Treasures of the Bodleian

Through four pages of vivid images, this medical case history traces a woman’s fate from her initial collapse, through her medical treatment, to her death and a post-mortem examination. The physician can be seen in each frame directing proceedings from one side – at that time doctors were guided by learned texts when diagnosing illnesses and prescribing herbal remedies, and kept their distance from their patients. As shown here, the nursing was done by others, and the post-mortem was carried out by a barber-surgeon.