At the Gates: Our Safety Depends on Official Vigilance At the Gates: Our Safety Depends on Official Vigilance

Contributor(s): Harper's Weekly The History of Medicine Division. Prints and Photographs Collection Publication: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1885 Language(s): English Format: Still image Subject(s): Cholera Yellow Fever Smallpox Public Health Genre(s): Archival Materials Photographic prints Slides (photographs) Abstract: This photo print of a wood engraving from Harper's Weekly in 1885 illustrates another forum for public health images provided by the creation of the magazine as a form of mass media in the late-nineteenth century. The image demonstrates disease in metaphorical terms, a technique commonly used by later poster artists. In this case, the shrouded and skeletal specters representing cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox recoil in fear as an angel holding a sword and shield emblazoned with the word "cleanliness" blocks their way through the quarantine barrier at the Port of New York. Over the years serpents, skulls, monsters, thieves, and even extraterrestrial figures have been used as representations of disease. The discoveries by microbiologists inspired new visual metaphors for disease in the 19th century, such as anthropomorphic germs and grotesque bacteria. Copyright: The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information) Extent: 1 pages NLM Unique ID: 101584655X1 (See in Profiles in Science) Profiles in Science ID: VCBBBB Permanent Link: http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584655X1 Archival Collection: Visual Culture and Health Posters (Profiles in Science)