332 Items Tagged

Medicine

Railway company publications warned about hazards at work.

Railyards Were Once So Dangerous They Needed Their Own Railway Surgeons

Feet, hands, and lives were at risk.

Sarah Laskow July 25, 2018

Wax Museum of Andreas Syggros

A grotesque collection of wax limbs depicting the symptoms of venereal disease.

Inside La Botica Salcobrand.

Valparaiso, Chile

Botica Salcobrand

Buying your medicine at this particular pharmacy is like taking a trip back in time.

Temple of Vaccinia.

Berkeley, England

Temple of Vaccinia

The "father of immunology" used this humble hut to offer the local people some of the world's first free vaccinations.

Dr. Sobi Maya Tamang with a patient in a remote village in the Himalayas.

The Doctor Making House Calls in the Himalayas

Dr. Sobi Maya Tamang makes the trek to care for aging Gurkhas, a group of Nepali soldiers recruited by the British Army.

Kira Zalan May 10, 2018

The culture sits on plush velvet.

objects of intrigue

The Moldy Medallions That Preserve Penicillin's Past

Alexander Fleming, the researcher who discovered it, started culturing commemorative keepsakes.

Jessica Leigh Hester May 10, 2018

The image may evoke watercolors, but it actually references a deadly bacteria.

objects of intrigue

The Geekiest Cuff Links of 1900 Featured Little Images of Plague Bacteria

No one knows who made them or why.

Jessica Leigh Hester May 2, 2018

La, la, la, la...also spring fever.

How to Tell If You Have Spring Fever

Symptoms include: listlessness and energy, laziness and glee.

Sarah Laskow May 1, 2018

Food was airdropped in April, ending the hunger winter.

How Famine Under the Nazis Revealed the Cause of Celiac Disease

A food shortage helped one doctor prove his theory.

Anne Ewbank March 29, 2018

X-ray images can reveal traces of the ancient medical text written on the parchment that's now covered by hymns.

Deciphering an Ancient Medical Text With the Help of X-Rays

It was hidden under an 11th-century manuscript full of hymns.

Jessica Leigh Hester March 28, 2018

Turpentine was supposed to be good for lungs and chest ailments.

The Long, Strange History of Medicinal Turpentine

Drinking it was thought to cure nearly everything. (But you shouldn't try it.)

Anne Ewbank March 26, 2018

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Apothecary Hall

An old drug store full of mortars and pestles, pill-making machines, and medicines reputed to cure most any illness.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Nervous System of 'Harriet Cole'

This meticulously extracted nervous system allegedly came from a 19th-century custodian who donated her body to science.

Spruce Beer

This Christmas tree elixir kept Vikings and Captain Cook alive.

Sandro Botticelli's <em>The Birth of Venus</em>.

Found: The Earliest Depiction of Breast Cancer, in Renaissance Paintings

The disease may have been relatively common in the 16th century.

Vittoria Traverso February 28, 2018

Ulrich Pinder's 1506 urine chart.

What a Chart of Urine Tells Us About the History of Color Printing

A 1506 medical text included a diagnostic guide, but it was best used with caution.

Sarah Laskow February 27, 2018

Therapeutic bathing in 1571 (although this was likely plain water—not soup broth).

The Hidden History of Bathing in Soup Broth

Doctors and folk practitioners alike swore by its healing properties.

Susanna Forrest February 26, 2018

A mysterious illness killed princesses and sailors alike.

How Killer Rice Crippled Tokyo and the Japanese Navy

One stubborn doctor pioneered a cure.

Anne Ewbank February 22, 2018