A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities

by Jan Bondeson

A collection of essays discussing historical medical oddities like spontaneous combustion and tailed people, offering a likely cause for the condition, and mentioning some real human oddities

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Medical, Medicine, Biology, Historical

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Outside of his career in medicine, he has written several nonfiction books on a variety of topics, such as medical anomalies and unsolved murder mysteries.

Bondeson is the biographer of a predecessor of Jack the Ripper, the London Monster, who stabbed fifty women in the buttocks, of Edward 'the Boy' Jones, who stalked Queen Victoria and stole her underwear, and Greyfriars Bobby, a Scottish terrier who supposedly spent 14 years guarding his master's grave.

He is currently working as a senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at the Cardiff University School of Medicine.


(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book was completely different than I expected, it was still very good. This is more a historical narrative than a science book, and although it's a little more in depth than the type of book people normally read for relaxation, the subject matter was interesting enough that I had a hard time putting it down. Each chapter explores a different medical curiosity - spontaneous human combustion, or maternal impressions. It looks more at the historical instances of these claims rather than debunking them or explaining what might have led to those beliefs. Some of the stories are quite heart-felt, such as his description of the lifestyles of some of the "circus freaks" and the indignities that have been done to them even today. It was also really interesting reading about some of the beliefs of famous scientists - ideas of theirs that has not withstood the test of time!

I thought it was a really absorbing book. I would have liked to read a book that explained the science behind the 'curiosities', but I'll take it as it is. I don't recommend it to the general reader but if you enjoy history, especially the history of medicine, I recommend this.

Also, English is not the author's first language but it's not translated, he wrote it in English. Dang!

[Josie Jaffrey]

I read this for Victoriana research. An interesting collection of medical superstitions, but I found it a bit prurient and distasteful in places. In particular, it feels hypocritical of the author to condemn the exhibitors of Julia Pastrana while praising the genius of John Hunter, who deceptively obtained the bones of Charles Byrne after his death against his explicit wishes. It’s well past time that the exhibits of Byrne and Crachami’s skeletons should be properly interred.

[Geophile · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in this book. Unfortunately, I bought it, but it won't be a "keeper" in my library.

Rather than a discussion of the genetics that cause differences in people, the author dwells tediously on legends and old wives tales, such as spontaneous combustion and women that supposedly gave birth to strange things such as rabbits (obviously fraud at the time).

[Eliza Daken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Chassy Cleland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of many old medical conditions through a series of perspectives - folklore, politics, literary reference, documentation (trustworthy or not,) and evolving medical opinion. This combination makes for a very varied reading experience. On the positive side, the book is full of fascinating anecdotes and is very effective at recounting of how understanding of conditions changed between the era of folklore to modern medical science. On the other hand, portions of the book are fairly dry catalog of documentation and literary references.

I definitely recommend the book, particularly if you have a fascination with the morbid, macabre or bizarre. It is also fairly interesting for anyone interested in the history of science, though it can't stand alone on this merit. The structure of the book makes it particularly appropriate if you need something you can pick up and read just a few pages at a time.

[Susan Mazur Stommen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are the best part. I just imagine coming across some of these woodcuts and thinking, WTF?

On Homo Cornutus

"Throughout his long life, Thomas Bartholin kept a sharp lookout for horned human beings...Bartholin's work inspired the German savant Georg Franck to write the earliest treatise entirely devoted to human horns. His thirty-one page Tractatus Phililogico-Medicus de Cornutis, published in Heidelberg in 1676, promised to cover all possible theological, legal, philosophical, historical, mathematical...aspects of horned human beings. It was a worthy review..."

[Nicole Pamelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Case studies of a lot of the "freak show" malformities, or conditions that were prevalent in history and the folklore and cultural beliefs around them. This does get into the genetics a bit, but the majority of each chapter describes famous cases, beliefs of the time, and possible origins for phenomenon like spontaneous combustion, maternal impressions, etc.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it really exhaustive. Didn't just tell about being buried alive, but every instance to ever occur in the lit. My favorite parts were on Julian pastrana and the Hunterian museum

[Randi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a cute book. I love stuff like this and my only regret is that I bought this at Book Fest in Detroit and the dust jacket was missing, so I didn't get to see the cool cover art.

This collection of stories is a mixed bag of legitimate health scares (umm...being buried alive when your fam thought you were dead and spending your last moments on earth trying to scratch your way out of your coffin as you scream, slowly losing oxygen...so glad I live in this century), ridiculously outdated medical advice (if you're a drunkard who fears spontaneous combustion, just have your wife pee in your mouth to extinguish any future flames, k?), and "allegedly true" anecdotes that deserve their own Dr. Phil episode ("Next week on Dr. Phil: A FLORIDA WOMAN BELIEVES SHE GAVE BIRTH TO 17 RABBITS!").

It's a little too exhaustive to be a comfort read, which is what I initially thought it was. But I still really enjoyed it and, as someone who is a big fan of history, I love that it swayed more to the side of quirky historical accounts than actual medicine.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look into medical "conditions" such as "bosom serpents," spontaneous combustion, and "the lousy disease," among others. Bondeson, rather than mocking the origins of medical study, delves into descriptions of sometimes fantastic maladies, citing several historical sources, and examines what these conditions could have been, and how they gradually fell out of medical favor. While he can be very heavily reliant on dense medical terms, for the majority of this book, his language is clear and easily accessible.

[Anna Engel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea that bunny birth, bosom serpents, and maternal impressions were such prevalent beliefs. It's a fascinating book, but I was left feeling not quite satisfied because it was too detailed. Also, I'm amazed at the WEIRD prints the author has in his collection. I would love to see his library and page through his books.

[maris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went into this thinking it would be positioned from a more medical perspective, but quickly found it's more folklore/sideshow and tall tales. I didn't particularly care for it, but the illustrations were interesting.

[Susan Dietz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both fascinating and disturbing in how humans flock to see oddities. The book is extensively researched and is delightful in howBondeson is so knowledgable, he is able to bring literary examples to many of the curiosities he writes about. I learned a great deal while still feeling uncomfortable.

[Zinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and curious, it's definitely an interesting read. The author is unfortunately quite hostile to the reader with a lot of quotes in original language and no translations, and the usage of unnecessarily rare and difficult words.

[Annamarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was definitely entertaining, and the author is clearly writing about topics that fascinate him. The writing style made me a bit batty at times, as he presents the topic, gives a slew of examples, then describes how it was debunked or finally correctly explained. And then he starts all over again. Each segment cycles through at least twice, which made it hard to read (for me, at least.)

However, I enjoyed learning the etymology of "blowing smoke up one's ass", was amazed at how easy it was to pull one over on early physicians, and felt a bit embarrassed for America as we have historically clung to strange beliefs long beyond the rest of the world.

These stories also highlighted the extreme euro-centrism of most commonly discussed medical history. There was very little discussion of how other cultures dealt with these topics, other than being places where some of the more extreme "freaks" came from. Associating a birth defect found in, well, anyone who was not Caucasian was easily ascribed to their being closer to "beasts" and these genetic disorders were happily used to prove various unfounded racial beliefs.

You will, however, be happy to know that spontaneous human combustion has never been substantiated, nor does alcohol consumption increase the flammability of the body. Drink up, and wonder what beliefs we have now will be laughed at in another 100 years.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those weird books that I just wanted to be left alone to gulp down. It starts with a childhood horror of mine, spontaneous combustion, then moves through bosom serpents, giants, premature burial, maternal impressions, tailed people, finally culminating with the sad tale of Julia Pastrana. Well worth reading for the last chapter alone, I found the chapter on tailed people equally fascinating because few of the curiosities described in this book are still real today. The illustrations and engravings are top notch, however, making this well worth borrowing for browsing alone. For those interested in medical curiosities (many now debunked) this is an excellent tour through several common tropes.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Julia Pastrana (gal on the cover) was played up and left for last. The rest, I found it very hard to pass the BS test (military-speak). Not impressed at all.

It's like this guy dug up "stories" of yore because--since they're so archaic--only drawings of such inventions exist. A woman giving birth to 17 rabbits? Another throwing up live toads (who had just eaten a bunch of bugs). Spontaneous combustion due to alcoholism? There are real pictures of spontaneous combustion, and it has nothing to do with alcoholism.

Blech, what bunk.

[KatieDMD · Rating 3 out of 5]

I added this book to my "read" list, even though I didn't finish it. I made a supremely valiant effort, though. I wanted to like it, I really did, wanted to want to read it in its entirety, but there were just so many case histories and time periods and misdirected medical men that it made my head swim and my thoughts wander. Also the author writes in a sort of drily humorous, pedantic way which is not to my tastes. I'll give it three stars for effort, sheer research and potential to be great.

[Sydra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an average book..nothing to exciting...I wanted more and I didn't care to much about the extra info. on when these "curiousities" first appeared in literature (not medical literature). In my opinion the best section was the Julia pastrana section..but that information could have easily been obtained via internet.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you, Jan Bondeson. You risk looking like a weirdo (so many prints in your private collection) to bring us giants, a bearded lady, stomach-dwelling snakes, etc. Repelled and fascinated at the same time; we are no different from the gawkers of yore.

[Cagalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great nonfiction book. It brings to light the horrors of the past. It doesn't sugar coat things. I feel bad for Julia Pastrana and I am grateful that she finally gets a proper burial as any normal human being in 2013. The book is really worth it - especially the part about Julia Pastrana.

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting overview of the stuff of Cabinets of Curiosities.

The work had many very good illustrations which in the copy read were simply washed out and difficult to see. That is a shame because they really could have brought the work more to life.

[Soledad]

Para los morbosos y los sedientos de milagros

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

a woman gives birth to seventeen rabbits! how picturesque! a cow expells 40 puppies! adorable!

[Oscar Illescas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A veces repetitivo, pero siempre fascinante. El autor describe, narra y analiza hechos históricos partiendo desde un punto, que aunque no neutral, es honesto y justo (y eso lo hace mejor).

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Julia Pastrana is worth the price of the book alone. The rest is gravy.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting catalogue of some of the greatest medical mysteries and curiosities of our time. I could not put this book down!

[Bethany Sharon Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful argument to medical folk-lore... showing a factual analysis of some ridiculous stories (for example: the woman who gave birth to dead rabbits). Great read.

[Val Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book documenting a history of the most note-worthy medical anomalies.

[Regina Tabor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting look at birth deformities and the fuss people made over them.