Pyaemia is a form of septicaemia (blood poisoning) in which a bacterial infection spreads from an abscess and becomes systemic. The disease is characterised by abscesses all over the body, and in the days before antibiotics it was generally fatal. The only hope was to open the abscesses with the scalpel and drain them, removing … Continue reading The champagne cure
Category: Unusual treatments
A leech on the eyeball
Bloodletting is an inescapable theme of a medical blog set largely in the nineteenth century. Although venesection (opening a vein) was frequently used, for minor complaints the weapon of choice was the leech, which could extract a small amount of blood relatively painlessly. Doctors varied the numbers of leeches applied according to the severity of … Continue reading A leech on the eyeball
The tapeworm trap
In September 1856 a physician called J. Gotham wrote to an American journal, the Medical and Surgical Reporter, with news of an exciting new breakthrough: a tapeworm trap. As it is my desire to keep you advised of all the improvements in medical and surgical practice which this prolific age is ushering into being, it … Continue reading The tapeworm trap
The turpentine vapour bath
The year is 1874, and American medics are deeply concerned about the activities of quacks and unlicensed doctors who are damaging the reputation of the profession. One particularly worrying case is reported by The Medical and Surgical Reporter: The following account is sent us by a correspondent in Baltimore. It is needless to say that … Continue reading The turpentine vapour bath
Bled dry
Most visitors to this blog will probably be aware that for centuries bloodletting played a central role in Western medicine. This is partly the result of the extraordinarily long-lasting influence of the Greek physician Galen, whose humoral theory underpinned medical practice until the Renaissance. Strangely, bleeding remained commonplace until much later, persisting well into the … Continue reading Bled dry
Quails and beer
Invalid diets could be unusual in the nineteenth century – and often included regular doses of strong liquor. But even by the standards of the era, this example struck me as eccentric. In 1874 Charles Wotton, a doctor from King’s Langley in Hertfordshire, wrote to The Lancet to report this case: C. R—, aged ten, … Continue reading Quails and beer
The spider’s web cure
Until the nineteenth century, spider’s web was often used as a folk remedy for superficial lacerations. The great tensile strength of spider silk was probably quite effective at holding the edges of a wound together, although doubtless it also brought the risk of infection. Until I came across an article published in The Dublin Quarterly … Continue reading The spider’s web cure
Reeking from the jaw of the living animal
The 1843 volume of The Dublin Journal of Medical Science contains this gem from Mr Robert Twiss, a surgeon from Kerry. Though it’s only a short report it made quite a stir on publication, and was still being cited in textbooks of dentistry many decades later. The first sentence is nothing if not arresting: On … Continue reading Reeking from the jaw of the living animal
The spear and the eucalyptus tree
In 1891 The Lancet printed this case report by Andrew Ross, a doctor who some years earlier had been practising in the small Australian settlement of Molong in New South Wales: On Dec. 25th a messenger arrived requesting my attendance on one “Harry,” an aboriginal, who had, in an encounter with another of the race, … Continue reading The spear and the eucalyptus tree
Toast and herbs
William Salmon was a seventeenth-century physician and a prolific writer, the author of numerous books on surgery and internal medicine. He also practised alchemy and astrology in an age which regarded these disciplines as legitimate and empirical sciences (his contemporary Isaac Newton was also an enthusiastic alchemist). In 1687 Salmon published a book entitled Παρατηρηματα (‘Observations’, … Continue reading Toast and herbs