The double monster
The phenomenon of conjoined twins was poorly understood until the twentieth century. Though even the earliest medical journals contain reports […]
Prodigies and monsters
The horn of a dilemma
In 1852 the editor of the North American Lancet, Dr Horace Nelson, reported an unfortunate turn of events. His prose
Unfortunate predicaments
Killed by a corkscrew
At a meeting of the Edinburgh Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1850, a Professor Miller spoke about an unusual case from his
Horrifying operations, Unfortunate predicaments
Saved for posterity
In 1875 the American surgeon Charles Brigham recorded this wince-inducing case from his practice in San Francisco. The details are
Remarkable recoveries
Two spoonsful of brain on the pillow
Here’s a story so replete with ghastly details that if it happened today it would immediately be featured in a TV
Mysterious illnesses, Remarkable recoveries
The deserter
Here’s an entertaining snippet from Guy’s Medical Jurisprudence from 1812, concerning a young man who really didn’t want to be in
Mysterious illnesses
The largest tumor on record
In 1851 a physician from Ohio, Dr P.J. Buckner, was at a meeting of the State Medical Society when he got
Unfortunate predicaments
Honking like a goose
This blog has on several occasions chronicled the unlikely range of foreign objects which patients have managed to get stuck
Bewildering research
Sugar is good for your teeth
With debate raging about the virtues (or otherwise) of eating a low-fat diet, it was interesting to come across this
Remarkable recoveries
The wandering musket ball
A miraculous recovery today, taken from the pages of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. This report was published