A survey showed that, among other medical references, the Sherlock Holmes stories mention 68 different diseases – not bad, considering there are only 60 Holmes stories in total. Holmes, then, seemed the perfect guide for a quick and slightly madcap tour of the Museum of Health Care’s collections. … More A Study in Red (Cross): The Medical World of Sherlock Holmes
Dracula was published in 1897. What was the state of blood transfusion back then? … More The Blood of Four Strong Men: Dracula and The Portrayal of Blood Transfusion
Deaccessioning is the formal removal of an item from a museum’s permanent collection. The important thing to know about deaccessioning is that it’s mostly about paperwork and about status. An item can be deaccessioned without moving from its spot on a shelf. Physical removal of the item is a different and related process, called disposal (disposal in this case doesn’t translate to “garbage,” it just means putting the object somewhere else). We can deaccession items and not dispose of them, but a museum should never dispose of an item without deaccessioning it. … More What Do You Mean Museums Aren’t Forever? The Whats and Whys of Deaccessioning
Even people who aren’t up on their medical history tend to know at least one fact: old-fashioned medical doctors used leeches. The leech is almost as iconic a symbol of antique medicine as the head lamp or the beak-masked plague doctor. … More Medicinal Leeches: Still A Bloody Good Idea
The Museum of Health Care at Kingston has hired a curator! Huzzah!
But some of you may be wondering: what does that actually mean? What on earth is a curator and what do they do? It’s both simple and surprisingly hard to answer. You’re probably at least vaguely aware that a curator is someone who works in a museum. You might have seen a curator in a movie, usually in the form of a pretentious, stodgy academic peevishly insisting that the hero stop touching the exhibits and with pretty even odds on getting murdered by a supernatural force trapped in some ancient artifact (as far as movie professions go, curators tend to have lifespans approximately equal to cops the day before retirement). You may have heard of someone curating a social media feed or a Pinterest board or read a thinkpiece on why calling everyone who collects content a curator will be the downfall of society. All of which can make it hard to figure out what exactly a museum curator does.
… More So You’ve Got a Curator. Now What?
“Unfortunately for Clark, this was not the last time his name would be used in association with a patent medicine. Perhaps knowing the limitations of the law in this matter, many patent medicine producers in Canada and the United States subsequently created products in his name.” In 1848, an advertisement appeared in The Examiner (London, … More Sir J. Clarke’s Female Pills
The appendix represents quite a mystery. For many years it was believed to be a vestige of our distant ancestors; the trace of a cecum, a part of many animals large intestine. This theory was put forward by Charles Darwin, but was mostly refuted in 2013. … More A Mere Appendix: Pioneering Surgery in Grand Valley Ontario
Although the signs of MS have been observed for more than 175 years, it is still quite misunderstood. How did we first learn of the existence of MS, and how much have we learned in all these years about this disease chronic and debilitating illness and its treatment? … More Touched by the Lord’s hand: The history of Multiple Sclerosis
Before the mid 19th century, women had a discreet but ever-present role on the battlefield, mostly as camp followers. When women such as Florence Nightingale started to demonstrate the value of military nurses, armies began to slowly, but surely assign them to their medical services. … More Voluntary Veil: The Canadian Voluntary Aid Detachment in the First World War
The period following the Crimean War and until the end of the First World War marks an interesting time for men’s fashion and health. During the Victorian period, beards and other facial hair styles enjoyed resurgence in popularity which had not been seen since the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.[1] While the facial hair trend waned by the end of the nineteenth century,[2] enthusiasm for debating the cleanliness and overall health of bearded and non-bearded men remained strong. With increased attention to the face, and more specifically the hair on it, doctors, nurses, soldiers and the general public engaged in spirited discussions of men’s health. … More A Hair-Razing History of the Beard: Facial Hair and Men’s Health from the Crimean War to the First World War
