Posted by in Individuals, Quackery Those who survived the perilous journey westward faced towns that offered little relief, where injury and illness were frequent and unrelenting. In such places, doctors were more often viewed as agents of pain, sought only when a person was on the brink of death.
Posted by in Object Focus, Quackery The ‘oil’ he sold contained no actual snake oil; instead, it was a concoction of ineffective ingredients, offering no real health benefits.
The life of a pirate was a difficult one. Violence, loneliness, sickness, and exhaustion just came with the territory. Ships did what they could to keep their crews healthy, but the task proved challenging.
The first milk transfusion was done on a 40-year old patient who was given an injection of 12 ounces.
Posted by in Quackery Wouldn’t it really be something though to cure your aches and pains by eating french fries with a side of ketchup?
Posted by in Horror, Individuals, Object Focus He discovered that the legs of dead frogs would twitch and flop about when electricity was applied.
Today, parents dread the period of teething because it brings with it a fussy baby, but at least our understanding of infant health has developed enough over the past decades that we reach for a cold teether rather than a blade.
Posted by in Modern, Object Focus The bone is stretched a small amount each day until the desired height is reached, then the bone is allowed to fuse back together.
Posted by in Individuals, Object Focus, Quackery George Scott was an English businessman who had no formal medical training whatsoever, yet he made a killing off of several “medical” devices he had invented for home use.
Posted by in Modern Some people are simply set on achieving that perfect tan-but at what cost?
Posted by in Individuals, Modern Although argyria is not thought to be fatal, it does have severe cosmetic impacts that can affect a person emotionally and socially.
The Romans believed that the blood of the young men slain violently in the gladiatorial games had the ability to cure diseases such as epilepsy.
This since abandoned “cure” involved taking a long soak, but their experience was nothing like a trip to the spa. In fact, I imagine the whole ordeal was rather hot, foul-smelling, and gut-churning.
Posted by in Horror, Object Focus During the late 18th century, the chainsaw was utilized by doctors during complicated childbirths.
Posted by in Horror, Quackery, Victorians Victorian ladies found themselves using eye drops containing a rather poisonous ingredient.
Posted by in Object Focus, Victorians The most interesting thing about the myth of tear catchers is that it is totally believable considering that mourning was an outward artistic social expression to the Victorians.
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
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.
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”.
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.
Antiquated Antidotes 