And Other Curiosities from the History of Medicine
hardcover, 368 pages
English language
Published Nov. 20, 2018 by Dutton.
A mysterious epidemic of dental explosions, A teenage boy who got his wick stuck in a candlestick A remarkable woman who, like a human fountain, spurted urine from virtually every orifice
These are just a few of the anecdotal gems that have until now lain undiscovered in medical journals for centuries. This fascinating collection of historical curiosities explores some of the strangest cases that have perplexed doctors across the world.
From seventeenth-century Holland to Tsarist Russia, from rural Canada to a whaler in the Pacific, many are monuments to human stupidity – such as the sailor who swallowed dozens of penknives to amuse his shipmates, or the chemistry student who in 1850 arrived at a hospital in New York with his penis trapped inside a bottle, having unwisely decided to relieve himself into a vessel containing highly reactive potassium. Others demonstrate exceptional surgical ingenuity long before the advent of anaesthesia …
A mysterious epidemic of dental explosions, A teenage boy who got his wick stuck in a candlestick A remarkable woman who, like a human fountain, spurted urine from virtually every orifice
These are just a few of the anecdotal gems that have until now lain undiscovered in medical journals for centuries. This fascinating collection of historical curiosities explores some of the strangest cases that have perplexed doctors across the world.
From seventeenth-century Holland to Tsarist Russia, from rural Canada to a whaler in the Pacific, many are monuments to human stupidity – such as the sailor who swallowed dozens of penknives to amuse his shipmates, or the chemistry student who in 1850 arrived at a hospital in New York with his penis trapped inside a bottle, having unwisely decided to relieve himself into a vessel containing highly reactive potassium. Others demonstrate exceptional surgical ingenuity long before the advent of anaesthesia – such as a daring nineteenth-century operation to remove a metal fragment from beneath a conscious patient’s heart. We also hear of the weird, often hilarious remedies employed by physicians of yore – from crow’s vomit to port-wine enemas – the hazards of such everyday objects as cucumbers and false teeth, and miraculous recovery from apparently terminal injuries.
Holy crap. This book reaffirmed my gratitude for modern medicine.
I don't reccomend this for the squeamish. Personally, I could not listen to this book while eating.
I could tell from the title that it was going to be humorous. The medicine discussed is from 100 and more years ago, and this results in humorously bad ideas, and frighteningly unsterile and painful techniques! People should have learned that the success of an individual technique did NOT necessarily imply the overall efficaciousness of said technique in all cases. I am so happy that science – and medicine – have improved greatly since then! It is still the case that sometimes doctors can say "I'm not sure WHY it works, but it does", but fortunately that attitude is not the ruling one in most cases. It is inconceivable that the idea of "the for humors" was popular as long as it was!
The litany of cases is truly interesting, and some of the successes go to show how resilient is the human body! Of course, the resilience of imagination …
I could tell from the title that it was going to be humorous. The medicine discussed is from 100 and more years ago, and this results in humorously bad ideas, and frighteningly unsterile and painful techniques! People should have learned that the success of an individual technique did NOT necessarily imply the overall efficaciousness of said technique in all cases. I am so happy that science – and medicine – have improved greatly since then! It is still the case that sometimes doctors can say "I'm not sure WHY it works, but it does", but fortunately that attitude is not the ruling one in most cases. It is inconceivable that the idea of "the for humors" was popular as long as it was!
The litany of cases is truly interesting, and some of the successes go to show how resilient is the human body! Of course, the resilience of imagination is also pointed out :-)
