Capturing brains: grey matter turns pink

This striking and beautiful exposure of the surface of the human brain recently won the Wellcome Image Awards. Taken by Robert Ludlow as the patient awaited a treatment for epilepsy, this vibrant, colourful picture offers a stark contrast to the grey, inert look of a brain long separated from its body.

But how easily could you convey such a sight without the latest digital camera? What if the most accurate method available was the fine point of engraver’s stylus?

This image was not made by a doctor and not even by a professional illustrator but by a man more famous for creating one of London’s iconic buildings - St Paul’s Cathedral. In 1664 two years before the Great Fire of London created the opportunity for his architectural masterpiece, Sir Christopher Wren provided the pictures to accompany a book called Cerebri Anatome.

Written by an English physician named Thomas Willis this work was the first to give a complete account of how blood was supplied to the brain. The circulatory system that supports this most complex of organs is still known as the ‘Circle of Willis’ to this day. The Wellcome Library holds several editions of this seminal work complete with Wren’s original artwork.

In this idealised painting Willis is assisting Wren to introduce drugs through a vein. A founding Fellow of the Royal Society, Willis grew wealthy on his medical practice and part-financed a shared chemical laboratory at Wadham College, Oxford University. Willis cultivated relationships with notable scientists of the day; one of his assistants in these experiments was Robert Hooke who went on to produce Micrographia a book using the power of microscopes to reveal a wonderful, new world in amazing detail.

Willis was also the first to use the word ‘neurology’ to describe the study of nerves. In his writings, he helped to focus on the solid tissues of the brain rather than the cavities and fluids emphasized in the more traditional humoral model of the body. His progressive ideas included attributing the cause of epilepsy to a physical condition rather than some form of ‘supernatural possession’, helping to pave the way for the research carried out by Robert Ludlow some 350 years later.

Images: Intracranial recording for epilepsy. Surface of human brain in situ 2011 (Wellcome Image no. N0036750)
The brain engraving from Cerebi anatome by Thomas Willis, published by J. Flesher for J. Martyn & J. Allestry, London 1664 (Wellcome Image no. L0018951)
Christopher Wren making his first demonstration of a method of introducing drugs into a vein, before Dr Willis, 1667. Oil painting by Ernest Board. (Wellcome Library no. 45901i)

Library Insights

Our popular Insight sessions offer visitors to the Wellcome Library an opportunity to explore the variety of our holdings. These free sessions are thematic in style, last around an hour and offer a chance to learn about our collections.

Details of upcoming Insights are now available. They are:

Deviance to Diversity - 9th February, 3pm-4pm (A talk exploring shifts in attitudes to sexuality and gender.)

Theology vs Geology - 23rd February, 6pm-7pm (This presention examines the tension between science and religion in the Victorian era.)

Midwives and Doctors - 8th March 3pm-4pm (Changing perceptions of pregnancy and labour and the roles of the medical professional)

Landscapes of the mind - 29th March please note a slightly later time of 7pm-8pm (How our interpretation of the brain has been influenced by the idea of locations and 'maps'.)

For more details on how to attend the sessions, please follow the links above to the appropriate pages on the Wellcome Collection website.

Wellcome Image L0031643: Photograph of a man with a moustache dressed in women's clothing; he is wearing an exotic costume with corset type belt and tassled skirt, wig and boots.

An outbreak of Mad Cow Disease in the archives

The Wellcome Trust ’s mission is to foster human and animal health. Sometimes these two areas converge. The BSE crisis of the late 1990s was one such occurrence.

Sir John Pattison, former vice-provost of University College London School of Health, and National Health Service Head of Research and Development, was right at the centre of this crisis. As Chairman of the Government’s Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) from 1995-1999, Sir John had a unique view of the political decisions taken at this time.

SEAC provided advice on a number of issues, including the safe consumption of meat and milk, and the suitable treatment of animal carcasses by slaughterhouses. The committee remained in operation until 30 March 2011, when it was replaced by the ACDP Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Risk Assessment Subgroup.

In December 2010, Sir John Pattison presented a memoir of his time in charge of SEAC to the Wellcome Library , along with a set of committee minutes, and supporting documentation. The minutes, and the documentation that Sir John used in compiling this memoir are now available to Wellcome Library researchers. The memoir itself will be available in the near future, once we have put in place facilities to allow user access to born-digital archival material.

The supporting documentation includes correspondence with politicians, members of the public, and the families of patients with Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (CJD). There are also press releases issued on behalf of the committee and other bodies, as well as information on potential tests for, and causes of, CJD.

More information on can be found via the Archives and Manuscripts online catalogue. The reference for this collection is PP/JPN .

The SEAC website can be accessed through the UK Government Web Archive .

Brain Season on Radio 4

This week sees the beginning of BBC Radio 4's Brain Season.

The centrepiece of the season will be a new 10-part series, A History of the Brain, presented by Dr Geoff Bunn. The series airs at 1.45pm, Monday to Friday, for the next two weeks with an omnibus edition on Friday evenings at 9pm. The series will also be available as a podcast. Audio clips of the series are also available on the Radio 4 website, accompanied by an array of historical imagery from our picture libray, Wellcome Images.

Also airing today at 8pm will be The Lobotomists, which explores the controversial history of the lobotomy. As part of the research for the programme, Dr Lesley Hall, Senior Archivist, Wellcome Library, spoke to the makers of the documentary about the Watts-Freeman lobotomy instruments we hold in our collections (the image above shows Dr Hall brandishing one of these tools).

The Lobotomists, A History of the Brain and the rest of the Brain Season will available for listeners in the UK to listen to after broadcast through the BBC iPlayer, for the next seven days. Listeners outwith these shores are able to listen live through the Radio 4 website.

The Brain: A Secret History

Beginning last night on BBC4, The Brain: A Secret History, is a new three part documentary series which illustrates the history of attempts to understand and manipulate the brain.

In the first episode of the series, 'Mind Control', presenter Dr Michael Mosley discussed the famous experiments of Ivan Pavlov, B F Skinner and Stanley Millgram. The documentary mixed archive footage with interviews and also included Mosley visiting the Wellcome Library to look at the personal papers of controversial psychiatrist William Sargant.

The episode is available to viewers in the UK through the BBC iPlayer, where it will be joined by the other two episodes once they air, until the 27th January.

Image credit: BBC