By 1 March is St. David’s Day, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant celebrating the patron saint of Wales, St. David, who was a bishop of Mynyw in the 6th century. As a part of this celebration social medial has been flooded with images of daffodils (Narcissus) the national flower of Wales. Daffodils
Gender Concealed: How to get a boy in the early modern era
Gender reveal parties, which started some time in the 2000s, have become increasingly elaborate and Instagram worthy. Some excessive stunts have even caused raging wildfires. When I was younger these parties weren’t around but I do remember old wives tales of practices that were supposed to reveal the gender of
Weight loss Wonders
Wirtzung’s wonders Christopher Wirtzung’s treatise The General Practice of Physicke (1605) wrote at length of the ‘troublesomnes of Fatnes’. He suggested that those wishing to diet should ‘take everie morning a crust [of bread] with vineger, wherein a little Pepper is tempered.’ If that was not agreeable he recommended a slightly more exotic sounding
By Mad Dogs and Bindweed Cures.
As we start to see light at the end of this long Covid tunnel, thanks to the new vaccines on the horizon, we thought we’d bring you the story of a book about rabies, another disease in which vaccination has been effective. Like the new Covid vaccines, it also has
Making a Medical Commonwealth
Abigail Harley and Brampton Bryan: Making a Medical Commonwealth By Emma Marshall How were illness and healthcare entangled with power in the past? Abigail Harley (c.1664-1726) of Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire, was part of a famously political family. As an unmarried, childless younger daughter with little obvious authority, she has often