M0005982: Men sweeping sickness away from two boys

Previous title, replaced August 2020: All traces of sickness must be literally swept-away', etc.

Photograph by Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz (1900-1945), British colonial administrator, of men from the Ewe people of West Africa treating two boys. According to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum accession register, this was done by sweeping the boys with a small broom after the sickness has left their body and entered the fowl (see image M0005981). The photograph was acquired by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and accession in 1939 (accession number PHO 11184). Related images: M0005981.

02 January 1939

1 photograph glass plate negative; 12 x 16.5 cm

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2020.

Please consult the digitised version as this item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.