Fresh from the archive

Weird, maybe horrible things found in (mostly digitised) archives.

[freshfromthearchive]

Oatine : the food for the complexion           

Magazine insert printed in black on pale blue paper advertising the range of Oatine health and beauty products.

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b15842289#?asi=0&ai=0&z=0.1853%2C-0.0791%2C1.1363%2C0.6962

[freshfromthearchive]

Page from Health hints for travelers            

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b21079572#?asi=0&ai=23&z=-0.099%2C0.5646%2C1.2596%2C0.9247

[freshfromthearchive]

A woman is turning a wheel which is tightening the string around a young girl's waist in order to make it smaller. Coloured etching by W. Heath, ca. 1830.          

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11933306#?asi=0&ai=0

[freshfromthearchive]

Melon (Cucumis melo): stem with large fruit and flowers. Coloured lithograph after M. A. Burnett, c. 1843.            

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11816594#?asi=0&ai=0

[freshfromthearchive]

Hands showing the sign language alphabet. Coloured etching.

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11758727#?asi=0&ai=0           

[freshfromthearchive]

Christ winnowing evil from the human heart; a penitent bathing in the blood and water from Christ's side; an angel locking a dragon in hell. Engraving by H. Goltzius, 1578.            

Christ wears a broad-brimmed hat, i.e. he is in the role of the gardener for whom Mary Magdalene mistook him after his Resurrection. In that role, he carries a heart-shaped winnowing basket, from which he shakes out vices while retaining virtues. The vices are represented by a horse (pride), a pig (gluttony), a snake (envy), a statuette of a nude woman (luxury), a donkey (idleness), a bear (anger) and a toad (avarice). The virtues are represented by an infant (good intentions), a lamb (patience), a dove (simplicity), and a cock (vigilance)

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11844723#?asi=0&ai=0&z=-0.1462%2C0.1717%2C1.4114%2C0.8647

[freshfromthearchive]

Dragons and griffins around a lone flowering tree in a landscape on the outskirts of a town; representing a stage in the alchemical process. Coloured etching after etching, ca. 17th century.

Flamel writes that on this page was "painted a faire flowre on the top of a very high mountaine, which was sore shaken by the north wind; it had the foot blew [blue], the flowers white and red, the leaves shining like fine gold: And round about it the dragons and griffins of the north made their nests and abode" (ibid. p. 9) Dixon (ibid, p. xxx) comments that "Poisson and Grillot de Givry interpret this image respectively as an allegory of the 'two sperms, sulfur and mercury', and as the sublimation of mercury". She goes on to suggest other possible meanings: the tree is the "golden flower", symbol of the womb of the Virgin Mary; symbol of the stage of the 'lapis' in alchemy; and "the precarious situation of the alchemical flower as it is buffeted by north winds and menaced by monsters" 

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11958595#?asi=0&ai=0&z=-0.7387%2C-0.1261%2C2.4389%2C1.4943

[freshfromthearchive]

A black sun with a face descends behind the horizon of a marshy landscape; representing the state of putrefaction in alchemy. 

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11975842#?asi=0&ai=0&z=-0.7838%2C-0.1378%2C2.7786%2C1.7025

[demonagerie]

Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 174, detail of f. 3r (Isis gathering Osiris’ body parts). Boccaccio, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes. 15th century

[demonagerie]

Detail from the Metnitz Totentanz. Metnitz, Austria. 15th century

[freshfromthearchive]

Men vainly seeking alchemical 'white' (mercurial) water in the ground and in trees. Coloured etching after etching, ca. 17th century.

"at the foot [of a hollow oak] boyled a fountaine of white water, which ranne head-long downe into the depths, notwithstanding it first passed among the hands of infinite people, which digged in the Earth seeking for it; but because they were blinde, none of them knew it, except here and there one which considered the weight" (Dixon, ibid. p. 9) The white water is shown flowing from a hole in the tree

By Nicolas Flamel

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11960127#?asi=0&ai=0&z=-0.1522%2C0.3129%2C1.2615%2C0.7729

[freshfromthearchive]

Still from Effective burn treatment

Shows the treatment on a male pilot who sustained burns in a plane crash. Operative procedure on third degree burns: application of Terramycin to prevent infection during skin grafting on arms and legs. The process of the treatment is followed. 2 segments.

[freshfromthearchive]

Still from video: Effective burn treatment

Shows the treatment on a male pilot who sustained burns in a plane crash. Operative procedure on third degree burns: application of Terramycin to prevent infection during skin grafting on arms and legs. The process of the treatment is followed. 2 segments.

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b16730513

[freshfromthearchive]

Natural causes and supernatural seemings

http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b22651676

[freshfromthearchive]

Coloured illustration of female breast diseased with Syphilis.

[freshfromthearchive]

An obliging barmaid drawing beer. Coloured lithograph, ca. 1833.

“Do you like it mild, Sir?”

[freshfromthearchive]

advertisement for gay men to use precautions by Gay Men Fighting Aids.

(I added the smiley).