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Antiquated Antidotes

We will explore the medical mavericks of the past and rediscover the gruesome tales behind our modern field of medicine.

April 4, 2022

Goat Testicles for Virility: John R. Brinkley

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Individuals

Between 1917 and the mid-1930s, John Brinkley made a fortune on his “revolutionary” surgical procedure which involved placing goat testicles into men’s scrotums to cure infertility and improve virility. What a BAAAHHH-d idea

March 11, 2022

Surgery Without Anesthesia: Babies Can’t Feel Pain?

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Modern, Quackery

Prior to the 1980s, many medical professionals believed that babies could not feel pain, therefore, medical procedures performed on infants took place without the use of anesthesia.

March 4, 2022March 4, 2022

Images from the Dissection Room

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Modern, Uncategorized

At first glance, these images from a bygone time are gruesome and jarring. Dismantled corpses with a thousand-yard stare looking past the camera while groups of men and women gathered around with tools in their hands, pipes in their mouths, and open anatomy books.

January 15, 2022

The Colorado Brown Stain: Fluorosis

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Individuals, Modern

Let’s talk about how the brown stains on the teeth of Colorado Springs residents helped reform cavity prevention.

December 29, 2021December 29, 2021

Performing a Cesarean Section on His Own Wife: Dr. Jesse Bennett

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Individuals

Historically, most c-sections were performed for one main purpose, to save the baby. Mothers were expected to die from shock or complications resulting from infection.

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021

Dedication of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg, November 19, 1863

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Series

Even though the events that gave Gettysburg its fame occurred 158 years ago, the loss remains poignant and the message of sacrifice and liberty still heard.

November 6, 2021

Excavating Bladder Stones with Knitting Needles

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Individuals

The Lithotomy was described as far back as the 1st century A.D. by Greek physicians. The procedure only required three main tools, the knife, a hook, and a pair of forceps.

October 27, 2021

Spectacles of the Real: Public Morgues

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Modern

Morgues or mortuaries are used today as storage sites for our corpses, keeping them as fresh as possible until disposal. Less commonly known though is the origins behind the word. The word comes from the French word, morguer, which means “to stare”.   

October 20, 2021

Judging a Book by its Cover: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror

Quite a few medical books exist that are bound in human skin. This makes sense since doctors would have had regular access to skin from deceased patients.

October 9, 2021

Remembering the Merit of Women: Elizabeth Thorn

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Individuals, Series

While the battle raged on around them, many of the women living in Gettysburg in 1863 left their cellars and found ways to courageously serve humanity.

September 30, 2021

The Aftermath of a Mistake: Wrong-Site Surgery

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Modern

Wrong-site, wrong-procedure, wrong-patient surgical mishaps, although infrequent, do still occur in the 21st century.

September 2, 2021

Killer Wallpaper: A Green to Die For

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Object Focus

The Victorians did not shy away from bright colors and patterns in their homes, and they were certainly unaware that some of those home design choices could cost them their lives.

August 9, 2021

The Virginia Quickstep: Diarrhea and Dysentery in the Civil War

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Series

Records are imperfect, and most Confederate records destroyed, it is estimated that 44,500 Union soldiers died of either diarrhea or dysentery.

July 28, 2021

Losing Their Left Legs: The Walker Brothers of North Carolina

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Individuals, Series

What is the likelihood that two brothers would be forced to undergo amputation of their left legs in the same spot just a few weeks apart from one another?

July 24, 2021

The wound That Took 50 Years to Kill Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Individuals, Series

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the infamous college professor turned war hero, helped advance catheterization methods after he was wounded at Petersburg in 1864.

July 19, 2021

Bloomer Suits and a Medal of Honor: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Individuals, Series

Mary Edwards Walker, a progressive woman from New York, managed to kick down barriers throughout her lifetime, and she did so wearing bloomer suits.

July 13, 2021

Dead Except to Pain: Phantom Limb Phenomenon

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Individuals

An estimated 60,000+ amputations occurred over the course of the Civil War, leaving men maimed and forever physically altered. Due to the high levels of amputations that took place in field hospitals across the country, it was during this time that medical professionals began really documenting instances of phantom limb.

July 6, 2021

Remembering Jonathan Letterman

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Individuals

Dr. Letterman’s story, despite his importance to the field of military medicine, has been largely, forgotten. I hope that this post changes that.

June 16, 2021

Serving Wounded Blue and Grey: Pavilion Hospitals in the Civil War

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Series

No one was prepared for the kind of chaos that the war would bring. Medical professionals everywhere were quickly overwhelmed.

May 28, 2021

The Devil with a Cyanide Syringe

Nastassia Foose's avatarPosted by Nastassia Foose in Horror, Individuals

Petiot was arrested in 1944 and admitted to killing at least 60 people.

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