Royal Ontario Museum Blog
Monthly Archive: December
"All manner of Sychenesses": Domestic Medical Books
![One Thousand Practical Recipes by Dr Chase. London, Ont.: 1878](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/one_thousand_practical_recipes_1878.jpg?itok=5pCP1OS5)
The late winter months often coincide with cold and ‘flu season, a time when we look for remedies to help cure runny noses or coughs. Now we might turn to the internet for this kind of information, but in years past people would have consulted the household medical book for advice.
Finding a Safe Passageway Across the 401
![Eastern milk snakes (Species at Risk - Special Concern) found beside Highway #401 between Gananoque and Brockville, Ontario Two small, striped snakes touch snouts while wound about a person's hand.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/hwy_401_2014_1-resized.jpg?itok=3pkU3ccZ)
Ecologists working together to ensure the safety of wildlife along some of Canada's busiest highway.
ROM Photographer of the Year 2014: Recap
![Nzuri. Nairobi National Park, Kenya. | Photo by Amanda Girgis, Membership Communications Coordinator A group of antelope gather on a grassy plain.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/amandagirgis1_wildlife.jpg?itok=U9mjizMW)
A look back at the top photos from our 2014, in-house photography contest!
Sustainable development in the Caribbean: beer and biology
![Humans are not the only mammals that enjoy the Caribbean islands | Image from Wikimedia Commons A man & a woman in bathing suits pose on a small catamaran on a sun-lit, white sand beach](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/puj_royalturquesa_beach_002.jpg?itok=RXexnqPD)
Dr. Burton Lim and colleagues are off to study bats and other island mammals in the sun!
Douglas Coupland: Everything Man
![The Brain, 2014. Coupland’s monumental assemblage is created from an astonishing array of objects the artist collected for over a decade. The Brain as installed in the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2014.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/coupland_brain.jpg?itok=ij4jm5__)
Artist, writer, thinker
Douglas Coupland is a man of many talents
A mid-Silurian aquatic scorpion – one step closer to land?
![The Eramosa scorpions range in size from about 29 to 165 mm long, representing several different age classes. Photos by David Rudkin. Photo collage of three scorpion fossils.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/cover_57777_img_0298_mod.jpg?itok=BnVFAjdQ)
Rocks of the 430 million year old Eramosa Formation Konservat-Lagerstätte on the Bruce Peninsula have produced an amazing new species of aquatic fossil scorpions, Eramoscorpius brucensis, which contributes to our understanding of how scorpions may eventually have moved from the sea onto land.
Of Africa at the ROM. Exploring the complexity of African and Diasporic experience.
The third week of October marked the launch of the three-year multi-platform project Of Africa: a rich and thought-provoking series of talks and performances entitled Histories, Collections, Reflections.
In the Shadow of the Volcano: The Discovery of Pompeii
!['Plan of Pompeii' in Ernest Breton, Pompeia. Paris: 1855](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/pompeia_map.jpg?itok=lJTbqHLY)
In 79 CE Mount Vesuvius erupted violently. Pliny the Younger, in his eye-witness account of the event, describes earthquakes, towering plumes of hot ash, and skies filled with fire.
A Spotlight on Illegal Pelt Trading, and What the ROM Has to Do With It
![A look into the ROM mammalogy collections. Photo by Matt Jenkins Tags on confiscated furs within the ROM Collections. Photo by Matt Jenkins](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/matt_jenkins_rom_blog-1_title_shot.jpg?itok=Wq9o5SH0)
Guest blog post by Environmental Visual Communication alumnus Matt Jenkins.
Celebrating its centennial birthday this year, the ROM has always stood as a place of education, family enjoyment and research. That is why I found it surprising that the ROM identifies nearly one quarter of its roughly one thousand pelts as ‘seized’ or illegal. Fear not though, as I learned, they are at the museum with the proper permits and have actually played integral roles in assisting the prevention of illegal pelt trading.
Beautiful Bugs! A New Acquisition
!['Grasshopper' in Seguy, Insectes. Paris: 192- Grasshopper](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/grasshopper_seguy_insectes_192-.jpg?itok=fq920-y7)
The ROM Library has recently acquired an edition of E. A. Séguy’s Insects, published in the 1920s. The book contains highly coloured and detailed full-page illustrations of insects, executed in the expensive pochoir printing technique favoured at this time.