The cabbage catastrophe
In 1803 a surgeon from Dumbarton in Scotland, Alexander Hunter, wrote to the London Medical and Physical Journal to report […]
Unusual treatments
The carrot cataplasm
Pretty much any substance you care to mention has, at one time or another, been touted as a cure for
A gallon a day keeps the doctor away
Bloodletting is one of the oldest medical treatments of all, employed for centuries in cultures all over the world. It’s
The bacon factory eyelid transplant
I haven’t had much time for blogging recently, since I’ve been working hard on a book which will be published
Unusual treatments
Emergency coffee
This story of misadventure and an unusual resuscitation method seems particularly appropriate for what Twitter tells me is International Coffee
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
Unusual treatments
An English emigrant to Canada
It’s been a little while since I’ve had the time to write a blog post. The reason for this hiatus
Primitive equipment, Unusual treatments
The child who swallowed a pin
The eighteenth-century surgeon William Boys, although a distinguished clinician and Fellow of the Royal Society, was perhaps better known as
Unusual treatments
Mr Trought’s tobacco enema
In June 1828 the Lancet published a pair of short case histories that contemporary readers must have found rather confusing.
Remarkable recoveries, Unusual treatments
The eye magnet
Today’s story first appeared in the Observationes, a collection of case reports by the German surgeon Wilhelm Fabry (1560-1634). Fabry,