The woman who vomited pins
In 1873 The Lancet reported this case from Belford Hospital, an institution which had been founded eight years earlier, and […]
Mysterious illnesses
Snake poo salesman
In 1862 an Edinburgh-trained physician, Dr James Hastings, published a slim volume about the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases
Medical shenanigans
She needs a finger
On July 26th 1911 The Los Angeles Times carried what must be the most extraordinary classified ad in its history. The editor
Unfortunate predicaments
Flies in his eyes
Here’s a tale from an edition of The Lancet published in 1843 which caused me to squirm more than once.
The King of Smokers
There were plenty of doctors in the nineteenth century who thought that smoking was good for you; so there’s nothing
Remarkable recoveries
The poet’s skull and a boy’s bowels
The Scottish surgeon Archibald Blacklock is chiefly remembered today for the events of the night of March 31st, 1834, when
Mysterious illnesses, Unusual treatments
On flatulence and Darwin
In 1867 The Medical Press and Circular published a series of articles by the physician Dr John Chapman on a
Prodigies and monsters
The man with 87 children
The English physician Samuel Merriman (1771-1852) was a leading authority on midwifery and the diseases of pregnancy. His best-known work,
Unfortunate predicaments
The fractured penis
On December 6th 1848 the distinguished American surgeon Dr Valentine Mott read a paper at a meeting of the New
Remarkable recoveries
The cure of Thomas Tipple
In 1840 an American physician, Dr Pliny Earle, visited the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.