The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities From the History of Medicine
Page 27
Polydore Vergil (trans. Thomas Langley), The Works of the Famous Antiquary, Polidore Virgil, Containing the Original of all Arts, Sciences, Mysteries, Orders, Rites, and Ceremonies, both Ecclesiastical and Civil: a Work Useful for all Divines, Historians, Lawyers, and all Artificers (London: printed for Simon Miller, 1663), 59.
David Ramsey, An Eulogium upon Benjamin Rush, M.D., Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine and of Clinical Practice in the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Bradford & Inskeep, 1813), 39.
Nicholas Culpeper, Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, or, the London Dispensatory (London: Sawbridge, 1683), 76–77.
DEATH OF AN EARL
Kenneth Dewhurst, “Some letters of Dr. Charles Goodall (1642–1712) to Locke, Slone, and Sir Thomas Millington,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 17, no. 4 (1962), 487–508.
“Anecdota Bodleiana: Unpublished Fragments from the Bodleian,” Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal 10, no. 5 (1846), 54–55.
THE TOBACCO-SMOKE ENEMA
Samuel Auguste David Tissot (ed. John Wesley), Advices, with Respect to Health. Extracted from a Late Author (Bristol: W. Pine, 1769), 150–153.
SALIVA AND CROW’S VOMIT
V. L. Brera, “On the exhibition of remedies externally by frictions with saliva,” Annals of Medicine 3 (1799), 190–193.
Salvatore de Renzi, Storia della Medicina Italiana (5 vols; Naples: Filiatre-Sebezio, 1847) 5: 654–655.
THE PIGEON’S-RUMP CURE
Carl Canstatt, Handbuch der medicinischen Klinik (5 vols; Erlangen: Ferdinand Enke, 1843), 3: 390.
“Ein sonderbares Mittel gegen die Eklampsie der Kinder,” Journal für Kinderkrankheiten 16, nos. 1-2 (1851), 159–160.
J. F. Weisse, “Ein Beitrag zu Dr. Blik’s Mittheilung über Taubensteisskur gegen Eklampsie der Kinder,” Journal für Kinderkrankheiten 16, nos. 3-4 (1851), 381–383.
“Review XII,” British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review 22 (1858), 112–128.
MERCURY CIGARETTES
“Digest of the journals,” London Journal of Medicine 3, no. 33 (1851), 840–849.
W. E. Bowman, “Medicated cigarettes,” Canada Lancet 1, no. 3 (1863), 19.
THE TAPEWORM TRAP
“Editorial correspondence,” Medical and Surgical Reporter 9, no. 9 (1856), 430–433.
Alpheus Myers, “Tape-worm Trap,” US Patent no. 11942, 1854.
A. G. Wilkinson, “The tape-worm, and kousso as an anthelmintic,” Medical and Surgical Reporter 8, no 4 (1862), 82–86.
THE PORT-WINE ENEMA
H. Llewellyn Williams, “Port wine enemata as a substitute for transfusion of blood in cases of post partum haemorrhage,” British Medical Journal 1, no. 88 (1858), 739.
THE SNAKE-DUNG SALESMAN
John Hastings, An Inquiry into the Medicinal Value of the Excreta of Reptiles (London: Longman, 1862).
“Reviews and notices,” British Medical Journal 1, no. 63 (1862), 284–286.
“Reviews and notices of books,” Lancet 79, no. 2012 (1862), 305–307.
“Court of Queen’s Bench: Ex parte Hastings,” Justice of the Peace 26, no. 20 (1862), 310.
4. HORRIFYING OPERATIONS
Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 86.
Lorenz Heister, A General System of Surgery in Three Parts (London: printed for W. Innys, 1750), 24.
THE CASE OF THE DRUNKEN DUTCHMAN’S GUTS
William Bray (ed.), The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, FRS (4 vols; London: Bell and Daldy, 1870), 1: 29–30.
Daniel Lakin, A Miraculous Cure of the Prusian Swallow-Knife (London: I. Okes, 1642).
Thomas Barnes, “Account of William Dempster, who swallowed a table-knife nine inches long; with a notice of a similar case in a Prussian knife-eater,” Edinburgh Philosophical Journal 11, no. 22 (1824), 319–326.
William Oliver, “A letter from Dr. William Oliver to the publisher, giving his remarks in a late journey into Denmark and Holland,” Philosophical Transactions 23 (1703), 1400–1410.
IF YOU CAN’T FIND A SURGEON . . .
Rev. Dean Copping, FRS, “Extracts of two letters from the Revd Dean Copping, FRS to the President, concerning the caesarian operation performed by an ignorant butcher; and concerning the extraordinary skeleton mentioned in the foregoing article,” Philosophical Transactions 41 (1740), 814–819.
THE SELF-INFLICTED LITHOTRIPSY
V. Rogozov and N. Bermel, “Auto-appendectomy in the Antarctic: case report,” BMJ 339 (2009), b4965.
Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, “Martin, Claude,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/63526.
Samuel Charles Hill, The Life of Claud Martin, Major-General in the Army of the Honourable East India Company (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1901), 147.
“Col. Martin on destroying the stone in the bladder,” Medical and Physical Journal 1, no. 2 (1799), 120–124.
A HIGH PAIN THRESHOLD
Dickinson Crompton, “Reminiscences of provincial surgery under somewhat exceptional circumstances,” Guy’s Hospital Reports 44 (1887), 137–166.
A WINDOW IN HIS CHEST
Chevalier Richerand, “Case of excision of a portion of the ribs, and also of the pleura,” Medico-Chirurgical Journal 1, no. 2 (1818), 184–186.
“Histoire d’une résection des côtes et de la pléure,” Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal 14, no. 57 (1818), 647–652.
THE SAD CASE OF HOO LOO
“The Chinese peasant Hoo Loo: his removal to England; operation performed on him at Guy’s Hospital; remarks on the operation by Mr. W. Simpson, and by J. M. Titley, M.D.,” Chinese Repository 3, no. 11 (1835), 489–496.
“Guy’s Hospital,” Lancet 16, no. 398 (1831), 86–89.
W. Simpson, “The operation on Hoo Loo,” Lancet 16, no. 399 (1831), 110–111.
ALL AT SEA
Alexander Starbuck, History of the American Whale Fishery from its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1878), 466.
“Extraordinary operation on the subclavian vein, by a ship’s mate; recovery,” Scalpel 6, no 21 (1853), 311–313.
AN EXTRAORDINARY SURGICAL OPERATION
“Extraordinary surgical operation,” Medical and Surgical Reporter 11, no. 1 (1858), 25–28.
“Editor’s table,” San Francisco Medical Press 3, no. 12 (1862), 226–243.
5. REMARKABLE RECOVERIES
William Maiden, An Account of a Case of Recovery after an Extraordinary Accident, by Which the Shaft of a Chaise Had Been Forced through the Thorax (London: T. Bayley, 1812).
THE WANDERING MUSKET BALL
Robert Fielding, “A brief narrative of the shot of Dr. Robert Fielding with a musket-bullet, and its strange manner of coming out of his head, where it had lain near thirty years. Written by himself,” Philosophical Transactions 26, no. 320 (1708), 317–319.
THE MILLER’S TALE
John Belchier, “An account of the man whose arm with the shoulder-blade was torn off by a mill, the 15th of August 1737,” Philosophical Transactions 40, no. 449 (1738), 313–316.
IN ONE SIDE AND OUT THE OTHER
Henry Yates Carter, “Case of a gun-shot wound of the head,” Medical Facts and Observations 6 (1795), 91–95.
A BAYONET THROUGH THE HEAD
Jean Baptiste Barthélemy, Notice Biographique du Docteur Urbain Fardeau (Paris: Édouard Bautruche, 1846).
Urbain-Jean Fardeau, “Observation sur une plaie de tête faite par une bayonette lancée par un boulet,” Journal Général de Médecine, de Chirugie et de Pharmacie 35 (1809), 287–291.
AN INTERESTING AND REMARKABLE ACCIDENT
[Editorial], Medical News 49 (1886), 600.
Roswell Park, “Fracture of the
atlas: separation of a fragment and its subsequent extrusion through the mouth,” Buffalo Medical Journal 68, no. 6 (1913), 312–313.
Eugene Mindell, “James Platt White, MD (1811–1881): his interesting and remarkable accident,” Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 430 (2005), 227–231.
THE LUCKY PRUSSIAN
J. M. Chelius (trans. J. F. South), A System of Surgery (3 vols.; Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1847), 1: 485–487.
George Guthrie, On Wounds and Injuries of the Chest (London: Henry Renshaw and John Churchill, 1848), 103.
A CASE FOR DR. COFFIN
E. Q. Sewell, “Lateral transfixture of the chest by a scythe blade, followed by complete recovery, with remarks,” British American Journal of Medical and Physical Science 4, no. 10 (1849), 270–272.
THE HEALING POWER OF NATURE
Edward Daniell, “Extraordinary case of gun-shot wound, where the charge passed from the navel to the back, without fatal consequences,” Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal 8, no. 24 (1844), 367–368.
SEVERED, REPLACED, REUNITED
W. Mortimer Brown, “Severe and extensive injury to the brain followed by recovery,” New Jersey Medical Reporter 5, no. 10 (1852), 371–372.
GIVE THAT MAN A MEDAL
W. M. Chamberlain, “Remarkable recovery from gunshot, sabre, bayonet, and shell wounds,” Medical Record 10 (1875), 685.
“The courts: Making a false pension claim,” New York Daily Herald, March 6, 1867, 4.
“Personated a dead man,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 22, 1890, 18.
A BIT OF A HEADACHE
“Singulier cas de suicide: un poignard dans le crâne produisant une plaie de cerveau sans symptômes,” Journal de Médecine et de Chirurgie Pratiques 52 (1881), 366–367.
6. TALL TALES
Alexander Munro (primus), “The preface,” Medical Essays and Observations 1 (1733), i-xxiv.
William Pickells, “Case of a young woman, who has discharged, and continues to discharge, from her stomach, a number of insects, in different stages of their existence,” Transactions of the Association of Fellows and Licentiates of the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland 4 (1824), 189–221.
SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES
Rowland Jackson, A Physical Dissertation on Drowning (London: Jacob Robinson, 1746), 10–16.
DEATH OF A 152-YEAR-OLD
John Taylor, The Old, Old, Very Old Man (London: Henry Goffon, 1635).
Robert Willis (ed.), The Works of William Harvey (London: Sydenham Society, 1847), 589–592.
Keith Thomas, “Parr, Thomas,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/21403.
THE COMBUSTIBLE COUNTESS
Paul Rolli, “An extract, by Mr. Paul Rolli FRS of an Italian treatise, written by the Reverend Joseph Bianchini, a prebend in the city of Verona; upon the death of the countess Cornelia Zangári & Bandi, of Ceséna. To which are subjoined accounts of the death of Jo. Hitchell, who was burned to death by lightning; and of Grace Pett at Ipswich, whose body was consumed to a Coal,” Philosophical Transactions 43, no. 476 (1744), 447–465.
HE SLICED HIS PENIS IN TWO
François Chopart, Traité des Maladies des Voies Urinaires (2 vols; Paris: Rémont et fils, 1821), 2: 114–118, translated in Alfred Poulet, A Treatise on Foreign Bodies in Surgical Practice (2 vols; London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1881), 2: 105–107.
HALF MAN, HALF SNAKE
“Robert H. Copeland,” Southern Medical and Surgical Journal 3, no. 6 (1839), 381–382.
THE HUMAN WAXWORK
“Extraordinary case of adipocere,” Western Medical Reformer 6, no. 11 (1847), 238.
“Human fat candles and soap,” Scientific American 8, no. 7 (1852), 56.
THE SLUGS AND THE PORCUPINE
David Dickman, “Can the garden slug live in the human stomach?” Lancet 74, no. 1883 (1859), 337.
J. C. Dalton, “Experimental investigations to determine whether the garden slug can live in the human stomach,” American Journal of the Medical Sciences 49, no. 97 (1865), 334–338.
THE AMPHIBIOUS INFANT
“Fish, frog or human!,” Northern Ohio Journal 2, no 39 (April 2, 1873), 1.
“An amphibious infant,” Medical Notes and Queries 1, no. 1 (1873), 7.
THE SEVENTY-YEAR-OLD MOTHER-TO-BE
“Variétés,” Journal de Médecine de Paris 1, no. 26 (1881), 715.
7. HIDDEN DANGERS
“Impaired voice, in clergymen,” Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 20, no. 7 (1839), 112–113.
A SURFEIT OF CUCUMBERS
William Perfect, “Appearances on opening the body of a woman, who died the beginning of August 1762, after eating a large quantity of cucumbers,” Medical Museum 1 (1781), 212–213.
THE PERILS OF BEING A WRITER
J. S. Jenkins, “Dr. Samuel Auguste Tissot,” Journal of Medical Biography 7, no. 4 (1999), 187–191.
Samuel Auguste David Tissot, An Essay on Diseases Incident to Literary and Sedentary Persons (London: J. Nourse, 1769).
WHY CHILDREN SHOULD NEVER WEAR HATS
Bernhard Christoph Faust (trans. J. H. Basse), Catechism of Health, for the Use of Schools, and for Domestic Instruction (London: C. Dilly, 1794), 37–46.
KILLED BY HIS FALSE TEETH
W. G. Carpenter, “Case of fatal pleuritis, apparently the effect of the presence in the right pleura of a piece of ivory, consisting of four artificial teeth, which had been swallowed thirteen years before,” Guy’s Hospital Reports 7 (1842), 353–358.
PEGGED OUT
Robert B. Carter, “Cases in practice,” Ophthalmic Review 1 (1865), 335–343.
THE CAST-IRON STOVE PANIC
“Medical annotations,” Lancet 91, no. 2324 (1868), 354–358.
A. J. Morin, “Mémoire sur l’insalubrité des poêles en fonte ou en fer exposés à atteindre la température rouge,” Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences de l’Institut de France 38 (1873), 23–90.
BROLLY PAINFUL
“Transactions of societies,” Medical Press and Circular 15 (1873), 249–259.
A FLAMING NUISANCE
“Clinical memoranda,” British Medical Journal 1, no. 1311 (1886), 294–296.
R. Scott Orr, “Cases of inflammable expired air,” British Medical Journal 1, no. 1313 (1886), 421.
James McNaught, “A case of dilatation of the stomach accompanied by the eructation of inflammable gas,” British Medical Journal 1, no. 1522 (1890), 470–472.
Archibald H. Galley, “Combustible gases generated in the alimentary tract and other hollow viscera and their relationship to explosions occurring during anaesthesia,” British Journal of Anaesthesia 26, no. 3 (1954), 189–193.
CYCLING WILL GIVE YOU HEART DISEASE
George Herschell, “On cycling as a cause of heart disease,” in Zsigmond Gerlóczy (ed.), Jelentés az 1894. Szeptember hó 1-töl 9-ig Budapesten Tartott VIII-ik Nemzetközi Közegészségi és Demografiai Congressusról és Annak Tudományos Munkálatairól (Vol 6; Budapest: Pesti Könyvnyomda-Részvénytársaság, 1896), 9–17.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful thanks to Stephen Morrow at Dutton for his astute and careful work on the manuscript, which turned this labor into a pleasure. And to my agent, Patrick Walsh, whose enthusiasm and energy got the project off the ground. Rohin Francis, Andrea Sella, Hugh Devlin, and Stéphane Burtey offered obscure diagnoses and other specialist expertise, which was much appreciated—as did my wife, Jenny, who endures my queries with heroic forbearance. Thanks to all of you.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to f
ind the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Académie des Sciences (Paris), 67–68, 88–89, 314–317
adipocere, 271–273
“almonds of the ear,” 199
anal fistula, 4
antimony, 104, 232, 307, 319
antiphlogistic, 27
anus, 30, 317
fork up the, 2–5
insects discharged from, 242–245
of pigeon, used to treat convulsions in children, 117–123
tobacco smoke blown up the, 108–113
aorta, 133, 142, 162, 183, 188, 193, 222
apoplexy, see stroke
appendectomy, performed by patient on own body, 155–156
arsenic, 100, 125–126
asses’ milk, 34
atlas vertebra, fracture of, 214–218
ax, wielded by “strong and angry man,” 231–232
Barloeus, Gaspar, 297
bayonet, through head, 211–214
baby-farmers, 95–96
Bagne of Brest, 42–43
Beatson, Sir George, 320–321
Beckher, Daniel, 144
belches, exploding, 320–325
Bernard, Claude, 125, 317
Betteridge’s Law, 274
Bianchini, Giuseppe, 255–259
bioluminescence, 91
bladder stone, 54–56, 142, 156–160, 189, 265
bleeding, see bloodletting
blister, 105
blood,* xi, 21, 23, 24, 27, 40, 43
bloodletting, xi, xii, 39, 99–100, 104, 110, 128, 196, 294, 307
Blundell, James, 134, 178
boa constrictor, 137–138
bosom serpents, 277
bottle, penis trapped in, 37–42
bowels, see intestines
bowels of a sheep, used as resuscitation method, 107
bowls (game), 101–103
Boyle, Robert, 94, 110
Brera, Valeriano, 114–117
Brest, 42–43
Browne, Sir Thomas, Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, 314
brush, inserted in own urethra by painter, 259
Bulwer, John, Anthropometamorphosis, 272
Burow, Karl Augustus, 35–37