M0005981: Traditional healer driving out sickness from a patient

Previous title, replaced August 2020: This is where sickness must go when it is driven out, etc.

Photograph by Herbert Vladimir Meyerowitz (1900-1945), British colonial administrator, of a traditional healer from the Ewe people of West Africa driving out sickness from a boy. According to the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum accession register, this is done by placing fowl in the boys arms so that the sickness leaves the boy and enters the fowl instead. The patient holds a bottle of palm oil which is used as part of the treatment and afterwards when sacrificing the fowl to a Legba, a protector of families. The photograph was acquired by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and accession in 1939 (accession number PHO 11183). Related images: M0005982.

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.