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BSHM Poynter Lecture 21 March 2012
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The lecture is at 6.00 p.m. on 21st March 2012 at the Wellcome Building Conference Centre, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE. It is free and open to the public.
Luigi Galvani's discovery of 'animal electricity' at the end of the eighteenth century resulted in a whole new world of possibilities in which electricity could cure sickness, restore sexual potency and even raise the dead. This is the story of how electricity emerged as a tool for making sense of our bodies and the world around us. For the Victorians, electricity was the science of spectacle and of wonder. It provided them with new ways of probing the nature of reality and understanding themselves. For some people saying that 'electricity is life' was much the same thing as saying there was no such thing as a soul and therefore no such thing as God. For others, the slogan was an invitation to buy new commodities like electric belts or corsets that could revitalize a flagging body. In this lecture, based on his recent book 'Shocking Bodies' the lecturer will turn to the history of electricity and the body to find some shocking answers.
See Biography of Dr Morus at Aberystwyth University and History Press details of "Shocking Bodies"
Prior to the lecture, in the afternoon the current Wellcome exhibition will be available for viewing.
In addition from 3.30 p m - 5.30 p m, for BSHM members and their guests only, there will be a mini-exhibition of related texts, documents and pictures from the Wellcome Library collection to complement the lecture.
Drinks and simple refreshments will be provided by the Wellcome between 5.30 p m and 6.00 p m. for members of the BSHM (members of any affiliated society).
Reservation is needed, please apply to the Secretary-elect of BSHM, email lizbeckmann@lanmarkmedical.co.uk
Copyright 2011 David Hawgood and the British Society for the History of Medicine.
This page by David Hawgood
was amended 12 Aug 2011