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Wilhelm Röntgen took this radiograph of his wife’s left hand on December 22, 1895, shortly after his discovery of X-rays.National Library of Medicine

The First X-ray, 1895

By Hannah Waters | July 1, 2011

The discovery of a new and mysterious form of radiation in the late 19th century led to a revolution in medical imaging.

The Hygienic Laboratory at the Staten Island Marine Hospital Service building.National Cancer Institute

One-Man NIH, 1887

By Cristina Luiggi | May 28, 2011

As epidemics swept across the United States in the 19th century, the US government recognized the pressing need for a…

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Medical Posters, circa 1920

By Edyta Zielinska | May 25, 2011

William Helfand began buying medically themed collectibles in the 1950s when he started working for Merck & Co. Over his…

This front view of the human anatomy is meant to teach Tibetan doctors-in-training the classification of bones, the positioning of the internal organs, and other facts about the human body.Courtesy, Division of Anthropology, AMNH

Ancient Anatomy, circa 1687

By Cristina Luiggi | April 1, 2011

Seventeenth-century Tibet witnessed a blossoming of medical knowledge, including a set of 79 paintings, known as tangkas, that interweaved practical medical knowledge with Buddhist traditions and local lore.

Liber de Arte Distillandi was a practical manual for medicinal and alchemical distillation by German physician Hieronymous Brunschwig. Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

Medicinal Alchemy, circa 1512

By Cristina Luiggi | March 1, 2011

During the Middle Ages, alchemists developed sophisticated ways to tap the medicinal powers of the Earth’s bounty. Liber de Arte Distillandi, published in 1512, is a layman’s guide to the preparation of these natural medicines.

“Sunbathing! The twelve effects of sunlight on the skin: (1) skin reddening, (2) skin tanning, (3) disinfection, (4) immunization, (5) higher blood pressure, (6) stimulation of scavenger cells, (7) increase in tone, (8) vitamin D, (9) cell radiation, (10) the charging of the nervous system, (11) the light hormone, (12) the luminous element porphyrin.”  *NOTE: Kahn included the observation of the worsening of scarring in smallpox patients under his section on porphyrins (12) noting that both smallpox patients and people that have been cutaneously injected with hematoporphyrin exhibit photosensitivity.Caption and illustration from Volume II of German physician Fritz Kahn’s Der Mensch gesund und krank, Menschenkunde, published in 1939. Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

Light Therapy, circa 1939

By Cristina Luiggi | February 1, 2011

Around the turn of the 20th century—before sunscreens hit the market and the damaging effects of UV radiation were widely…

This illustration appears in the first French edition of Descartes’ Treatise on Man, which was published in 1664, 14 years after his death. It was drawn by Gerard van Gutschoven, a professor of medicine at the University of Louvain in Belgium.Reproduced with permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California

The Mindless Machine, circa 1664

By Vanessa Schipani | January 1, 2011

Though many of René Descartes’ anatomical and physiological assumptions were vastly off target, he was the first to make a…