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14th-century depiction of Edgar

Edgar (c. 944 – 8 July 975) was King of the English from 959 until his death. He mainly followed the political policies of his predecessors but made major changes in the religious sphere, with theEnglish Benedictine Reform becoming a dominant religious and social force. His major administrative reform was the introduction of a standardised coinage, and he issued legislative codes concentrated on improving the enforcement of the law. After his death, the throne was disputed between the supporters of his two surviving sons;Edward the Martyr was chosen with the support ofDunstan, thearchbishop of Canterbury. Chroniclers presented Edgar's reign as a golden age when England was free from external attacks and internal disorder. Modern historians see Edgar's reign as the pinnacle ofAnglo-Saxon culture but disagree about his political legacy, and some see the disorders following his death as a natural reaction to his overbearing control. (Full article...)

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July 8

Players during the Agony of Mineirão

1758 –French and Indian War: French forcesdefeated the British atFort Carillon on the shore ofLake Champlain in theBritish colony of New York.
1950 –Korean War: American troops withdrew fromCheonan, in modern-day South Korea, after suffering heavy casualties froma North Korean attack.
1962 – Followingstudent protests atRangoon University, Burmese generalNe Win ordered the demolition of the historic students' union building.
1965 –Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 was destroyed by a bomb near100 Mile House, Canada, killing 52.
2014 – In the2014 FIFA World Cup semi-finals, Germany defeated Brazil 7-1 in theAgony of Mineirão(players pictured), breaking several tournament records.

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The Gross Clinic is an 1875 oil-on-canvas painting by the American artistThomas Eakins. It measures 8 ft by 6.5 ft (240 cm by 200 cm). The painting depictsSamuel D. Gross (July 8, 1805 – May 6, 1884), a seventy-year-old American medical professor, dressed in a black frock coat and lecturing a group ofJefferson Medical College students inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. The painting is based on a surgery, witnessed by Eakins, in which Gross treated a young man for an infectedfemur. Gross is pictured here performing a conservative operation, as opposed to theamputation normally carried out at the time. Eakins included a self-portrait in the form of a student with a white cuffed sleeve sketching or writing, at the right-hand edge of the painting, next to the tunnel railing.The Gross Clinic has been restored three times, most recently in 2010, and is currently in the collection of thePhiladelphia Museum of Art.

Painting credit:Thomas Eakins

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