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 […]
Unusual treatments
Unusual treatments
The most eccentric physician who ever lived
Dr Messenger Monsey was one of the best-known physicians in eighteenth-century London, although probably not one of the most capable.
Normal for Norfolk
If you lived in rural Norfolk in the nineteenth century and wanted to get rid of a wart on your
Unusual treatments
The champagne cure
Pyaemia is a form of septicaemia (blood poisoning) in which a bacterial infection spreads from an abscess and becomes systemic.
Hidden dangers, Unusual treatments
A leech on the eyeball
Bloodletting is an inescapable theme of a medical blog set largely in the nineteenth century. Although venesection (opening a vein)
Bewildering research, Unusual treatments
The tapeworm trap
In September 1856 a physician called J. Gotham wrote to an American journal, the Medical and Surgical Reporter, with news
Unusual treatments
The turpentine vapour bath
The year is 1874, and American medics are deeply concerned about the activities of quacks and unlicensed doctors who are
Unusual treatments
Bled dry
Most visitors to this blog will probably be aware that for centuries bloodletting played a central role in Western medicine.
Mysterious illnesses, Unusual treatments
Quails and beer
Invalid diets could be unusual in the nineteenth century – and often included regular doses of strong liquor. But even
The spider’s web cure
Until the nineteenth century, spider’s web was often used as a folk remedy for superficial lacerations. The great tensile strength