Blog Archives

Book annotations as witness to the Dutch influence in Japan during the Edo period

        During the Edo period, from the mid-17th to the mid-19th century, Japan adopted an isolationist policy. At this time, the only Westerners allowed access to the country were the Dutch, who were permitted to trade from …

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Library Abuzz With 2018 Homecoming Tours & Resources

McGill Library has planned a fun mix of tours for McGill Homecoming (Thursday October 11 – Saturday, October 13). Discover (and interact with!) our extraordinary collections. From rare books and special collections to archives and visual arts, it will be a feast …

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Anatomizing Thomas Rowlandson’s representation of William Hunter’s dissecting room

Guest contributor: Margaret Carlyle, Ph.D. U Chicago, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge 2018 recipient, Dr. Edward H. Bensley Osler Library Research Travel Grant   Thomas Rowlandson’s original watercolour drawing of William Hunter’s (1718–1783) London anatomy school on Great Windmill Street …

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Exhibit News – Autopsy: from Sight to Knowledge

A discussion of an orginal watercolour by famed British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, drawn from the exhibit Autopsy: from Sight to Knowledge currently on display in the McLennan Main Lobby through to September 10th 2018.  Bilingual captions English- French. Presented in French by …

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The daily life of an English doctor in Versailles, 1819-1824 : the diaries of Jonas Asplin, M.D.

            Amongst the manuscripts in the Osler Library are three volumes that outline in exquisite detail the daily occurrences that one English physician found significant enough to record in his diary. Jonas Asplin was originally from Little Wakering in Essex, …

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A glimpse at French education during the July Monarchy: Le cahier d’histoire naturelle of Eugène Ducrot, 1835-37

After spending the first few months of its new Montréal life in careful hands in the Redpath Library Building for cataloguing and, later, digitization, Eugène Ducrot’s manuscript notebook on natural history has finally arrived at its permanent home: the Osler …

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Ways of seeing: artistry on display in the Osler’s autumn acquisitions

Figure 3 Studying the senses, from Ducrot’s Cahier d’histoire naturelle, 1835-1837.

La version française suit By Mary Yearl, Head Librarian, Osler Library of the History of Medicine There is something about those eyes. The variety of colour; the sizes that span human stages of growth. Their presence is at once alarmingly …

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Art & medicine converge for two Larose-Osler Artists-in-Residence

Observation & drawing exercise led by Lucy Lyons. Credit: Lucy Lyons

La version française suit By Mary Yearl, Head Librarian, Osler Library of the History of Medicine Despite a tight schedule for the installation of her exhibit, “Impossible pathologies: re-fragmenting the archive,” Lucy Lyons carved out time to lead two workshops: …

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Celebrate Homecoming 2017 at the Library

McGill Library’s ROAAr units have planned an eclectic mix of tours, hands-on events, and lectures for McGill Homecoming (Thursday October 12 – Saturday, October 14). Explore Montreal and McGill architecture then and now, learn how to transcribe weather information from …

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Montreal and the History of Vaccination Debates at the Osler Library

(originally posted on April 28, 2017 on De re medica: News from the Osler Library of the History of Medicine blog) By: Anna Dysert La version française suit Montreal 375 gives us the opportunity to reflect on the parcours of our …

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