental procedures to be practiced. (RCSIC/Z 149)

There's still a chance to get the early bird discount to attend our Congress in Leeds on 10-13 Sept. We've extended the deadline until 15 July. bshm.org.uk/congress-2025/ #medicalhistory