« 2020
2022 »
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
All
- Mrs Hemans
- Bradlaugh
- Blundell’s Impellor
A more general interest in the subject was revived in England by the work of James Blundell, lecturer on physiology and midwifery at St. Thomas’s and Guy’s Hospitals. He published in 1818 his earliest paper on experimental transfusion with a special form of syringe invented by himself. His first apparatus consisted of a funnel-shaped receptacle for the blood, connected by a two-way tap with a syringe from which the blood was injected through a tube and cannula into the recipient. His experiments were[11] performed upon dogs, and he began by drawing blood from the femoral artery and re-injecting it into the same animal through the femoral vein. He then conducted a long series of investigations into the properties of blood, the effects of its withdrawal, and the resuscitation of an exsanguinated animal. Soon he had opportunities of transfusing patients with human blood, and the results are recorded in his paper of 1824. His apparatus had by then been elaborated, and an engraving of his Impellor, as he termed it, is reproduced here. It consisted as before of a funnel-shaped receptacle for the blood, but the syringe was now incorporated in one side of the funnel, and contained a complicated system of spring valves, which caused the blood to travel along the delivery tube when the piston was pushed down. The Impellor was fixed to the back of a chair in order to give it stability. - Kimpton-Brown Tube
Whole Blood Transfusion with Kimpton’s Tube. The principle of this method depends upon the use of paraffin wax as a coating for the vessel into which the blood is drawn, so that clotting is prevented or greatly delayed. The form of the vessel has been modified by different workers, but the essentials are the same in each. One form of the apparatus, known as the Kimpton-Brown tube, is illustrated in the accompanying diagram. It consists of a graduated glass cylinder, of about 700 cc. capacity, the lower end of which is drawn out into a cannula point at an acute angle with the body of the cylinder; the point is of a size convenient for introducing into a vein and its bore large enough to allow of a free flow of blood through it. Near the upper end is a side tube to which a rubber tube can be attached, and an opening at the top is closed by a rubber bung. An ordinary rubber double-bulb bellows is the only other apparatus that is needed. - Drawing Blood for Transfusion
When the donor’s arm has been congested by gripping it above the elbow, or better by the application of a tourniquet drawn to the requisite degree of tightness, a suitable vein, usually the median basilic, is chosen. The area of puncture is washed with ether and a very small quantity, 2 to 3 minims, of 2 per cent. novocain is introduced over the vein with a hypodermic syringe. If a larger quantity is used, the vein may become obscured, but this small amount may be dispersed by a few moments’ pressure with the finger, and is usually enough to anæsthetize the very small area of skin that is to be operated upon. A tiny cut in the skin is then made with the point of a scalpel, and the needle is pushed through into the vein. - Druids
ALTHOUGH these Britons did not worship images, they believed that there were many gods and their religion was very different from that which is taught us in the Bible. They had priests who were called DRUIDS, who lived mostly in the forests, and taught the people that the Oak was a sacred tree. They worshipped the mistletoe, a plant which grows on the branches of the oak and on other trees. This mistletoe was cut off every year, with a golden knife, by the chief Druid, amid great rejoicing, and was very carefully preserved. The priests wore white linen robes, and let their beards grow very long to distinguish them from the rest of the people. The savages obeyed them because they knew more than anybody else, and tried to find out medicines to cure those who were ill. They used various means to make the people give them presents. On a certain day, at the beginning of winter, they obliged all persons to put out their fires, and light them again from the fire of the sacred altar, telling them, that by so doing they would have good fortune throughout the year; but if any one did not act as they wished, they would not allow him to enter their temples, and his friends were forbidden to give him any help. - Coach of the latter half of the Seventeenth Century
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Waggon of the second half of the Seventeenth Century
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - Coaches in the Reign of Elizabeth
Coaches in the Reign of Elizabeth I (From 'Archcæologia.') - Costume of Shepherds in the Twelfth Century
- Sir Francis Drake, in his Forty-third Year
- A Bed in the Reign of Henry III
- Tomb of Edward III. in Westminster Abbey
- The Shooting-Gallery
- House in Stoke Newington in which Edgar Allan Poe Lived
Stoke Newington is connected with the name of Edgar Allan Poe. It was here that he was at school, where he was brought over by the Allans as a child. The house still stands; it is at the corner of Edward’s Lane, which runs out of Church Street. Let us hope that the eccentricities of this wayward poet were not due to the influences of Nonconformist Newington. - The Globe Theatre
The first theatre was built in 1570. Thirty years after there were seven. The Queen had companies of children to play before her. They were the boys of the choirs of St. Paul's, Westminster, Whitehall, and Windsor. The actors called themselves the servants of some great lord. Lord Leicester, Lord Warwick, Lord Pembroke, Lord Howard, the Earl of Essex, and others all had their company of actors—not all at the same time. The principal Houses were those at Southwark, and especially at Bank Side, where there were three, including the famous Globe - Saxon Church at Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts
- Dress of Ladies of Quality
(From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.') - A Coach of the Middle of the Seventeenth Century
(From an engraving by John Dunstall.) - Ordinary Attire of Women of the Lower Classes
(From Sandford's 'Coronation Procession of James II.') - Ecclesiastical Costume in the Twelfth Century
- A Countryman and Countrywoman
Ordinary Civil Costume ; temp Charles I (From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.) - Toynbee Hall and St. Jude’s Church
- Bear-baiting
(From the Luttrell Psalter.) - Old St. Paul's, from the East
- Shipping in the Thames, circa 1660
(From Pricke's 'South Prospect of London.') - Paul Pindar's House
- The Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover, 1520
(From the original painting at Hampton Court.) - Horses in a heap, Leader down, Wheelers falling over him
I have twice had three out of the four horses in a heap, from a leader coming down and the two wheelers falling over him; but in such a case as this there is very little danger if the coachman has the presence of mind not to leave his box till there is sufficient strength at the horses' heads to prevent them jumping up and starting off frightened. - Civil Costume about 1620
(From a contemporary broadside.) - Roman London
- Costume of a Lawyer
(From a broadside, dated 1623.) - Temple Bar, London
(Built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1670; taken down in 1878 and since rebuilt at Waltham Cross.) - Lay Costumes in the Twelfth Century
- Ordinary Dress of Gentlemen in 1675
(From Loggan's 'Oxonia Illustrata.') - A Gentleman and gentlewoman
Ordinary Civil Costume ; temp Charles I (From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.) - Martyrdom of St. Edmund by the Danes
(From a drawing belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.) - Norman Crossbowmen
- A Citizen and his wife
Ordinary Civil Costume ; temp Charles I (From Speed's map of 'The Kingdom of England,' 1646.) - Costers and Cockneys
“I ’ear as you don’t walk hout with ’Arry Smith any more.” “No, ’e wanted me to meet ’im incandescently, and I wouldn’t do such a thing, so I chucked ’im.” - A Sea-Fight
(From the 'Life of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick'; drawn by John Rous about 1485.) - 'Britain's Sure Shield'
- The East London Mission
- South-east Part of London in the Fifteenth Century, showing the Tower and Wall
- Brother Brushes
First R.A. (who hates to be interrupted in his hobby but is doing his best to be polite).—“Done any work to-day?” Second R.A.—“No, confound it. That stupid ass Brown came to the studio and talked all the afternoon,—couldn’t do a stroke of work. What do you do when some idiot comes and interrupts your work?” First R.A.—“Oh, I go on weeding.” - Romans teaching the Britons to Build
The Romans built many cities, the names of some of which you know, such as London, and York, and Bath. They taught the people how to plough the fields and to sow corn, that they might have bread to eat. They brought to the country many fruits and vegetables which were quite new to the poor Britons. They showed them how to spin and to weave, and soon they left off dyeing their skins, and began to clothe themselves like their masters; and when they saw the houses which were built by the Romans, they left their dark caves and their rude huts. The Britons were also taught to read and to write, and to speak the Roman language. Nor should I forget to tell you, that the cruel Druids were all destroyed by one of the Roman generals. - Saxon Horsemen
(Harl. MS. 603.) - Dr. Barnardo’s Home, Stepney Causeway
Those who have read Defoe’s “Colonel Jack” will remember the wonderful picture which he presents of the London street boy. That boy has never ceased to live in and about the streets. Sometimes he sleeps in the single room rented by his father, but the livelong day he spends in the streets; he picks up, literally, his food; he picks it up from the coster’s barrow, from the baker’s counter, from the fishmonger’s stall, when nobody is looking. For such boys as these there are Barnardo’s Homes, where waifs and strays to any number are admitted, brought up, trained to a trade, and then sent out to the colonies. Five thousand children are in these homes. The history is very simple. Dr. Barnardo, a young Irish medical student, came to London with the intention of giving up his own profession and becoming a preacher. He began by preaching in the streets; he picked up a child, wandering, homeless and destitute, and took it home to his lodgings; he found another and another, and took them home too. So it began; the children became too many for his own resources; they still kept dropping in; he took a house for them, and let it be known that he wanted support. The rest was easy. He has always received as much support as he wanted, and he has already trained and sent out to the colonies nearly ten thousand children. - Esher Old Church
The reflections conjured up by an inspection of Esher old church are sad indeed, and the details of it not a little horrible to a sensitive person. There is an early nineteenth-century bone-house or above-ground vault attached to the little building, in which have been stored coffins innumerable. The coffins are gone, but many of the bony relics of poor humanity may be seen in the dusty semi-obscurity of an open archway, lying strewn among rakes and shovels. To these, when the present writer was inspecting the place, entered a fox-terrier, emerging presently with the thigh-bone of some rude forefather of the hamlet in his mouth. “Drop it!” said the churchwarden, fetching the dog a blow with his walking-stick. The dog “dropped it” accordingly, and went off, and the churchwarden kicked the bone away. I made some comment, I know not what, and the churchwarden volunteered the information that the village urchins had been used to play with these poor relics. “They’re nearly all gone now,” said he. “They used to break the windows with ’em.” - Old St. Paul's on Fire
- Tower in the Earlier Style. Church at Earl's Barton
- Costers and Cockneys
“Ow I s’y, look at ’er frills. Got ’erself hup like a bloomin’ ’am bone!” - Building a Church in the later Style
(From a drawing belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.) - Brother Brushes
“Do you want a Muddle. Sir.” - Berkeley Castle, Plan
Upon the line of the Severn, in the rear of all these, there were but eight of any importance, Bristol, Berkeley, Gloucester, Hanley, Worcester, Hartlebury, Bridgenorth and Shrewsbury, and of these Berkeley was in many respects the most remarkable, and has endured the longest. A Keep. B Inner Ward. C Outer Ward. D Outer Gate. E Inner Gate. F Fore Building. G Ed. II. Dungeon. H Ed. II. Tower. I Domestic Apartments. J Chapel. K Room above Cellar. L Hall. M Buttery. N Kitchen. O Offices. P Well. Q Oratory and Well. - Costers and Cockneys
Fat Party (after a war of words).—“If you come down our court to-morrer and bring a bit o’ fat with yer, I’ll bloomin’ well eat yer.” - Landing of the Romans
- Costers and Cockneys
“What price this for Margit.” - Beaumaris Castle, Bird's Eye View
The great hall, 70 feet by 23 feet 6 inches, occupies most of the first floor of the northern gatehouse, and is lighted from the court by five windows, of two lights each, with a transom, as at Stokesley and Ludlow, contemporary halls. The fireplace was on the opposite side. The roof was of timber, but with one stone rib, as at Charing. The southern gatehouse probably also contained a large chamber, now destroyed. The state-rooms and lodgings were in the gatehouses. The portals were of unusual length, and each was guarded by three grates. - Caernarvon Castle, Battlements
The illustration shows the allure or rampart-walk of the Eagle Tower. The rear wall, if it ever existed, has been removed. The cut shows the merlon, with its contained loop, the plain flat-sided embrasure, and the figures placed upon the ridge of the coping, one of which gives name to the tower. The small, shoulder-headed doorway opening from the tower upon the rampart is also seen.