After the guns ceased and the dust settled, one of the only triumphs that remained was the expansion of the medical field’s abity to treat the sick and wounded. The knowledge hat was gained in those years of hardship would continue to influence how people are treated today.
Tag: Medicine
The Unlucky Pustule: Small Pox Inoculations and Syphillis
Posted by in Horror, Quackery, Victorians Despite some unexpected side-effects, the overall success of vaccinations throught the war led to more widespread acceptance of inoculation by the general public in the following years.
Lili’s Right to Life: The Birth of Lili Elbe
Posted by in Individuals, Mental Health, Modern Lili Elbe, born as Einar Wegener, became one of the first people to undergo experimental gender reassignment surgery
Goat Testicles for Virility: John R. Brinkley
Posted by 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
Surgery Without Anesthesia: Babies Can’t Feel Pain?
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.
Images from the Dissection Room
Posted by 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.
The Colorado Brown Stain: Fluorosis
Posted by in Individuals, Modern Let’s talk about how the brown stains on the teeth of Colorado Springs residents helped reform cavity prevention.
Performing a Cesarean Section on His Own Wife: Dr. Jesse Bennett
Posted by 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.
Spectacles of the Real: Public Morgues
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”.
Judging a Book by its Cover: Anthropodermic Bibliopegy
Posted by 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.
The Aftermath of a Mistake: Wrong-Site Surgery
Posted by in Modern Wrong-site, wrong-procedure, wrong-patient surgical mishaps, although infrequent, do still occur in the 21st century.
The Virginia Quickstep: Diarrhea and Dysentery in the Civil War
Records are imperfect, and most Confederate records destroyed, it is estimated that 44,500 Union soldiers died of either diarrhea or dysentery.
Losing Their Left Legs: The Walker Brothers of North Carolina
Posted by 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?
The wound That Took 50 Years to Kill Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
Posted by 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.
Bloomer Suits and a Medal of Honor: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker
Posted by 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.
The Devil with a Cyanide Syringe
Posted by in Horror, Individuals Petiot was arrested in 1944 and admitted to killing at least 60 people.
Doctor H.H. Holmes: The Owner of Hell’s Hotel
Posted by in Horror, Individuals “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing.”
Medical Mishaps: Retained Surgical Items
Even with modern counting methods and technologies used to keep track of tools, retained surgical items (RSI) are a unique surgical complication that still occurs, although rarely, to this day.
Balanced Healing: Native American Medicine
Posted by in Modern Native American medicine represents a harmonious mixture of physical remedies and spirituality which, when used in conjunction, were thought to develop a well-balanced method of healing. Although customs varied across nations, Native American medicine took much of it’s influence from the natural world and has had a lasting impact on the field of modern medicine.
The Ugly Impact of Paraffin Wax
Paraffin wax was commonly used in breast augmentations, as a wrinkle filler, and for nose jobs. Unfortunately, the people who got paraffin wax injections were often left with much more to worry about than the shape of their noses.
Antiquated Antidotes 