Caroline Rance's Blog, page 9

They’ll never notice

An unusual medical case takes a grisly turn in 1881:

EXTRAORDINARY MEDICAL CASE

A week ago, a man was brought to the hospital at Pesth, where he soon died, from the result of an accident. The usual autopsy took place, when the doctors discovered, to their astonishment, that the internal organs were transposed—heart to the right, liver to the left—a freak of Nature’s? The case was well nigh unique, for although such abnormal dispositions have occurred before the unhappy wretches whom fate th...

A nameless tramp’s discovery

Deep in the piney woods of Louisiana there grow certain herbs. Clean, fresh, green little herbs they are, redolent with the smell of the pines and of the wholesome earth that has given them birth.

Years ago, a nameless tramp discovered that these little herbs contained a marvelous power to relieve kidney and bladder disorders in the human system…

The poetic history of the Hobo Kidney and Bladder Remedy refrains from explaining exactly how the tramp’s revelation occurred. It is nevertheless...

Bailey’s Rubber Complexion Brush

From The Chemist and Druggist Supplement, 25 October 1890

A harmless alternative to the arsenical preparations then in vogue for improving the complexion, Bailey’s rubber brush was intended to improve the circulation, clear the pores and allow the blood to free itself of impurities. Charles J Bailey of Newton, Massachusetts, invented the product in 1887, immediately patenting it in England, France, Canada, Belgium and the US. The brush was flexible with soft, flat ended cylindrical teeth d...

Armbrecht’s Coca Wine

Between now and Christmas (and probably beyond) I’ll be taking a different tack with the Quack Doctor and posting more frequently but more briefly, showing just pics of medical adverts, snippets about strange cases, and occasional photos of health-related objects from the past. For the time being I don’t have the personal resources to give in-depth posts on the story behind each advert, so I thought this would be a good way of keeping the blog up to date. And, let’s face it, short picture...

The Diagraphoscope – a wonder-working machine

Headline for a Diagraphoscope Advert - The El Paso Herald, 4 October 1911

Twentieth-century businessman X. W. Witman saw a lot of potential in X-rays. Doctors might get excited about their emerging medical application, but for him X-rays offered something even better – the chance to get rich quick. If you could X-ray Witman’s head, the plate would display a fine collection of dollar signs.

Adverts puffed his Diagraphoscope as the eighth wonder of the world – a marvellous invention whose for...

Live Lizards Found in Girl’s Stomach

CLEVELAND, O., Dec. 23—.Two live lizards three and a half inches long, several smaller ones, and a number of lizard eggs, were taken from the stomach of Lovel Herman, nineteen, four days before she died. A postmortem examination showed that the wall of the stomach had been attacked by the animals, the doctors say. The heart had enlarged to three times its normal size.

For several years she had been ill, complaining that something was clawing at her stomach. Specialists were puzzled until f...

Live Lizards Found in Girl's Stomach

CLEVELAND, O., Dec. 23—.Two live lizards three and a half inches long, several smaller ones, and a number of lizard eggs, were taken from the stomach of Lovel Herman, nineteen, four days before she died. A postmortem examination showed that the wall of the stomach had been attacked by the animals, the doctors say. The heart had enlarged to three times its normal size.

For several years she had been ill, complaining that something was clawing at her stomach. Specialists were...

The Quack Doctor at Brighton Festival Fringe

If you're in Brighton on 16 May 2012, come along to the Red Roaster Coffee House on St James Street for an evening of unusual tales from eight writers – including The Quack Doctor! Grit Lit runs twice a year and is a great event with a friendly and vibrant atmosphere. It's a showcase for gritty and unromantic short stories, poetry and a smattering of non-fiction. But that doesn't mean relentless doom and gloom – there's always plenty of dark humour.

 

I last read at Grit Lit in ...

Guest Post – Dickens, Holloway and product placement

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I'm pleased to welcome guest blogger Leslie Katz, who has investigated whether Charles Dickens was approached to promote...

A Lyrical Interlude

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'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy' quoted the preface to the 1886 book Lays of the Colleges, being a Collection...