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Henry
Wellcome's vast collection of
anthropological and medical objects is
overwhelming in its diversity, spanning
a multiplicity of cultures around the
globe through different time periods and
epochs. The breadth and depth of his
collection rivals the British Museum or
the Louvre Museum. His original
intention was to build a Museum of Man
and it was through the history of
medicine that the groundwork for his
grand vision would be laid. He failed to
realize his ambition during his lifetime
due mainly to the sheer magnitude and
complexity of the collection and the
impossible task of cataloguing and
analyzing objects that numbered over a
million objects. The Wellcome Trust,
proud guardian to this rich material
culture after Wellcome's death, tried
nobly to translate his vision into
reality but never succeeded.
Today, the unique collection is
scattered in different institutions
around the world. Recently, the Wellcome
Trust Foundation and the British Museum
launched an exhibition titled, Medicine
Man: The Forgotten Collection of Henry
Wellcome. The exhibition provided an
extraordinary glimpse into the material
culture of health and medicine.
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CARDIOVASCULAR
NEWS 
