Pennhurst asylum and school – formally called the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic — ran for the better part of the 20th century as a home for people with mental and physical disabilities, but it was forcibly shut down after exposures of patient abuse and decades of litigation. Pennhurst’s cases of horrific […]
Pennhurst Asylum and School Read More »
This stained-glass window from the Royal Society of London shows the Latin motto of one of the world’s most important science institutions: “NULLIUS IN VERBA,” which means “take nobody’s word for it.” This admonition is a central premise of the scientific method, stressing that knowledge should not be determined by unproven authority and confirmation bias.
The Royal Society of London Read More »
Here is Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, one of the first women (alongside biochemist Marjory Stephenson) to be innagurated as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1945 (as I wrote yesterday, the Society began in 1663, so this achievement was long in the coming). Lonsdale’s work was in material chemistry — proving, for instance,
Dame Kathleen Lonsdale and Crystallography Read More »
“The Kiss of the Enchantress,” painted by English artist Isobel Lilian Gloag (c.a. 1890) depicts a monster from Ancient Greek mythology called a Lamia. Like so many stories about horrifying females, the Lamia’s backstory involves a grizzly subversion of the ideal woman — she destroys children rather than nurtures them, and seduces men in order
“The Kiss of the Enchantress” Read More »
This skull from Ancient Rome has a tiny coin glinting out of its mouth: the money is an obal, one of the most notorious grave-goods of the Ancient Mediterranean. The literature of Greeks and Romans commonly asserts that the obal was meant to pay the price for the dead to be carried over the river
Ancient Tradition of Burying Coins Read More »
So this lady looks unusually serene, especially in light of the fact that she’s using the blood of her own severed foot (!!!!) to write a letter to her husband. This is the heroine Hypermnestra, and in the Roman poet Ovid’s rendition of her tale, she pleads with her husband to come save her from
Heroine Hypermnestra and Her Loyalty Read More »
These two lovebirds are Shiva and the Goddess Bhairavi, from an exquisite painting dating from the Mughal Dynasty in India, c. 1630-35. Today’s yoga practices are very anesthetized relative to the ways undertaken by yogis, particularly in the left-handed Tantric tradition. The two figures dwell in the charnel grounds – you can see the smoky
Shiva and the Goddess Bhairavi Read More »
“The Lord and Lady of the Charnel Grounds/Pal Durdak Yab Yum,” 15th-c painting. Tibetian Buddhist traditions took much from Ancient India . . . As with the two Hindu deities featured in yesterday’s post, the juxtaposition of enlightenment with death and male-female pairings stands out. Tibetian art is highly symbolic, and the male-female, or “Yab-Yum,”
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This nineteenth-century Tibetian painting is of a well-known deity in the Tantric Buddhist tradition, named Vajrayogini. Unlike some other Buddhist traditions which have neither Gods nor Goddesses, the Vajrayana Tantric tradition has both, as we can see here. Vajrayana Buddhism differs from many other religious traditions in its elevation of the female. The eleventh-century Tantric
Vajrayogini in Buddhist Tradition Read More »
The leader of all the Gods in Norse mythology, Odin, was routinely accompanied by his ravens named Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“mind”), appearing together in visual records as early as the sixth century The names of these birds called attention to Odin’s vast knowledge — the medieval Icelandic sources have Odin’s ravens fly all over
Odin and His Ravens Huginn and Muninn Read More »
Painted on a silk scroll by the 18th-century Japanese artist Maruyama Okyo, this image is one of Japan’s most well-known artistic creations. _The Ghost of Oyuki_, as it is known, was painted when the artist Okyo awoke from his sleep to see the ghost, or _yurei_, of his deceased lover. She had pale skin, disheveled
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Ghost stories have been an important part of China’s culture for centuries. As shown from this 14th-century Yuan Dynasty tomb, beliefs about ghosts can be seen in the visual arts, as well as in written sources. One of the most prominent types of undead spirits were the “Jiang Shi,” which were zombie-like reanimated beings. The
Jiang Shi Spirits from Chinese Culture Read More »
What drives us to learn? Are people with unusual intellectual capabilities also predisposed to want to use them? The case of Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799) raises these questions, because she possessed a rarified mind in an era when women of her social class were expected to marry and attend to domestic affairs rather than academic
Maria Gaetana Agnesi and the Desire to Learn Read More »
Kellys Run Nature Preserve near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is today part of a recently made ecological conservancy with beautiful views (see second photo) of the Susquehanna River amidst a great variety of forest life. The tree canopy and rugged terrain predominate the vista so much that you might never know earlier, human-driven economies had once existed
Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s Kelly’s Run Nature Preserve Read More »
This is Mary Grace Quackenbos, a.k.a. “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes,” and she was a good apple. Born in 1869, she came into a large estate in her youth and enrolled in law school. She used her fortune to help the poor and powerless, starting up “The People’s Law Firm”in 1905. When a young Italian immigrant headed
Mary Grace Quackenbos – “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” Read More »
“The Temptation of Eve” from the cathedral at Autun dates to about 1130. It was the first large-scale nude sculpture since Antiquity, and has become a hallmark of the “Renaissance of the Twelfth Century.” Although not as naturalistic as Ancient Roman sculptures could get, the Eve portrait gets kudos for representing the nude female body
“The Temptation of Eve” Read More »
Yesterday (November 5) in the U.S. was voting day, but in the U.K. many people lit bonfires and threw in effigies of “the Guy” for Guy Fawkes Day. In fact, our slang word “guy” comes from the person who became the most well-known architect of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Guy Fawkes, a discontent Roman
Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot Read More »
In the Late Middle Ages, one chemical became a driving force in the economy, even forming the source of a cartel by the Papacy. Potash Alum [KAl (SO4)2] is a chemical compound that occurs naturally as crystals in some encrustacions (see second photo). It enables cell walls to harden – it can give a dill
Potash Alum and Medieval Italy’s Wool Industry Read More »
Dude underwear in the Middle Ages is something we actually know about. Commonly made out of linen (from the flax plant – but that’s material (*groan*) for another day), men wore versions of undershirts and boxers that tended to be loose and long (knee-length), but tied or tucked as the situation warranted. The undergarments were
Men’s Underwear in Medieval Europe Read More »
In our current social climate, it can seem that confidence in the scientific method and trust in the expertise of professionals are being challenged for the first time. Is it good news or bad, then, to realize that this is not the case? Strap in, ladies and gents, as I introduce you to _The Cellular
Cyrus Tweed’s “The Earth a Concave Sphere” Read More »
