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Casenotes

260 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratings

This fortnightly podcast from the Physicians' Gallery at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh presents stories from medicine, past and present

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Episodes

Ep.36 - Chris Philo - The Wild and Tranquil Geographies of Animals and Madness

July 24, 2020 05:59 - 49 minutes - 56.3 MB

Louis Wain was a relatively well known British illustrator working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly known for his depictions of cats. It is claimed that ‘cats drove him mad’. This talk will explore the ‘madness’ of both human and animals, the curious cross-codings arising between ‘mad’ people and troublesome beasts, and parallels in the spaces/environments that they have occupied or to which they have been consigned. Speaker: Professor Chris Philo, Professor of Geograp...

Ep.35 - Looking To The Past To Improve Our Future

July 10, 2020 06:00 - 56 minutes - 103 MB

Can old specimens contain new information? Mütter Museum Curator, Anna Dhody will talk about the ways scientists are looking to the past to improve our future. New technology has emerged that allow researchers access into the past, to see what infectious microbes were responsible for previous pandemics, and hopefully provide insight on how to prevent or combat future ones. Ms. Dhody is also the Director of the Mütter Research Institute which endeavors to collaborate with scientific and medic...

Ep.35 - Anna Dhody - Looking To The Past To Improve Our Future

July 10, 2020 06:00 - 56 minutes - 103 MB

Can old specimens contain new information? Mütter Museum Curator, Anna Dhody will talk about the ways scientists are looking to the past to improve our future. New technology has emerged that allow researchers access into the past, to see what infectious microbes were responsible for previous pandemics, and hopefully provide insight on how to prevent or combat future ones. Ms. Dhody is also the Director of the Mütter Research Institute which endeavors to collaborate with scientific and medic...

Ep.34 - Kristin Hussey - William Harvey, College of Physicians and the Discovery of Circulation

June 26, 2020 07:00 - 45 minutes - 36.7 MB

Born into a middle-class family in 1578, William Harvey rose to fame as one of Britain’s foremost anatomists, Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of blood rocked the medical world of the time, published in his treatise On the Motion of the Heart and Blood. Physician to King Charles I and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, William Harvey is one of history’s prominent figures. Speaker: Dr Kristin Hussey (Curator, Royal College of Physicians of London)

Ep.34 - William Harvey and the Discovery of Circulation

June 26, 2020 07:00 - 45 minutes - 36.7 MB

Born into a middle-class family in 1578, William Harvey rose to fame as one of Britain’s foremost anatomists, Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of blood rocked the medical world of the time, published in his treatise On the Motion of the Heart and Blood. Physician to King Charles I and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, William Harvey is one of history’s prominent figures. Speaker: Dr Kristin Hussey (Curator, Royal College of Physicians of London) Twitter: twitter.co...

Ep.33 - The Uses of Plants in Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome

June 14, 2020 13:37 - 47 minutes - 36.2 MB

Plants have always played a prominent role in the field of medicine since the first recorded examples. From Dioscorides, a Greek physician and botanist who wrote extensively on the subject, to Hippocrates, "the father of modern medicine", medical practitioners of the ancient world recognised the importance of herbal remedies and embraced them. This talk investigates the history of plants in medicine during the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, giving numerous examples of the plants used...

Ep.33 - Gavin Hardy - The Uses of Plants in Medicine in Ancient Greece and Rome

June 14, 2020 13:37 - 47 minutes - 36.2 MB

Plants have always played a prominent role in the field of medicine since the first recorded examples. From Dioscorides, a Greek physician and botanist who wrote extensively on the subject, to Hippocrates, "the father of modern medicine", medical practitioners of the ancient world recognised the importance of herbal remedies and embraced them. This talk investigates the history of plants in medicine during the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, giving numerous examples of the plants used...

Ep.32 - Martin Willis - Medical Tourism in Victorian Edinburgh

June 10, 2020 20:04 - 42 minutes - 35.6 MB

This talk focuses on an under-represented area of medical history: the depiction of places of medicine in 19th-century travel guides. Across a huge range of travel guides, written for strangers of all stripes, Edinburgh was illuminated as a city of medicine past, present and future. Investigating these travel guides reveals how Edinburgh's medical spaces and places were constructed and reimagined for new global audiences, and how they contributed to an idea of Edinburgh as a city, and to Brit...

Ep.32 - Medical Tourism in Victorian Edinburgh

June 10, 2020 20:04 - 42 minutes - 35.6 MB

This talk focuses on an under-represented area of medical history: the depiction of places of medicine in 19th-century travel guides. Across a huge range of travel guides, written for strangers of all stripes, Edinburgh was illuminated as a city of medicine past, present and future. Investigating these travel guides reveals how Edinburgh's medical spaces and places were constructed and reimagined for new global audiences, and how they contributed to an idea of Edinburgh as a city, and to Brit...

Ep.31 - Katie Birkwood - John Dee: Magic, Medicine And The Tudor World

June 10, 2020 20:04 - 51 minutes - 51.5 MB

John Dee (1527–1609) was one of the most intriguing figures in Tudor Britain. The model of a Renaissance man, he harboured interests in astrology, alchemy, history, religion, medicine, magic and much more besides. In this talk, Katie Birkwood explores Dee’s life story, thoughts and personality, which survive in the personally annotated collection of his books, now residing at the library of the Royal College of Physicians, London. Find out how the modern division between ‘science’ and ‘magic’...

Ep.31 - John Dee: Magic, Medicine And The Tudor World

June 10, 2020 20:04 - 51 minutes - 51.5 MB

John Dee (1527–1609) was one of the most intriguing figures in Tudor Britain. The model of a Renaissance man, he harboured interests in astrology, alchemy, history, religion, medicine, magic and much more besides. In this talk, Katie Birkwood explores Dee’s life story, thoughts and personality, which survive in the personally annotated collection of his books, now residing at the library of the Royal College of Physicians, London. Find out how the modern division between ‘science’ and ‘magic’...

Ep.30 - Knowing and Selling Exotic Drugs in Paris c.1700

June 10, 2020 20:03 - 42 minutes - 34.2 MB

Many exotic plant materials would become household words for the well-to-do during the decades around 1700. A language of curiosity, innovation and invention surrounded attempts to understand, trade in and profit from them. This talk considers some of the ways in which lay consumers, merchants and medical experts appropriated and ‘domesticated’ exotic foods and drugs within the French metropolitan world. The aim is to show how consumption, innovation, trade, knowledge and colonialism intersec...

Ep.30 - Emma Spary - Knowing and Selling Exotic Drugs in Paris c.1700

June 10, 2020 20:03 - 42 minutes - 34.2 MB

Many exotic plant materials would become household words for the well-to-do during the decades around 1700. A language of curiosity, innovation and invention surrounded attempts to understand, trade in and profit from them. This talk considers some of the ways in which lay consumers, merchants and medical experts appropriated and ‘domesticated’ exotic foods and drugs within the French metropolitan world. The aim is to show how consumption, innovation, trade, knowledge and colonialism intersec...

Ep.29 - Matthew Smith - Food allergy Before “allergy”

June 10, 2020 20:02 - 50 minutes - 40.8 MB

How were bizarre reactions to food described before the coining of the term ‘allergy’ in 1906? Symptoms reminiscent of food allergy have been observed since Ancient Greece and Rome, with Lucretius stating that one person’s food could be another’s poison. Many physicians were convinced that reactions to food were responsible for symptoms ranging from asthma to migraine. At the root of debates about food allergy were questions about the value of patient testimony and the difficulty in proving t...

Ep.29 - Food allergy Before “allergy”

June 10, 2020 20:02 - 50 minutes - 40.8 MB

How were bizarre reactions to food described before the coining of the term ‘allergy’ in 1906? Symptoms reminiscent of food allergy have been observed since Ancient Greece and Rome, with Lucretius stating that one person’s food could be another’s poison. Many physicians were convinced that reactions to food were responsible for symptoms ranging from asthma to migraine. At the root of debates about food allergy were questions about the value of patient testimony and the difficulty in proving t...

Ep.28 - The great influenza of 1918-20

June 10, 2020 20:01 - 49 minutes - 39.3 MB

This talk explores popular reactions to the ‘great influenza’ of 1918-20, primarily in relation to other epidemics of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It will contest scholars’ contention that big epidemics, regardless of the disease, inevitably stirred suspicion and blame of the ‘other’, and that an essential factor stirring that hate rested on the mysteriousness of the disease and medical practitioners’ inability to cure or control it. Speaker: Professor Samuel Cohn (University Of Glasgo...

Ep.28 - Samuel Cohn - ‘The great influenza’ of 1918-20: A plague of compassion

June 10, 2020 20:01 - 49 minutes - 39.3 MB

This talk explores popular reactions to the ‘great influenza’ of 1918-20, primarily in relation to other epidemics of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It will contest scholars’ contention that big epidemics, regardless of the disease, inevitably stirred suspicion and blame of the ‘other’, and that an essential factor stirring that hate rested on the mysteriousness of the disease and medical practitioners’ inability to cure or control it. Speaker: Professor Samuel Cohn (University Of Glasgow)

Ep.27 - James Kennaway - The Piano Plague: The Medical Campaign Against Female Musical Education

June 10, 2020 20:00 - 36 minutes - 32.9 MB

Although playing the piano was often seen as a thoroughly respectable pastime for young ladies, for much of the nineteenth century there was serious medical discussion about the dangers of excessive music in girls’ education. Many of the period’s leading psychiatrists and gynaecologists argued that music could over-stimulate the female nervous system, playing havoc with vulnerable nerves and reproductive organs, and warned of the consequences of music lessons on the developing bodies of teen...

Ep.27 - The Medical Campaign Against Female Musical Education

June 10, 2020 20:00 - 36 minutes - 32.9 MB

Although playing the piano was often seen as a thoroughly respectable pastime for young ladies, for much of the nineteenth century there was serious medical discussion about the dangers of excessive music in girls’ education. Many of the period’s leading psychiatrists and gynaecologists argued that music could over-stimulate the female nervous system, playing havoc with vulnerable nerves and reproductive organs, and warned of the consequences of music lessons on the developing bodies of teen...

Ep.26 - Medical Innovation in the British Empire: The Edinburgh Connection

June 10, 2020 19:58 - 51 minutes - 39.4 MB

Speaker: Professor Mark Harrison (University of Oxford) Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/ Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Ep.26 - Mark Harrison - Medical Innovation in the British Empire: The Edinburgh Connection

June 10, 2020 19:58 - 51 minutes - 39.4 MB

Speaker: Professor Mark Harrison (University of Oxford)

Ep.25 - Simon Chaplin - The Heroic Anatomist: 18thc Dissection and the Stoic Ideal

June 10, 2020 19:56 - 43 minutes - 38.5 MB

Speaker: Simon Chaplin (Royal College of Surgeons of England)

Ep.25 - 1700s Dissection and the Stoic Ideal

June 10, 2020 19:56 - 43 minutes - 38.5 MB

Speaker: Simon Chaplin (Royal College of Surgeons of England) Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/ Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Ep.24 - What Killed Burns And What Did Not?

June 10, 2020 19:55 - 47 minutes - 39.9 MB

The poet and songwriter Robert Burns died in 1796, aged 37. There was no post-mortem and hence no tissue diagnosis. Detractors, commencing with unsigned obituaries, assigned the cause firmly to alcoholism. This talk examines the evidence for a range of alternative diagnoses. Speaker : Professor Emeritus David Purdie (Hull & York University Medical School) Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/ Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery TikTok: https://w...

Ep.24 - David Purdie - What Killed Burns And What Did Not?

June 10, 2020 19:55 - 47 minutes - 39.9 MB

The poet and songwriter Robert Burns died in 1796, aged 37. There was no post-mortem and hence no tissue diagnosis. Detractors, commencing with unsigned obituaries, assigned the cause firmly to alcoholism. This talk examines the evidence for a range of alternative diagnoses. Speaker : Professor Emeritus David Purdie (Hull & York University Medical School)

Ep.23 - Abigail Woods - Animals And Their Pathologists In London, 1846 - 1900

June 10, 2020 19:55 - 40 minutes - 36 MB

This talk uses the records of the Pathological Society of London, a key institution for the advancement of pathology, to reveal the place and purpose of animals within human pathological anatomy during the later 19th century. While animals, both wild and domestic, accounted for less than 5% of the specimens exhibited at their meetings, they were nonetheless regarded as legitimate subjects of pathological research by doctors. Their routes into PSL meetings illustrate the ubiquity of animals w...

Ep.23 - Animals And Their Pathologists In London, 1846 - 1900

June 10, 2020 19:55 - 40 minutes - 36 MB

This talk uses the records of the Pathological Society of London, a key institution for the advancement of pathology, to reveal the place and purpose of animals within human pathological anatomy during the later 19th century. While animals, both wild and domestic, accounted for less than 5% of the specimens exhibited at their meetings, they were nonetheless regarded as legitimate subjects of pathological research by doctors. Their routes into PSL meetings illustrate the ubiquity of animals w...

Ep.22 - Helen MacDonald - After Burke And Hare: Procuring Corpses To Dissect In Scotland

June 10, 2020 19:54 - 42 minutes - 36.7 MB

Grave-robbing and the Burke and Hare murders have become anatomy’s enduring reference points, but during the nineteenth century most bodies were stealthily acquired by medical schools through other means. After the 1832 Anatomy Act a distinctive pattern of corpse procurement was creatively forged in Scotland, through alliances between the country’s anatomists, anatomy inspectors, local law makers, and the men who were in charge of hospitals, poor houses and lunatic asylums. This system was o...

Ep.22 - After Burke And Hare: Procuring Corpses To Dissect In Scotland

June 10, 2020 19:54 - 42 minutes - 36.7 MB

Grave-robbing and the Burke and Hare murders have become anatomy’s enduring reference points, but during the nineteenth century most bodies were stealthily acquired by medical schools through other means. After the 1832 Anatomy Act a distinctive pattern of corpse procurement was creatively forged in Scotland, through alliances between the country’s anatomists, anatomy inspectors, local law makers, and the men who were in charge of hospitals, poor houses and lunatic asylums. This system was o...

Ep.21 - The Age of Stress: Myth or Reality?

June 10, 2020 19:54 - 46 minutes - 39.9 MB

Since the late nineteenth century, stress has emerged as a popular means of explaining the onset of both physical and psychological disorders. Yet the definition of stress remains problematic and the manner in which stress might cause disease is still undetermined. This talk traces the history of stress in the twentieth century, exploring scientific theories, clinical formulations and personal experiences of stress and stress-related diseases. Speaker: Professor Mark Jackson (University of E...

Ep.21 - Mark Jackson - The Age of Stress: Myth or Reality?

June 10, 2020 19:54 - 46 minutes - 39.9 MB

Since the late nineteenth century, stress has emerged as a popular means of explaining the onset of both physical and psychological disorders. Yet the definition of stress remains problematic and the manner in which stress might cause disease is still undetermined. This talk traces the history of stress in the twentieth century, exploring scientific theories, clinical formulations and personal experiences of stress and stress-related diseases. Speaker: Professor Mark Jackson (University of E...

Ep.20 - Alan Emery - The Doctor-Patient Relationship In Art From Ancient Greece To The Present Day

June 10, 2020 19:53 - 51 minutes - 44.1 MB

The doctor-patient relationship has changed considerably over the centuries. There have often been cyclical changes: diagnostic improvements leading to increased respect but often followed by disillusionment if there is subsequently no effective treatment. The relationship is especially exemplified in works of art because, as John Berger has emphasised, ‘No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such a direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times....

Ep.20 - The Doctor-Patient Relationship In Art From Ancient Greece To The Present Day

June 10, 2020 19:53 - 51 minutes - 44.1 MB

The doctor-patient relationship has changed considerably over the centuries. There have often been cyclical changes: diagnostic improvements leading to increased respect but often followed by disillusionment if there is subsequently no effective treatment. The relationship is especially exemplified in works of art because, as John Berger has emphasised, ‘No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such a direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times....

Ep.19 - The Evolution Of Controlled Trials

June 10, 2020 19:51 - 50 minutes - 43.7 MB

Contrary to widely believed assertions, the concept of unbiased creation of treatment comparison groups in clinical trials was not ‘a seminal statistical idea’, but was rooted in the much older idea that fair tests of treatments involve comparing like with like, achieved at least 200 years ago using alternate allocation to treatment comparison groups. Strict alternation deals with selection bias as effectively as strict random allocation, but alternation is more likely to result in foreknowle...

Ep.19 - Iain Chalmers - The Evolution Of Controlled Trials

June 10, 2020 19:51 - 50 minutes - 43.7 MB

Contrary to widely believed assertions, the concept of unbiased creation of treatment comparison groups in clinical trials was not ‘a seminal statistical idea’, but was rooted in the much older idea that fair tests of treatments involve comparing like with like, achieved at least 200 years ago using alternate allocation to treatment comparison groups. Strict alternation deals with selection bias as effectively as strict random allocation, but alternation is more likely to result in foreknowle...

Ep.18 - Epidemiology and the Science of Detection, 1890-1960

June 10, 2020 19:49 - 50 minutes - 40.4 MB

This talk looks at how forensic and investigative techniques were used to study epidemics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Speaker: Professor Anne Hardy (University College London) Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/ Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Ep.18 - Anne Hardy - Epidemiology and the Science of Detection, 1890-1960

June 10, 2020 19:49 - 50 minutes - 40.4 MB

This talk looks at how forensic and investigative techniques were used to study epidemics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Speaker: Professor Anne Hardy (University College London)

Ep.17 - Benjamin Rush, the Yellow Fever, and the Rise of Physician Autobiography

June 10, 2020 19:49 - 37 minutes - 29.4 MB

This talk examines the links between Benjamin Rush’s autobiography ‘Travels through Life’ and his protracted feud with the English journalist, politician and agriculturalist William Cobbett. The rhetorical strategies used by Rush to defend his character and medical practice, and the influence of his autobiography on later physician-writers are also explored. Speaker: Dr Catherine Jones (University of Aberdeen) Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/ Fac...

Ep.17 - Catherine Jones - Benjamin Rush, the Yellow Fever, and the Rise of Physician Autobiography

June 10, 2020 19:49 - 37 minutes - 29.4 MB

This talk examines the links between Benjamin Rush’s autobiography ‘Travels through Life’ and his protracted feud with the English journalist, politician and agriculturalist William Cobbett. The rhetorical strategies used by Rush to defend his character and medical practice, and the influence of his autobiography on later physician-writers are also explored. Speaker: Dr Catherine Jones (University of Aberdeen)

Ep.16 - Lisa Rosner - Crime Scene Edinburgh: Forensic Science In The Era Of Burke And Hare

June 10, 2020 19:48 - 50 minutes - 40.1 MB

In this talk a CSI-style approach is taken to the discussion of the notorious murders carried out by Burke and Hare, who supplied bodies for dissection at Edinburgh's medical school. Speaker: Professor Lisa Rosner (Richard Stockton College, New Jersey)

Ep.16 - Forensic Science In The Era Of Burke And Hare

June 10, 2020 19:48 - 50 minutes - 40.1 MB

In this talk a CSI-style approach is taken to the discussion of the notorious murders carried out by Burke and Hare, who supplied bodies for dissection at Edinburgh's medical school. Speaker: Professor Lisa Rosner (Richard Stockton College, New Jersey) Twitter: twitter.com/RCPEHeritage Instagram: instagram.com/physiciansgallery/ Facebook: facebook.com/PhysiciansGallery TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@physiciansgallery

Ep.15 - James Kennaway - Fashionable Stomach Complaints And The Mind In Georgian Britain

June 10, 2020 19:47 - 35 minutes - 65.2 MB

The nerves have been the principal focus of ‘fashionable disease’ studies, but the stomach arguably has an equal claim for consideration. The stomach and bowels were not only implicated in a wide range of digestive diseases, but also in almost all à la mode conditions, from nervousness to the ‘flying gout’. This was due both to the connotations of over-eating with wealth, and because of the assumed link between the digestive system and the mind. This talk examines the development of thinking ...

Ep.15 - Fashionable Stomach Complaints And The Mind In Georgian Britain

June 10, 2020 19:47 - 35 minutes - 65.2 MB

The nerves have been the principal focus of ‘fashionable disease’ studies, but the stomach arguably has an equal claim for consideration. The stomach and bowels were not only implicated in a wide range of digestive diseases, but also in almost all à la mode conditions, from nervousness to the ‘flying gout’. This was due both to the connotations of over-eating with wealth, and because of the assumed link between the digestive system and the mind. This talk examines the development of thinking ...

Ep.14 - Catherine Cox - Irish Migration, Institutionalisation and Mental Illness in 19thC England

June 10, 2020 19:46 - 1 hour - 55.4 MB

This talk explores the migratory patterns of Irish patients into and through the Lancashire asylum system in the later 19th century. Asylum medical superintendents referred specifically to the pressure placed by the Irish on what were to become severely overcrowded institutions. Many Irish migrants ended up in asylums after periods spent ‘wandering’ across England or the globe. Pressure on the asylums was exacerbated by the intake of lunatics returned from North America to Lancashire. This ...

Ep.14 - Irish Migration, Institutionalisation and Mental Illness in 1800s England

June 10, 2020 19:46 - 1 hour - 55.4 MB

This talk explores the migratory patterns of Irish patients into and through the Lancashire asylum system in the later 19th century. Asylum medical superintendents referred specifically to the pressure placed by the Irish on what were to become severely overcrowded institutions. Many Irish migrants ended up in asylums after periods spent ‘wandering’ across England or the globe. Pressure on the asylums was exacerbated by the intake of lunatics returned from North America to Lancashire. This ...

Ep.13 - Edgar Jones - How Ideas about Psychiatric Trauma Evolved in the Two World Wars

June 10, 2020 19:45 - 41 minutes - 31.6 MB

The two World Wars intensified the study of the psychological effects of combat for both soldiers and civilians. This talk explores how health-care professionals in the UK interpreted psychosomatic disorders such as shell shock, battle exhaustion and traumatic neurasthenia, in the context of psychiatric research and the new forms of warfare. Civilians and emergency workers were exposed to extreme stress during air-raids forcing doctors to weigh up the causal contribution of personality versus...

Ep.13 - How Ideas about Psychiatric Trauma Evolved in the Two World Wars

June 10, 2020 19:45 - 41 minutes - 31.6 MB

The two World Wars intensified the study of the psychological effects of combat for both soldiers and civilians. This talk explores how health-care professionals in the UK interpreted psychosomatic disorders such as shell shock, battle exhaustion and traumatic neurasthenia, in the context of psychiatric research and the new forms of warfare. Civilians and emergency workers were exposed to extreme stress during air-raids forcing doctors to weigh up the causal contribution of personality versus...

Ep.12 - George III And The Porphyria Myth

June 10, 2020 19:43 - 33 minutes - 29.1 MB

Considerable doubt has been cast on the claim that King George III suffered from acute porphyria. The alternate diagnosis of recurrent acute mania is much more in keeping with his clinical features, but historians and their adherents still claim that suggestive features of acute porphyria in some of his ancestors, notably King James VI/I, support a diagnosis of porphyria in George III. Assessment of his detailed and complex clinical history and features using the computerised diagnostic aid ...

Ep.12 - Timothy Peters - George III And The Porphyria Myth Diagnostic Implications For James VI

June 10, 2020 19:43 - 33 minutes - 29.1 MB

Considerable doubt has been cast on the claim that King George III suffered from acute porphyria. The alternate diagnosis of recurrent acute mania is much more in keeping with his clinical features, but historians and their adherents still claim that suggestive features of acute porphyria in some of his ancestors, notably King James VI/I, support a diagnosis of porphyria in George III. Assessment of his detailed and complex clinical history and features using the computerised diagnostic aid ...

Ep.11 - Patients’ Letters From The Royal Edinburgh Asylum

June 10, 2020 19:42 - 45 minutes - 41.1 MB

The Royal Edinburgh Asylum is fortunate in having a very rich archive of its history, including an extensive collection of patient accounts of their mental struggles and experiences of the institution. This talk focuses on the period when the renowned psychiatrist Thomas Clouston was Superintendent. Drawing on over a thousand patient letters, it examines the lives of inmates: their feelings of being unjustly confined, and the tedium of institutional life, but also the relationships which wer...

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@rcpeheritage 51 Episodes