Report of Council : 31st (1929) / National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (Great Britain).

  • National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (Great Britain)
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Report of Council : 31st (1929) / National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (Great Britain). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    THE CRUSADER’S EMBLEM AND ITS HISTORY The use of the red cross with the double arms, stretches back into Christian usage of the Middle Ages, when it was the emblem of the Second Crusade. It was employed by the celebrated leader, Godefroy de Bouillion, who placed it triumphantly on his standard at the capture of Jerusalem from the Infidel in 1099, and had it incorporated later in the arms of the House of Lorraine. The use of this cross as an international emblem in the crusade against Tuberculosis dates from 1902, when it was recognised at the International Conference at Berlin. Just as the great crusading movements of the Middle Ages unified Europe in the presence of a common enemy, this cross expresses the spirit of all countries of determined warfare upon Tuberculosis, the greatest plague that has ever devastated humanity. Versions in the detailed form of the cross having crept in during the last thirty years, it has been decided to standardise its shape and the representation on the cover of this report is that now to be adopted, it is be- lieved, through- out the world.