Medicine & Disease

Creative healing: The Hydra, alongside a photograph of Wilfred Owen. Ⓒ Johnny Greig.

Welcome to Dottyville

The Hydra, a magazine produced by shell shock patients, was pioneering as a mental health care treatment.

Is Laughter the Best Medicine?

Since it was founded in 1948, the issue of how Britons have laughed with – or at – the NHS reveals much about changes in society.

Wheelchair of Sir Thomas Fairfax, parliamentarian commander-in-chief

The Civil Wars of the 17th century prompted pioneering medical care and welfare, provided by the state not just for soldiers but for the widows and children they left behind, as Eric Gruber von Arni and Andrew Hopper show.

A Touch of Charles II

The belief that a king’s laying on of hands could cure the disfiguring disease of scrofula gained new heights of popularity during the Restoration, as Stephen Brogan explains.

Doctor derailed: a portrait of Brown-Séquard, c.1880

Hormones, Elixirs and Eccentrics

The career of the brilliant physiologist Brown-Séquard is a reminder of the perils of scientific innovation.

Plague and Prejudice

Epidemics spread mistrust, as communities seek to blame their plight on outsiders or those at the margins of society. Yet the historical record reveals that outbreaks are more likely to bring people together than force them apart.

‘Brisk Cathartic’: A sick man stranded on the toilet after taking a laxative. Coloured etching by J. Gillray, 1804, after J. Sneyd. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Shameful Secrets: The Sexual Health of Early Modern Men

Men’s awkwardness when talking about their bodies, especially sexual health, has changed little since the 17th century.

Shelling the Duckboards by Paul Nash, from British Artists at the Front, 1918.

Shell Shock: The Racket and the Fear

‘Shell shock’ is associated in particular with the First World War. Stuart M. Archer recounts the often brutal treatment meted out to sufferers of the condition and looks at how use of the term fell into disrepute.