OPINION: New modes, the same human desires

The world seems to be wrestling with how the internet is used.

There are curbs on children’s screen time and plans to reduce screen time in schools. Even the adults need to reduce their internet time and the ironic “stop doom scrolling” posts while you are doom scrolling do make me chortle.

But as a historian, and a veterinary historian at that, I am here to tell you that human desires have not changed. The technology might be new, but the human need for interaction and validation remains the same. Let me pose an example from veterinary history.

Selfies

These are seen as a new human phenomenon, but the desire to create an image of yourself is not new. The technology has changed, but the mental process of securing a version of your own image is as old as we are.

I have found evidence in my research that certain key members of Victorian medicine were offering copies of their personally requested portrait. There are pro forma request forms that have been posted to royal colleges and medical colleges across the UK. These are offering a miniature of the (almost) life-size image for a sum that is beyond the average medical professional.

In the veterinary profession we also have a history of large artistic gifts. The last RCVS HQ in Belgravia displayed many of these.

Life-size portrait

Of particular fame was the (again) almost life-size portrait of John Archibald Watt Dollar. A member of the Scottish but London-based Dollar veterinary dynasty, John presented the portrait, ceremonial badge and chain for the president to the RCVS.

What makes the size and presence of JA Watt Dollar more noticeable than other portraits is that Mr Dollar bears striking resemblance to a certain Mr Freddy Mercury.

Clearly, Mr Dollar could not have known the modern day lookalike he would have, but the power and authority expressed in gifting a large art work of yourself speaks volumes of Mr Dollar and his own self-worth.