Spotting Mermaids: from William Clift to Sir Henry Wellcome and Beyond

The naturalist William Clift (1775–1849) saw a mermaid displayed in a coffee house in 1822. His analysis – and the subsequent career of these strange creatures through PT Barnum's shows and Sir Henry Wellcome's collections - is the subject of this 45-minute talk by the Wellcome Library's Ross Macfarlane.