10th Century soldier
Figure of Goliath, from a Latin Psalter of the tenth century in the British Museum Additional MS., No. 18,043. The hauberk is coloured blue in the original, apparently indicating chain-mail. The curious combed helmet is of the same hue, clearly implying a defence of iron.
A man employing leeches to reduce his weight
A man employing leeches to reduce his weight, 16th century. (From P. Boaistuau, Histoire Podigieuses, Paris, 1567. )
A Sprinkle or Hand-Flail of bronze
From the Museum of Mitau in Courland
Advertisement for phlebotomy and cupping instruments
Advertisement for phlebotomy and cupping instruments. Note the rubber cups. (From George Tiemann & Co., American Armamentarium Chirurgicum, New York, 1889.)
An early illustration of the octagonal scarificator
An early illustration of the octagonal scarificator, 1801. This plate also includes one of the earliest illustrations of the syringe applied to cupping cups. (From Benjamin Bell, A System of Surgery, 7th edition, volume 3, Edinburgh, 1801.)
Anglo-Saxon soldiers
Another group from Cotton MS., Claudius, B. iv.
Anglo-Saxon Spearmen
Anglo-Saxon spearmen, from the fine manuscript of Prudentius in the Tenison Library. Date, the beginning of the eleventh century. The drawings are in pen-and-ink only, but very carefully executed: the later subjects by a fresh hand, but all Anglo-Saxon work.
Anglo-Saxon warriors
Group from Cottonian MS., Claudius, B. iv., folio 24: Aelfric's Anglo-Saxon Paraphrase of the Pentateuch, &c. Date about 1000. The crowned figure in the centre appears to be armed in a coat of chain-mail
Arming a knight for combat in the lists
B
B
Baskerville
Bloodletting
Bloodletting
Brass of an unknown knight
Brass of Sir John de Creke
Bulmer
Castle Tower
Church of St. Vital, at Ravenna. Byzantine style
Civic Guard of Ghent (Brotherhood of St. Sebastian)
Coif of Mail
Comb
Comb, Italian (14th Century)
Comparative size of molecules
An atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element. Two or more atoms come together to form a molecule: thus molecules form the mass of matter. A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Molecules of different substances, therefore, are of different sizes according to the number and kind of the particular atoms of which they are composed. A starch molecule contains no less than 25,000 atoms. Molecules, of course, are invisible. The above diagram illustrates the comparative sizes of molecules.
Cuirass
Cuissard for the off hock
Cupping Instruments
Cupping instruments illustrated by Dionis, 1708: a, cups made of horn; b, lamp for exhausting air; c, fleam for making scarifications; d, horns with holes at the tip for mouth suction; e, balls of wax to close the holes in the horn cups; f, g, glass cups; h, candle to light the tow or the small candles; i, tow; k, small candles on a card which is placed over the scarifications and lit in order to exhaust the cup; l, lancet for making scarifications; m, scarifications; n, plaster to place on the wound. (From Pierre Dionis, Cours d’opérations de chirurgie demontrées au Jardin Royal, Paris, 1708.)
Demours’ device for combining cup, scarifier and exhausting apparatus
Demours’ device for combining cup, scarifier and exhausting apparatus. (From Samuel Bayfield, A Treatise on Practical Cupping, London, 1823.)
Depurator patented by A. F. Jones, 1866
Depurator patented by A. F. Jones, 1866. (From patent specifications)
Divining rod
There are many great contentions between miners concerning the forked twig, for some say that it is of the greatest use in discovering veins, and others deny it. Some of those who manipulate and use the twig, first cut a fork from a hazel bush with a knife, for this bush they consider more efficacious than any other for revealing the veins, especially if the hazel bush grows above a vein. Others use a different kind of twig for each metal, when they are seeking to discover the veins, for they employ hazel twigs for veins of silver; ash twigs for copper; pitch pine for lead and especially tin, and rods made of iron and steel for gold. All alike grasp the forks of the twig with their hands, clenching their fists, it being necessary that the clenched fingers should be held toward the sky in order that the twig should be raised at that end where the two branches meet. Then they wander hither and thither at random through mountainous regions. It is said that the moment they place their feet on a vein the twig immediately turns and twists, and so by its action discloses the vein; when they move their feet again and go away from that spot the twig becomes once more immobile.
Dry cupping for sciatica
Dry cupping for sciatica. (From Frederik Dekkers, Exercitationes Practicae Circa Medendi Methodum, Leyden, 1694.
Facsimile of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings on artificial wings
The examination of the original drawings of the great Italian artist is intersting. We reproduce by heliogravure a complete plate; it makes it possible to follow the thought which presided over its execution. We let Dr. Hureau de Villeneuve interpret it. We see in the second row on the right a small character quite similar to a demon or a genie, for he wears a flame on his head and, next to this flame, a Latin cross. His arms end with the fingers of a bat. The figure is not yet finished when Leonardo already recognizes its insufficiency and, guessing the little muscular action of the arms, thinks of using the force of the legs. So we see a little higher, in the same plank, a vigorous man placed on his stomach, his legs bent and about to launch a violent kick. The protruding muscles, traced by an anatomist's pencil, reveal the great painter in an unassuming drawing.
Father Lana's aerial ship (1670)
Certainly Lana's project is impracticable: the learned Jesuit did not foresee that his empty copper balloons would be crushed by the external atmospheric pressure; but he nevertheless had a very clear idea and very remarkable for his time of the principle of aerial navigation by balloons lighter than the volume of air which they move. He ends his long chapter with some very curious considerations: I do not see any other difficulties that can be opposed to this idea, except one which seems to me more important than all the others, and that God will not allow this invention to be ever successfully applied in practice, in order to prevent the consequences which would result from it for the civil and political government of men. Indeed, who does not see that there is no State which would be insured against a stroke of surprise, because this ship would be heading in a straight line on one of its strongholds, and, landing there, could descend there soldiers.
Feudal Castle of Chateau-Gaillard aux Andelys
Feudal Castle Present State of the Feudal Castle of Chateau-Gaillard aux Andelys, which was considered one of the strongest Castles of France in the Middle Ages, and was rebuilt in the Twelfth Century by Richard Coeur de Lion
Frame
Frame
From Romance of Alexander, Bib. Nat., Paris, circ. 1240
From the 'Armourers Album'
Great Châtelet
In 1032, a new magistrate was created, called the Provost of Paris, whose duty it was to give assistance to the bourgeois in arresting persons for debt. This functionary combined in his own person the financial and political chief of the capital, he was also the head of the nobility of the county, he was independent of the governor, and was placed above the bailiffs and seneschals. He was the senior of the urban magistracy and police, leader of the municipal troops, and, in a word, the prefect (præfectus urbis), as he was called under the Emperor Aurelian, or the first magistrate of Lutetia, as he was still called under Clotaire in 663. Assessors were associated with the provost, and together they formed a tribunal, which was afterwards known as the Châtelet, because they assembled in that fortress, the building of which is attributed to Julius Caesar. The Great Châtelet of Paris.--Principal Front opposite the Pont-au-Change.--Fac-simile of an Engraving on Copper by Mérian, in the "Topographia Galliae" of Zeller.
Gutenberg
Harnischmeister Albrecht, 1480
Hildegard receiving the light from Heaven
Hildegard receiving the Light from Heaven (Wiesbaden Codex B, fo. 1 r)
Horse Armour, sixteenth century
Hotel de ville
The House of Jacques Coeur at Bourges, now converted into the Hôtel de Ville.
Hotel of chamber of accounts
Hotel of the Chamber of Accounts in the Courtyard of the Palace in Paris. From a Woodcut of the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster, in folio: Basle, 1552. Thanks to the peace concluded with Flanders, on which occasion that country paid into the hands of the sovereign thirty thousand florins in gold for arrears of taxes, and, above all, owing to the rules of economy and order, from which Philip V., surnamed the Long, never deviated, the attitude of France became completely altered. We find the King initiating reform by reducing the expenses of his household. He convened round his person a great council, which met monthly to examine and discuss matters of public interest; he allowed only one national treasury for the reception of the State revenues; he required the treasurers to make a half-yearly statement of their accounts, and a daily journal of receipts and disbursements; he forbad clerks of the treasury to make entries either of receipts or expenditure, however trifling, without the authority and supervision of accountants, whom he also compelled to assist at the checking of sums received or paid by the money-changers.
Inscription of the Sigean Tablet
Instruments and technique of phlebotomy
Instruments and technique of phlebotomy: Fig. 1 shows an arm about to be bled. A ligature has been applied to make the veins swell. The common veins bled—cephalic, basilic, and median—are illustrated. Fig. 2 shows several types of incisions. Fig. 3 is a fleam, Fig. 4 a spring lancet, and Fig. 5 a “French lancet.” (From Laurence Heister, A General System of Surgery, London, 1759.
Instruments for bleeding from the arm, 1708
Instruments for bleeding from the arm, 1708: a, a serviette to cover the patient’s clothing; b, a cloth ligature to place around the arm; c, a lancet case; d, a lancet; e and f, candles to give light for the operation; g, a baton or staff for the patient to hold; h, i, and k, basins for collecting blood; l and m, compresses; n, a bandage to be placed over the compress; p, eau de la Reine d’Hongrie that can be used instead of vinegar to revive the patient if he faints; q, a glass of urine and water for the patient to drink when he revives; r, s, t, implements for washing the hands and the lancets after the operation. (From Pierre Dionis, Cours d’opérations de chirurgie demontrées au Jardin Royal, Paris, 1708.
Jerusalem
View and Plan of Jerusalem. Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the "Liber Chronicarum Mundi" large folio, Nuremberg, 1493.
John Gutenberg
Tthorwalden's statue of John Gutenberg
Junod’s boot applied to a baby in the cradle
Junod’s boot applied to a baby in the cradle. (From Victor Theodore Junod, A Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Maemespasia. London, 1879.
Knight arming
Koster
Lubeck
View of Lubeck and its Harbour (Sixteenth Century).--From a Copper-plate in the Work of P. Bertius, "Commentaria Rerum Germanicarum," in 4to: Amsterdam, 1616.
Mr Bensley's Machine
Padded 'harnische-kappe' and helm showing the attachment of the cap, after Dürer
Paré’s scarificator
Paré’s scarificator, 16th century. (From The Workes of that Famous Chirurgeon, Ambrose Parey, translated by Thomas Johnson, London, 1649.)
Paris
Paris
Paris 1607
Perspective View of Paris in 1607.--Fac-simile of a Copper-plate by Léonard Gaultier. (Collection of M. Guénebault, Paris.)
Patent for a complex cupping pump
Patent for a complex cupping pump, J. A. Maxam, 1916. (From patent specifications, U.S. patent 1179129.)
Principle of the helicopter, drawing by Leonardo da Vinci
Principle of the helicopter, drawing by Leonardo da Vinci
Principle of the parachute, drawing by Leonardo da Vinci
If Leonardo da Vinci's aerial flight experiments do not seem to have been carried out on a large scale, it is perhaps not the same with the parachute, the use of which is much safer. The description of Leonardo da Vinci was reproduced later, not without a notable improvement in the mode of representation of the apparatus, in a collection of machines, due to Fauste Veranzio and published in Venice in 1617.
R. J. Dodd’s patent cupping apparatus
R. J. Dodd’s patent cupping apparatus. Figs. 4 and 5 are the tubes for cupping the uterus. Fig. 3 is the flexible match scarifier. (From patent specifications, U.S. patent no. 3537.)
Ramparts
Ramparts of the Town of Aigues-Mortes, one of the Municipalities of Languedoc.