Scientists as guinea pigs.
March 16, 2009 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Exposed!, Historic Health, Medical History
How far would you go to find the answers to a medical mystery?
Would you go as far as Stubbins Ffirth, a 19th century doctor who smeared himself with vomit and other bodily fluids from yellow-fever suffers to prove it wasn’t a contagious disease?
Or tape a sample of radium salts to your arm for 10 hours as Pierre Cuire did in his desire to find out how radiation might help in the treatment of cancer?
Probably not.
Read more about these and other extraordinary scientists who put their lives on the line for the sake of knowledge at New Scientist’s fascinating (and somewhat …read more
The Monday Sidebar…
October 6, 2008 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Exposed!, Extreme, Historic Health, Humor, Medical History, Obesity, Oddities, The Sunday Sidebar
Ready for some more interesting, fascinating, unusual, strange, and even bizarre news…
Pay patients to go to the doctor? – in England, Health Service Managers are looking at ways to get people in unhealthy people in the lower social economic rankings to visit the doctor. The thinking is that if you can get people to the doctor earlier, before chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease set in, the government health system would save money. It makes sort of makes sense. But the idea is getting flack from politicans and medical experts alike who say that the government shouldn’t be …read more
Medical Museums, U.S.A.
July 25, 2008 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Exposed!, Extreme, Historic Health, Medical History, Misc., Oddities
From stomach sized hairballs to a giant hamster wheel for energetic patients, medical museums offer a chance to explore medicines colorful history and discover the bizarre, the offbeat, and the extreme treatments of days gone by.
So if you’re on the road this summer and don’t mind a little ’shock and gore’, stop by a medical museum or two. You’ll be amazed (and relieved) by how far the practice of medicine has come.
Here’s four medical museums definitely worth visiting:
The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia was orginally established as a place for trainee doctors to go and learn about anatomy and human anomalies. …read more
