The practical joke
In 1873 a physician from St Louis, Dr Walter Coles, recorded a particularly unusual home visit he had recently been […]
Mysterious illnesses
Mysterious illnesses
Mysterious illnesses, Notable deaths
A wonderful accumulation
This notable case report was published in the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions in 1852. The author, John Marshall, was a young surgeon
The electric centipede
In December 1831 The Lancet reported these strange goings-on in France: A farmer’s wife, twenty-eight years of age, residing in
Mysterious illnesses, Remarkable recoveries
An infinite number of worms
Many medicines prescribed by physicians of the past were chemicals now known to be highly toxic. Mercury, arsenic and antimony
Mysterious illnesses
A knotty problem
I recently learned a medical term I hadn’t heard before: ‘true knot’, meaning a knot that forms in the umbilical
Four lambs and two puppies
This strange little tale appeared in various literary and medical journals in 1806. This version is taken from The Medical
He swallowed a serpent
A curious phenomenon common to medical history and folklore is that of the bosom serpent – stories of snakes, frogs,
Bedtime stories
If you enjoy reading this blog, and you like going to bed with an audiobook – good news! The audio
Mysterious illnesses
The fiery finger
Can the human body spontaneously catch fire? For many years people believed that it could. Spontaneous human combustion was a
The stomach snail
William Rhind, a Scottish surgeon of the nineteenth century, had impressively broad interests. He was a botanist of some eminence,