The pea pod polyp
In December 1761 a leading French journal, the Journal of Medicine, Surgery and Pharmacy, published a splendid little article by […]
Hidden dangers
Horrifying operations
The foot-long bladder stone
This short article appeared in a Norfolk local newspaper, the Norwich Gazette, on June 7th 1746: On Sunday last was
The lucky Prussian
Maximilian Joseph von Chelius was a prominent 19th-century German surgeon who had a significant influence on medics right across Europe.
Mysterious illnesses
In hospital for 34 years
In December 1886 the Cincinnati Enquirer published an exclusive from its New York correspondent. He had uncovered an amazing story
All at sea
When I first came across this stirring tale of improvised surgery at sea I wasn’t at all sure it was
A dangerous hobby
The Royal Academy of Surgery in Paris was founded in 1731 by Louis XV. It was abolished in 1793 following
The pigeon’s rump cure
Eclampsia is a serious condition affecting women before, during or after childbirth. The name means literally ‘bursting forth’, an apt
Notable deaths, Unfortunate predicaments
An enormous eater
Albert Vander Veer was a distinguished New York surgeon of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A Civil War
Mysterious illnesses
The very hungry schoolboy
The name of Dr Richard Patrick Satterley is more or less unknown today, but in the early years of the
Hidden dangers, Unfortunate predicaments
Mr Dendy’s egg-cup case
In 1834 the Lancet published a wonderfully unusual article by Walter Dendy, a surgeon from Blackfriars in London. The heading