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 […]
Unusual treatments
November 2016
Mysterious illnesses
Pregnant with a toothbrush
In 1874 The Lancet printed this cautionary tale by Thomas Whiteside Hime, who had discovered the hard way that things
Unfortunate predicaments
The exploding scrotum
In February 1793 a small British expeditionary force under the command of the Duke of York landed at Hellevoetsluis in
Horrifying operations
A window in his chest
Occasionally a single operation is deemed so impressive that it goes down in history under the name of the surgeon
Mother knows best
Sometimes doctors don’t have all the answers. Here’s a case in which the medics actually gave up on their patient,
Attempted suicide by spoon
When Dr Samuel White, a doctor from the town of Hudson in upstate New York, took on this case in
Remarkable recoveries
A most fortunate escape
Here’s a tale of misadventure so stupid that it wouldn’t be out of place in the annual Darwin Awards. This case
The soldier operated on himself
Isidor Glück was a Hungarian surgeon who emigrated to London and then the United States in the early 1850s. As
Remarkable recoveries, Unusual treatments
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
Hidden dangers
Rings on his fingers
In 1855 Dr D. D. Slade of Boston reported the following freak occurrence to The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal: