A real-life murder mystery from old Dublin
News today of my next big project – I’m delighted to be writing a book for Harvill Secker, for publication […]
Uncategorised
Unusual treatments
Emergency coffee
This story of misadventure and an unusual resuscitation method seems particularly appropriate for what Twitter tells me is International Coffee
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Revolutions in surgery
I was delighted to be asked to write a series of essays for the Wellcome Collection, a wonderful museum in
Removed without the least difficulty
Sir William Fergusson was a leading figure in Victorian medicine. A great and widely respected surgeon, he began his career
A pane in the eye
I have reported a few eye-watering tales on this blog in the past, but few stories deserve the epithet quite
Horrifying operations, Primitive equipment, Remarkable recoveries
A triumph of surgery
In June 1898, British newspapers reported an exciting medical story under the headline ‘Triumph in Surgery’. Their source was a
Remarkable recoveries
Nobody nose
Leonardo Fioravanti was a celebrated – and later infamous – Italian doctor of the sixteenth century. You’ll find little information
Bewildering research, Medical shenanigans
Do no harm
‘First, do no harm.’ You may be familiar with this aphorism, which in the last hundred years or so has
Unfortunate predicaments
Pricked it all over with a fine needle
I recently came across the online archives of the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Journal, the in-house publication of the Bristol Medico-Chirurgical Society.
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