I dedicate this song to my dear Pattie, whose anniversary is on Saturday, and to my maternal great-grandfather Jack. Pattie had mercury treatment for the pox, but died of what might be best described as "lead poisoning of the solid variety" (x a dozen or so) in 1780 in South Carolina. Jack, a Hull dock labourer, died in 1924 of what was (perhaps ( Read more... )

The 20C historian Henri Guillemin identified what was up with Max in terms of the collapses, increasing gauntness, generally losing the plot from weakness, & c. The word he used is the one that 18-19C writers use, so I'm suspecting contemporary/near-contemporary sources (I need to check).
But it makes sense in terms of the way he looks in that last ( Read more... )

Small is my misery tonight
beside the evil of your wounded body,
but with your misery, my love
turns to white leaping flame…

(Sorley MacLean, The Two)
I read the surgeon's account.
( Not for the squeamish… )

I love these! It looks as if the Pisa team is working on them!

Lincolnshire Black Death victims found... with Yersinia Pestis bacteria identified.

We had our Cullen Project launch on Monday, in Edinburgh! It got a fair bit of media coverage ( Read more... )

The lovely 18C patient-group from Vác in Hungary continues to help with research into the origins of TB. Here's the full article from Nature Communications.

I've been reading up a fair bit on archæology and palæopathology - following up links about ice and bog mummies. There are some gorgeous ones about, and some are still telling us new information about their stories.

( Pazyryk goodies, and a bog body with curves… )

Excellent article on the Turin Shroud by Charles Freeman, whose work I greatly admire.

Moral of the story: 14C tempera paintings should never be put in the wash…

More later on my own adventures at the Lago di Garda and Verona, especially (horse and polenta… yum!). Meanwhile, here is some interesting material on 'Big Dog' - Cangrande della Scala, ( Read more... )

Various meanderings… Apols for delay in updating!

( Read more... )