Benjamin Rush in The Lancet
Physician, chemist, writer and revolutionary: Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) was a remarkable man in a remarkable age. Arguably the greatest physician […]
Medical shenanigans, Unusual treatments
January 2016
Remarkable recoveries
Dragging his bowels after him
Medics and their journals have always loved a curiosity, however long ago it occurred. This case was reported in the
Medical shenanigans
A medical duel
Medical disputes could be dangerous affairs in the old days. Two hundred years ago two physicians settled their differences not in the pages
Unfortunate predicaments
Fruit, feathers and hair
In 1838 a French specialist in bladder stones, Professor Civiale, wrote a remarkable paper for the Gazette des Hôpitaux in
Suffocated by a fish
Here’s a ‘news in brief’ item which appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1863, under this headline:A warder of
A dismal tail
We’ve all heard of student pranks that went too far, but this story takes youthful high jinks to a truly
Bewildering research, Horrifying operations, Remarkable recoveries
Putting a patient to sleep (without anaesthetic)
Have you ever wondered how patients in the era before anaesthetics were persuaded to undergo excruciatingly painful operations? The answer
Unfortunate predicaments
A medical old wives’ tale
This story, attributed to the great American physician Benjamin Rush and repeated in a medical journal in 1839, is almost
Notable deaths, Prodigies and monsters
The woman who turned to soap
In February 1846 a group of gravediggers in New York had a truly spooky experience when they were asked to
Notable deaths, Unfortunate predicaments
Killed by a cough
In 1734 James Jamieson, a surgeon from Thurso in the Scottish borders reported this case in the Medical Essays and