Posted by in Quackery It is not surprising to learn that a wide variety of tests were developed throughout history in order to check if a woman was pregnant or not. Most tests were incredibly inaccurate, such as the Egyptian method of pouring a suspected woman’s urine on bags of wheat and barley. If the plant grew from the…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals Clint Hallam, on 23 September, 1998, became the recipient of the world’s first hand transplant. His original hand had been lost in a violent accident with a circular saw in 1984 while serving a sentence in prison (Hollingham 160). Clint was chosen by physicians to receive the hand transplant after having little success with…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals, Mental Health I came across an interesting story the other day that had sparked a lot of controversy in the medical ethics community and decided to take a moment and share it here with you all. Ashley X, a young girl who was born with a developmental brain condition known as static encephalopathy,(permanent and unchanging brain damage)…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals, Object Focus In the spirit of continuing the recent discussion on John Hunter, let us dive into the complicated tale behind the bodily remains of Mr. Charles Byrne. Charles Byrne, or the “Irish Giant,” as he is often referred to as, was born in 1761 in Derry (McMahon). He suffered from a form of genetic gigantism in…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals Although the eighteenth century London surgeon, John Hunter, has gone down in history for a number of great achievements, his work on collateral circulation is one of my favorite stories to tell. Before we dive in on John’s interaction with a troubled coach driver, let us first discuss look into the background of aneurysm treatment.…Read more »
Posted by in Object Focus, Quackery Since the 1920s, it was not uncommon for women to see advertisements that made large claims about the cleaning agent, Lysol, and it’s ability to prevent failed marriages and unwanted pregnancies. In fact, Lysol has had a lengthy past as an unregulated female douching solution, and between the 1930s and 1960s, it was one of…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals (Photo Credit: “The Man Who Cut Out His Own Appendix.”) In 1961 a group of 12 Russian men were sent on an expedition to Antarctica. Their mission was to build a new base there (Lentati). One of the men on their team was a 27 year old named Leonid Rogozov. He had begun feeling nauseous…Read more »
Posted by in Series (C. 1860 pre-mortem photo of young girl with suspected case of TB. Photo Credit: Beyond the Dark Veil: Post Mortem & Morning Photography.) Tuberculosis makes me think of daguerreotype funeral photos from the mid-1800’s. My personal lack of exposure to the disease has allowed me to become distanced; storing it’s horrors in the archives of…Read more »
Posted by in Series Consumption, the white plague, “TB,” and lung fever are all nicknames for Tuberculosis; an often deadly infectious bacterial disease (Parker 155). It was not until 1882 that Robert Koch was able to identify the microbe that caused TB; Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Parker 155). Tuberculosis most often affects the lungs of a patient because the organism requires…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals According to the science journalist, Robert Alder, blood circulation is a trivial concept in the modern world (Pickover 90). Adults and children alike all understand that blood is pumped throughout the body by the heart in order to supply the tissues with oxygen. Some would be shocked to discover that up until the 17th century,…Read more »
Posted by in Quackery Today we can lay a loved one to rest without worrying whether or not their body will be whisked away under the cover of darkness. This was not the case in the 18th and 19th centuries, which saw an insufficient number of corpses being supplied to medical schools (Parker 118). In 1540, Britain, Henry VIII…Read more »
Posted by in Modern “So, medical history huh? What made you decide to focus on that?” This is a question that seems to come up whenever I meet somebody new. If I’m honest, I typically don’t have a great answer at ready. I end up stumbling around; trying to muster up a super compelling reason behind my life choices.…Read more »
Posted by in Object Focus (Photo Credit: Medicine: The Definitive Illustrated History. Take note of the early stethoscope’s shape) If you have ever been to a medical office, then you’ve most likely seen a stethoscope before. Stethoscopes are important diagnostic tools that allow practicing physicians to listen to your chest with ease. It is hard to believe that a tool used…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals, Quackery (Photo Credit: The Drug Book) Nineteenth century surgeons managed to defeat a major challenger to their practice: pain. The development of anesthesia made it possible for doctors to travel deeper into the human body and take larger risks with invasive surgeries. More complex surgeries meant a higher chance of developing an infection, and unfortunately, that was…Read more »
Posted by in Mental Health, Quackery (Photo Credit: The Medical Book) Trepanning or trepanation is one of the earliest surgical procedures in history. The word trepanation is Greek for trypanon, meaning to drill or bore (Kang 142). In essence, a hole, or a series of holes, would be cut, drilled, or scraped into a patient’s skull using various instruments. Some of these…Read more »
Posted by in Quackery (Photo Credit: Crucial Interventions) According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, roughly 24.4 million Americans aged 40 or older have cataracts (American Academy of Ophthalmology). Cataracts are typically defined as a condition in which the lens of the eye becomes clouded; thus reducing the person’s vision. Some common factors that are known to cause the loss…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals (Photo Credit: Medicine: The Definitive Illustrative History) Gunshot wounds are destructive menaces that tear through flesh and splinter bone. Bullets can drag clothing fragments, skin, and shrapnel deep into the injury and the victim can die from sever hemorrhaging, shock, and infection. It was 1537 and the twenty seven year old Frenchman, Ambroise Paré, had been…Read more »
Posted by in Individuals (Photo Credit: Medicine: The Definitive Illustrated History) You do not have to be an expert in human anatomy in order to understand why an accurate knowledge of it is extraordinarily beneficial. For instance, I would not let a surgeon perform an operation on me if their only mastery of the human body came from their experiments…Read more »
(Photo Credit: Crucial Interventions) Let us begin this conversation with an exercise. Imagine yourself laying on a wooden operating table. The bloody residue from past victims..(er patients) is still visible. A crowd of people are seated around the room and all are eager to witness the upcoming spectacle. An infected compound tibia got you into this…Read more »
Posted by in Reviews (Chronic Rheumatism: Peter Cluckey) The Basics: About a week ago my other half and I set out to Silver Spring, Maryland, in order to see what the National Museum of Health and Medicine had to offer. The first thing we noticed upon arrival was the parking lot! Not having to parallel park along the curbside…Read more »
Antiquated Antidotes 