This week we're traveling back to the 19th century with Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein! Join us as we learn about syphilis, big-ass blunderbusses, the Evelyn Tables, Arctic expeditions, and more!
Sources:
An account of divers schemes of arteries and veins, dissected from adult human bodies, and given to the repository of the Royal Society by John Evelyn, Esq; F. R. S. To which are subjoyn'd a description of the extremities of those vessels, and the manner the blood is seen, by the microscope, to pass from the arteries to the veins in quadrupeds when living: with some chirurgical observations, and figures after the life, by William Cowper, F. R. S.
Richard K Aspin, "John Evelyn's Tables of Veins and Arteries: An Undiscovered Letter," Medical History 39 (1995)
Photos: Hunterian Museum, Evelyn Tables: https://hunterianmuseum.org/whats-on/hunterian-museum-displays/surgery-and-anatomy-from-ancient-times-to-the-1700s-room-1
Erling Kagge, "Arctic Rush: Inside the 19th-Century Craze to Reach the North Pole," Literary Hub (2025), https://lithub.com/arctic-rush-inside-the-19th-century-craze-to-reach-the-north-pole/
https://guides.loc.gov/polar-exploration/timeline
Javier Cacho, "Arctic Obsession Drove Explorers to Seek the North Pole," National Geographic (2020), https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/expedition-to-the-north-pole
Roald Amundsen, "Expedition to the North Magnetic Pole," (1902), http://www.jstor.org/stable/1775167
Myths of the Blunderbuss
https://americanrevolutioninstitute.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/46F42011-5A24-4754-86A9-630691208800
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_469432
Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(2025_film)
Pop Culture Happy Hour, 'Frankenstein' https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5600702
https://youtu.be/qIXsN-Z3UBE?si=bTQ3GigvOIWAO3_u
Film School, "How Guillermo del Toro Made Frankenstein," https://youtu.be/tThIpKCXfJI?si=vKel6PTL08Z1Y_lI
The History of Syphilis, Part II: Treatment, Cures, and Legislation. Science Museum. Available at https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/history-syphilis-part-two-treatments-cures-and-legislation'
Szu Shen Wong, "Syphilis and the Use of Mercury," Pharmaceutical Journal, available at https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/opinion/syphilis-and-the-use-of-mercury
Jeffrey Weeks, Sex, Politics, and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800, Third Edition
