Physicians' Gallery

In this episode we explore hands through the ages – from the evil associated with left handed folk, to the soft white hands of the upper class woman. Lead, arsenic and mercury were all applied to give the hands that pearly whiteness and soft hands acted as an indicator of class, status and refinement. We also dig into the curative power of the Royal Touch and the history of hand washing.

And we finish up with some very animal-heavy treatments – including eating roasted mice and putting your finger in a cat’s ear!

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Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Sophie Goggins

In this episode we explore the history of the veins. We’ll unpick the history of bloodletting – from leech farms to lancets, and mechanical bloodletters to ‘heroic’ bleeding. We’re looking into how modern day meme culture is influenced by Greek philosophers and how varicose veins have played on the minds, and legs, of sufferers for thousands of years.

And we finish up with some ghoulish medical recipes – including ones where you fry up your own blood!

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Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Dr Kristin Hussey

In this episode we explore how central the lungs were to Ancient Greek and Roman ideas about medicine and the body. Renaissance illustrations of the lungs were detailed and beautiful – but understanding of exactly what the lungs did and how they worked was still to be developed. We also discuss the historical treatment of asthma with ‘medicinal’ cigarettes, along with other supposed uses of tobacco to protect from the plague and as an antidote to poisoning.

We also explore some of the most unusual lung-based medicines, including breast milk, sugar candy and liquorice!

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Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip credit: Defeat tuberculosis. Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

In this episode we explore exercise through the ages, from Ancient Greece to Victorian strong men - and their bar bending and book ripping antics. Exercise was often prescribed by doctors from the Renaissance to the modern day – usually in the form of horse riding, walking and gymnastics. We also explore the gendered origins of what is known as calisthenics – that is, exercise that is focused on grace and litheness, rather than visibly developed muscles.

We also uncover the history of some great publications, including the aptly titled ‘British Manly Exercises’!

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Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Dr Kristin Hussey

The tongue has long been viewed as a meaning-laden symbol as well as a flappy mouth muscle. In this episode we explore the history of the scold’s bridle – a tongue-based punishment usually used against women for talking out of turn. We also uncover the supposed historical causes of stuttering – from too much tickling to looking in a mirror.

And we explore some pleasant sounding tongue-related historical treatments – from sugar candy and wine drinking to cinnamon water and honey. Finally, a change from all the dung-based recipes we’ve been looking at!

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest podcasts, videos and events. Subscribe here: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sign-our-heritage-newsletter

Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Oesophageal speech after laryngectomy. Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

In this episode we explore the changing perceptions of fatness – from the fashionable fatness of the 1300s, 1400s and 1500s to the weight loss schemes of the 1700s and 1800s. The loaded history of language – from plumpness, to corpulence, to obesity – says a lot about the cultural perception of weight gain.

We also uncover some of the strange stories of the risks of corpulence – including spontaneous combustion!

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest podcasts, videos and events. Subscribe here: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sign-our-heritage-newsletter

Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Dr James Kennaway

In this episode we explore the history of the breast. We’ll unpick some myths about Amazonian warriors and supposed witches, before uncovering the complex power dynamics of wet nursing and breast-feeding culture. Gender and class collide with disablism when you dig into who breast fed their own child.

And if that doesn’t sound like enough we explore the strange things that were believed to come out of the nipples and what they were thought to indicate!

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest podcasts, videos and events. Subscribe here: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sign-our-heritage-newsletter

Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Frank Rowntree compilation recordings. Part 1, Track 14. Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

The mouth is the gateway to the body – so what better way to understand what is happening inside you, than to examine and explore the inside of your mouth. In this episode we explore the history of the mouth’s lumps and bumps – from syphilitic lesions to indications of melancholy.

We also uncover the strange and varied history of lipstick – from a mark of warriors in battle, to an illegal practice, to the illicit trade in beauty products.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest podcasts, videos and events. Subscribe here: www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sign-our…ritage-newsletter

Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Frank Rowntree compilation recordings. Part 6, Track 2. Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Hair could indicate you were virile, dangerous, untrustworthy, jealous, or just plain old unsanitary. We trace the ups and downs of hairdos, wig use and hair colouring in this podcast episode. Including some unsettling treatments for hair removal, baldness and dandruff. As the styling of women’s hair moved from the home to the salon, so hair treatments moved from pigeon droppings and urine to electricity and x-rays.

We also explore the Victorian market in hair sewing, hair jewellery and gifting your own hair.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest podcasts, videos and events. Subscribe here: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sign-our-heritage-newsletter

Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Historical clip: Frank Rowntree compilation recordings. Part 1, Track 14. Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Hearing, and by extension the ear, was viewed as a civilising influence in the Victorian era. Music was a popular form of therapy, particularly for hysterical or melancholy patients. In this episode we explore ideas around deafness and how, in Victorian society, colonialism, Darwinism and eugenics led to an emphasis on the importance of being ‘normal’ (very much in quote marks!) and having access to all five senses.

And we finish up by looking at some ear-related treatment, including hot urine, turpentine and goat dung!

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest podcasts, videos and events. Subscribe here: https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/sign-our-heritage-newsletter

Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage

Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/

Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Credits

Researcher and presenter: Laura Burgess has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021 after completing her MA in History from UNC Charlotte.

Editor and producer: Sarah E Hayward completed her PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies at Kingston University London in 2023. She has been a volunteer with RCPE Heritage since 2021. She has a passion for archival research and she loves to explore creative ways to assemble and share the hidden stories she uncovers.

Researcher and presenter: Olivia Howarth is a volunteer with RCPE Heritage, a recently qualified archivist, heritage enthusiast and self-proclaimed lifetime nerd with an interest in medical history.

Guest historian clip: Prof James Kennaway, Historian of Medicine at Groningen University.