Shot in the arm for Medical History website

A new collection of medical documents from the British Raj is now available to browse and search on the Medical History of British India website. 'Medicine - Vaccination' shows British efforts to vaccinate the Indian population against smallpox using the latest 19th and 20th century western scientific techniques. Over 60 reports reveal the complex nature and the scale of ambition of the vaccination programme in India as well as the conflict between western colonial medicine and indigenous society, culture and systems. The project was generously funded by a grant from the Wellcome Trust.

Mental Health reports added to Medical History of British India website

Those of you who regularly read this blog will know that I have been working on the digitisation of lunatic asylum reports from British India for some while.

I am delighted to announce that they have been added to the Medical History of British India website as the 'Medicine - Mental health' collection.

The 20,000 pages cover the period of 1867 - 1948 and describe the patients, staff and conditions of asylums throughout colonial India. This free to access material provides extensive research on responses to mental illness when the asylum's role was changing. Detailed reports show how 'moral management' was used by British colonists to treat native and European patients. This material will be particularly valuable to genealogists and those interested in the history of psychiatry, Indian and colonial history.

Please do have a browse and remember that the reports are searchable; just click on 'include book content' when you search.

The material, from the National Library's India Papers collection, was microfilmed and digitised using a grant from the Wellcome Trust.

(Picture shows Block plan of Rangoon Lunatic Asylum from 1893, image number: http://digital.nls.uk/83977693)

National Allergy Week 23th-27th April 2012

Many people (including myself!)are allergic to pollen (the UK's number one allergen), dust mites, fungi and pet hair. Food allergies and intolerances, skin allergies and fatal anaphylactic reactions seem to be on the rise. Follow the link to find out more on recognising and managing allergies, even those related to work!

Pop goes anatomy

OPU received Natural History Museum's Human Body book recently. It's an interactive guide to the inner workings of the body with pop-ups, pull-tabs, fact wheels and flaps.

Did you know?

Over half the body’s bones are in the wrists, hands and fingers and the ankles, feet and toes.
The human brain stops growing at the age of 18 years.
The largest muscle is the gluteus maximus in the buttock.
The human heart beats more than 3,000 million times in an average lifetime.
Most of us have about 110,000 head hairs.
The fertilised human egg increases in size about ten billion times to become a newborn baby.
The parts of the body that grow least from birth to maturity are the eyeballs.

Take an interactive tour through the world’s most complicated machine – the human body - with this fantastic book, suitable for ages 8 and up.

Crisis over?

Some news items are saying that the H1N1 Influenza A virus is no longer as large a threat as feared last summer. It is also being suggested that health officials over-reacted leaving vast stores of unused vaccine.
Introduction to pandemic influenza, which has just been catalogued, is an essential text with a strong emphasis on preparedness.
It aims to promote a better understanding of influenza and raises questions in each chapter. The book includes biomathematical modelling, epidemiology, policy issues and selected papers for further reading.
Following three global pandemics in the last 100 years and the recent avian and swine influenza outbreaks, preparedness should still be of vital importance.

Happy 1st Birthday Wellcome Library Blog

Congratulations to the Wellcome Library Blog on receiving 20,000 visits in its first year from people in 139 countries.

Written by Wellcome Library staff, this is an entertaining and informative blog for those interested in the Wellcome's amazing collection of medical history items. If you haven't had a chance to visit, why not do so on its first birthday?

(Photo credit: www.himetop.wikidot.com)

Winter microbes

As we move towards winter many knitters (myself included) are busily making hats and scarves to ward off the chill. Keeping warm is considered effective in warding off winter germs, particularly influenza.
But what if knitting and microbes were combined?

Part of Manchester Science Festival contains The Big Microbe Knit at the end of this month. For those who fancy a trip to my native Lancashire you can go along and knit the common cold, swine flu (pictured, with beads representing the H and N proteins), cholera and tuberculosis microbes on 31st October. As well as perfecting your purls, you'll be learning scientific facts about the microbes.

Otherwise, you can download the microbe knitting patterns or pick up some inspiration from the Wellcome Image Awards 2009. As the pattern says, "Enjoy, and remember to always wash your hands"!

(Photo credit: Manchester Science Festival 2009 blogger page)