Metal in her mammaries
Henry Fryer was a surgeon from the market town of Stamford in Lincolnshire. When he died in 1823 he left […]
Mysterious illnesses
Mysterious illnesses
Mysterious illnesses, Notable deaths
Death by onanism
Victorian society was famously paranoid about the dangers of masturbation. For teachers, priests and those with responsibility for young people,
The galley slave and the barrel hoop
This (almost) incredible case report was printed in The Medical and Physical Journal in 1812, but dates from almost forty
Mysterious illnesses
An unusual route
It’s been a while! I haven’t managed to post on this blog in months, thanks to a work-in-progress, a true-crime
Mysterious illnesses
A mystery diagnosis
The unusual case histories posted on this blog often defy easy explanation. Indeed, I have an entire category of posts
Mysterious illnesses
Conversation with a ghost
Spooky goings-on were reported in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal in an article published in 1826. The author was
Mysterious illnesses
Off the scale
It is not often that an author in a major medical journal thinks it necessary to state that they are
Mysterious illnesses, Unusual treatments
The bottom feeder
A couple of months ago I wrote about a case from 1812 in which a patient with a massive facial
Millipede meningitis
Here’s a medical short story with a sting in the tail, first told in the French Gazette des Hopitaux in
Mysterious illnesses
Ulysse Trélat and an implausible discovery
Ulysse Trélat was a prominent French surgeon of the nineteenth century. He served as surgeon-in-chief to most of the major