56 Strange Medical Practices In History
By | March 2, 2019
In The 1950s You Could Buy Cigarettes In The Hospital, Somehow This Idea Didn't Stick
Medicine and medical practices are constantly being updated. There’s always a better way to perform an operation that’s safer, and that gets the job done with less pain. However, many attempts at medical science from the 19th and early 20th centuries look pretty crazy when you compare them to the medical instruments and practices that we have today.
If you’ve always wanted to know what it was like to get a blood transfusion in the 1970s, or how electroshock therapy works, we’ve got some amazing photos and killer facts for you. You’ll definitely want to tell your friends about this one. Read on!
As absurd as it may seem in this day and age, someone recovering in the hospital in the 1950s was able to buy a pack of cigarettes and light up while they rested following an operation. Imagine, you just had open heart surgery and the first thing you do is light up your favorite brand of unfiltered cigarette. Was it healthy? No way. But at the time it was totally normal.
Dana Siegal, a former nurse told Stat News:
It’s absolutely absurd to think there was a time when we actually smoked at the nurses station, sold cigarettes to patients, or bummed a smoke off of patients.
English Children From 1942 Wearing Their Gas Masks
Life in England during World War II was no treat. The German army was bombing the country on a consistent basis and firefights wee breaking out in France, which is pretty close to the homeland. In order protect the people of England against possible gas attacks by Germany, gas masks were given out by the English government, and colorful gas mask known as the “Mickey Mouse” mask was handed out to children.
Children as young as toddlers were taught how to apply their gas masks, and in order to normalize the wearing of these creepy masks parents began making a game of wearing the masks and letting them wear the face coverings on a regular basis.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Amputation But Were Too Afraid To Ask
You never know when you need to amputate an arm or a leg. Maybe you’re stuck in a zombie attack or you’ve just run afoul of a nasty musket attack - whatever the case you need to know how to remove a limb correctly. This “Gentleman’s Guide To Amputation” shows you just how to not only chop off a limb, but how to do it accurately and with as little fuss as possible.
When you think about it, chopping off someone’s arm is the easy part. What you really need to learn how to do is tie the limb off so your pal doesn’t bleed to death - and that’s exactly what this shows you how to do.
Dentists Who Used High Speed Drills In The 1800s Were Powering The Tool With Their Foot
If you were in need of dental work in the 19th century you were lucky if your orthodontist used a high powered drill on your cavity. Prior to widespread electricity, dentists using these drills operated them with a foot pedal that controlled the speed of the tool, meaning that if your dentist had a heavy foot then he probably burned a hole in your tooth.
Prior these drills coming into fashion dentists either used hand-cranked or wind-up drills that were even less trustworthy than their foot powered counterparts. When you think about the kind of drills that were being used before it's clear that we've really come quite a long way.
In the 19th Century One Of The Main Ingredients Of Coca-Cola Was Cocaine
If you’re like me, a couple of sips of Coca-Cola gets you hyped enough as it is, but can you imagine if this caffeinated favorite still contained cocaine the way it did in 1886? Keep in mind, cocaine wasn’t illegal until 1914, so it wasn’t crazy or even unethical for the drug to be placed in the sugary drink. In fact, when Coca-Cola took our wine and replaced it with sugar people were excited.
Cocaine was removed from the recipe in 1903 after a wave of anti-narcotics legislation, and the taste moved closer to the “classic” recipe that you know and love.
In 1910 You Could Take An Electric Bath To Cure What Ails You
Electrotherapy may sound more like a form of torture than anything else, but in the early 19th century many doctors believed that they could people by focusing electrical energy on sections of someone’s body with an injury. There are plenty of stories from history where scientists try to infuse medical treatments with electricity and things go wrong, but electric bath technology actually works
Even if you’re not suffering from muscle and back pain, which you probably are if you’re over the age of 30, electric baths are soothing, and they help ease the pain of rheumatism as well as arthritis. The next time you get the opportunity to take an electronic bath maybe don’t wear a three piece suit.
This 1937 Version Of The Iron Lung Helped Treat Children Afflicted With Polio Before The Advent Of The Vaccination
Polio is a horrible infectious disease that rendered everyone who was afflicted unable to move. Usually this weakness affected the legs of the distressed and most people survived, but a small percentage of people who suffered from polio died. Prior to the advent of the polio vaccination, the most memorable medical invention created to help ease the pain of a polio victim is the iron lung.
The iron lung essentially does what it sounds like and acts as an artificial respirator for people who are unable to breathe due to infection. This invention saved many children, although a small percentage of them passed away from infection.
In The Victorian Era, Toddlers Drank From Baby Bottles, Called Murder Bottles Due To Their Frightening Reputation
A murder bottle may not sound like something that you’d want to give to your child, but in the Victorian era they were all the rage. These bottles served the same purpose as baby bottles do now, except they carried a large amount of bacteria in their long rubber hoses which proved difficult to clean. This unfortunate side effect lead to an increase of the child mortality rate.
These bottles were the undoing of so many children that in 1887 they were outlawed in Buffalo and cities across the country followed suit. They remained in fashion until the 1920s when safer products made their way into stores.
Need Your Blood Purified? Why Not Try Dr. Kilmer’s Female Remedy?
No, this isn’t a drink that can cure you of your problems with females, but rather an elixir that’s specifically mixed to help women with their constitutions. This one dollar bottle of herbal remedy promises to act as a blood purifier and a system regulator, however it’s unclear just how this bottle of mystery ingredients can cure what ails someone.
If you checked the medicine cabinet of any home in the 19th century you’d likely find a bottle of this stuff or something similar, But by 1906 these remedies were on their way out thanks to the National Food and Drug Act.
This Women Does Her Due Diligence And Wears A Flu Mask During The Flu Epidemic Following World War I in 1919
Today, when there’s a flu outbreak you either pop into your nearest pharmacy and grab a flu shot or you keep downing Vitamin C and hope for the best. However, you couldn’t just get a flu shot in 1919. Not only was Spain just coming out of the first World War - so they were depleted of their resources - but there wasn’t even a flu vaccine until the 1940s.
One way that Spanish citizens avoided this deadly flu was to wear masks made of fabric because they believed that the flu was bacterial rather than viral. The masks were a must have for going into public, meaning that if you weren’t wearing one you weren’t allowed to attend work, funerals, or even ride the bus.
This Stretching Device From 1931 Promised To Add Up To 6 Inches To Your Height
Do you wish you were a baller, or a little bit taller? Then this stretcher from 1931 is the thing for you. The device promised to add at least two to six inches to your height, all you had to do was strap yourself in and hope that you didn’t accidentally choke yourself to death while you were stretching yourself out.
People have been trying to crack the code of height forever, but our height is determined mostly by genetics and how much nutrition you receive, not so much by how much you stretch. Still, it is possible that this device can help you stand up straight which can always add an inch or two.
A Young Babe Gets A Quick Tan With The Sun Tan Vending Machine From Star Manufacturing Co. In The 1940s.
If you don’t want to look like a pasty old ghoul, the one way to fix up your skin is to get a classy tan. Prior to the advent of tanning beds and creams one way to get that umber finish in a flash was by using a tanning vending machine by the Star Manufacturing Company. This gift to humanity worked on 30 second intervals.
All you had to do was drop 10 cents into the coin slot and spray yourself down. You could find these bad boys around pools, the beach, or tennis courts - really anywhere that you’d need to grab some quick bronzer. These machines went out of fashion a few years after their invention, but spray tanning is still popular today.
A Polio Inflicted Man In A Chest Respirator Learns Of The Polio Vaccine In 1955
Throughout the 20th century a polio diagnosis was essentially a death sentence. Even if someone survived the disease they were designated to spend a large percentage of their life hooked up to a respirator to help them breathe. However, in 1952 Jonaas Salk developed a vaccine with a group of scientists at the University of Pittsburgh.
While Salk created the vaccine in 1952, it took years of field tests to make sure that the vaccine actually worked, and in 1955 it was finally announced to the world. Interestingly enough, multiple scientific teams were working on polio vaccines, and by the early 1960s the disease was on the way out.
Dr Young’s Ideal Rectal Dilators Went On The Market In 1893 And, Surprising No One, They Weren't A Hit
Sometimes you just need a rectal dilation, you know? Whether you’re trying to fit an unfortunately sized suppository up there, or you just need some help getting things out, these bad boys were ready to make sure you stayed healthy. As it says on the box, these were only sold via prescription from a physician. Remember, this was the 19th century and product manufacturers didn’t want you having too much fun.
Dr. Young believed that rectal dilation was a cure for insanity, and that “three-fourths of all the howling maniacs of the world” could be cured by a simple dilation. Young’s claims were shouted down by a series of doctors about as soon as his product went on the market.
Plague Doctors Wearing Their Beak Like Masks Filled With Wonderful Scents
In epidemics throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries doctors who were trying to work on a large group of people wore a protective suit made of a large coat, with a mask that had massive eyes and a beak like nose that gave the doctor the look of something out of a nightmare. When trying to avoid direct contact with a patient the doctors used a cane for anything physical.
Wouldn’t a mask like this get sweaty and smelly? Definitely. That’s why plague doctors stuffed their masks with delightful scents like rose or juniper berry to keep their noses from getting all stunk up.
Who Doesn't Love A Spoonful Of Fish Oil?
Ah the old spoonful of fish oil, who can forget waiting in line for your daily dose? There was that salty, fishy taste, and the burn in the back of your skull as your school chums watched as you took a swig of omega vitamins. The only thing that made taking this fish oil worth while was the fact that everyone had to do it along with you.
As gross as it may be to have a spoonful of fish oil tossed down your throat in the middle of a dreary school day, many scientists believe that this supplement boosts brain power, although the jury’s still out on that one. Even so, school children in England are are still getting a big gob of fish oil. Yum!
This Artificial Leg From The Late 19th Century Is Too Good To Be True
When you think of advanced medical technology prosthesis rarely comes to mind. However, false limbs are some of the most important pieces of tech that we have. At the end of the 19th century prosthetic limbs tended to be your standard wooden legs that didn’t give the user much of an ability to move around. However, it was recently discovered that there were prototype prosthetics created in the late 19th century that provided hinges and false joints so the wearer could walk somewhat normally.
Many prosthetic historians are unsure about who made this prosthetics that are ahead of their time, although whomever made these fantastic wooden legs deserves a medal (possibly made of wood).
Jacob Miller, A Civil War Veteran, Lived For Decades With An Open Bullet Wound In His Head
During the Civil War, soldiers used what were known as Minie balls, a bullet that fit in a muzzle-loading rifle, and while these bullets were effective and dispatching with enemies, they were just as likely the to leave someone mortally wounded, or let’s say walking around with a bullet in their head for the rest of their lives.
That’s exactly what happened to Jacob C. Miller, a former private in company K 9th Indiana Vol. Infantry. He was shot in the head near the Brock Field at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 19, 1863. While he should have died in the battle, Miller lived until 1917 - well into his 80s - with pieces of buckshot in his head. He rarely spoke about the incident to the press. For his actions in battle he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
In 1957 Paul Anderson Back-Lifted 6,270 lbs. He Trained With 55 Gallon Drums
How can one person lift so much weight? Paul Anderson may not be a household name but he’s a major success in the world of weight lighting. Not only has he officially lifted 440 lbs in a clean & jerk, but he’s bench pressed nearly half a ton - you don’t want to get into an arm wrestling match with this guy.
How does one get so strong? Anderson didn’t have access to a crossfire gym like modern muscle heads. Instead, he built his own weights out of 55 gallon drums filled with whatever he had around the house. Anderson was so accomplished that he won the gold medal in weight lifting at the 1956 Olympics. Over the course of his career he set eight world records with his skills.
A late 1800s pharmacy in New Zealand.
Be it in New Zealand or in the rest of the world, pharmacists often mixed their own medicines, which made their jobs more closely related to apothecaries than the modern day druggist. This means that most of the people you were buying medicine from at the time either had a fairly good knowledge of chemistry, either that or they just threw together whatever they thought would work.
There’s not a lot of land to cover in New Zealand, so it’s likely that there were only a few pharmacists around. This fellow looks like he has a pretty good selection of medicine so he must have been quite popular.
This Vintage Ad For Heater Halls Cocaine Candy Really Swings
Before it was outlawed in the early 20th century cocaine was in just about everything. It was in Coca-Cola, it was used as a tooth ache remedy, and it was even given to children as candy. Now we know this is a bad idea - one might even say that it’s terrible, but in the 19th century there were no scientific studies to say that cocaine was bad for you.
These candies from Heater Halls were made specifically for children and they came in a variety of “delicious” flavors: everything from spinach to poppy, and everyone’s favorite, hemlock. It’s a wonder these things didn’t take off.
Electro-Convulsive Therapy May Have A Bad Wrap, But It's Helped More People Than It's Harmed
Okay so electroshock therapy has a bad rap. It helped drive Sylvia Plath crazy, and it definitely scrambled a few brains while this procedure was in heavy use, however it also helped some patients get back to a somewhat normal frame of mind. While there’s a stigma attached to electroconvulsive therapy, at least 80 percent of cases patients are saved after a few weeks of being pumped up with a few jolts.
Here’s the thing - no one knows exactly how ECT works, and it’s not a cure all for what ails you. However, doctors have kept the practice up for decades and they're getting closer to understanding the process every day.
This Electric Inhaling Apparatus Produces A Medicated Fog That Treats The Common Cold And Flu, Circa 1929
People have been trying to beat the common cold and the flu for decades. Sure, the easiest way to stay healthy is to wash your hands after you go to the bathroom and make sure you get plenty of Vitamin C, but what if there was a fog that you could breathe in through a tube? That’s what scientists thought in the late 1920s when they created this electric inhaling apparatus that was meant to keep people healthy.
As weird as this sounds, it’s not all that different from an inhaler that’s crossed with a major blast of vitamins. Although it does look like it would be a hassle to carry this bad around with you.
There Were No Hearing Aids In The 1800s But There Were Artificial Eardrums
Theres nothing we can do about losing our hearing. Like our knees, our hearing just starts going as we get older. The best we can do is try and not expose ourselves to too many loud noises and generally just take care of ourselves. However that’s somethng that we only think of as we get older - after the damage is done. While we have amazing hearing aid technology today, in the 19th century the best you could hope for was an artificial eardrum.
These bad boys weren’t perfect, but they helped the wearer recognize sounds via their resonance. You had to insert the device into your ear and it would somewhat amplify sounds for you. This may sound like small potatoes, but it was a huge jump in technology.
Standing At 8' 11" Robert Wadlow is the tallest person in history. He Died At The Age Of 22.
Standing at 8’11” Robert Wadlow is the tallest person in recorded history, and he grew so tall due to hyperplasia of his pituitary gland, an affliction that effects human growth. Rather than simply having a growth spurt and stopping at nearly nine feet tall, Wadlow showed no signs of slowing down. He planned on going to school for law, but after graduating high school he became a celebrity after touring as a member of the Ringling Brothers Circus.
On July, 1940 Wadlow’s ankle was bruised by a leg brace, and an infection grew. Doctors attempted to perform surgery on him, but due to his autoimmune problem he passed away at the age of 22. His coffin was over 10 feet long.
These Babies At The Chicago Orphan Asylum, 1925, Have A Blast Under A Sun Lamp To Defeat Winter Rickets
Children get rickets due to a lack of vitamin D, this causes a softening of the bones and it can lead to bowed legs and delayed growth. In the 1920s the doctors felt that the best way of avoiding rickets in children was by placing them under a sun lamp to make sure they got plenty of “sun” and vitamin D. The heat lamp was ridiculously bright so the makeshift sunglasses in this photo was necessary to make sure the young eyes were safe.
The heat lamp went the way of the buffalo in the middle of the 20th century when vitamins became popular. Now, if you’ve got rickets you just take a little vitamin D to better absorb calcium.
This Antique Leeching Kit Is All You Need To Draw Liters Of Blood From Your Next At Home Patient
As disgusting as it seems now, leeching was a common medical practice throughout the 19th century, with many medical practitioners believing that it was possible to treat illnesses through bloodletting. It’s believed that in the 1800s between five and six million leeches were used every year to draw hundred of thousands of liters of blood in Paris 0 that’s not counting the rest of the western world.
The above kit would likely be used by a bloodletter on the move. The bottles were meant to hold the leaches and the knife was glass so it was easier to clean. The Pencil was meant for cauterizing wounds. Aren’t you glad it’s not the 19th century?
Dr. G. H. Byford Wearing Contacts With A Miniature Lamp Cemented To The Lens To Study Eye Movement And Visual Illusions
Is there anything cooler than the science of the 1960s? That’s an era when you could really do some weird stuff and get government grants for it. In 1960 Dr. G. H. Byford conducted an experiment at the RAF where he stood under an optokinetic drum - an instrument invented to test a person’s vision - and monitored his eye movements to see if they had anything to do with mirages or visual illusions.
When the drum begins to spin, the eyes believe their seeing a moving field of vision even though they’re stationary. It’s unclear whether or not doctor Byford’s experiments worked, but they sure looked wacky.
Protect Your Face With This Bottle Of Harriet Hubbard Ayer’s Moth and Freckle Lotion From The Victorian Era
Moth and freckle lotion you say? Sign me up. While this cream may be a mystery to anyone born after the Victorian era (so literally everyone alive) it would actually fit alongside many of today’s skin care treatments. As “moth” was a Victorian term for “blemish” it suffices to say that if you were trying to cover up any unseemly pocks on your face or protect yourself from the weather you would slather on some of this goop.
The Halifax Morning Sun from 1866 claims that moth and freckle lotion is good for covering liver spots and that it’s an “infallible remedy” for removing discolorations. If only there an old bottle hanging around so we could try this out.
A Baby Being Warmed In An Incubator, 1900s
Believe it or not, but the baby incubator first came to prominence in the 1870s on farms where they were used to warm up baby chicks. Dr. Stéphane Tarnier, a French obstetrician saw this and had a lightbulb moment. Rather than warm babies with hot water bottles and blankets, he saw a future where doctors would place newborns in incubators to keep them perfectly warm.
By the time incubators came to the States in the 1900s, they were being shown at Coney Island of all places, and when a maternity ward wouldn’t accept an infant, they’d go to this 24/7 theme park. While this sounds wild, the greatest thing about the Coney Island incubators is that they were free of charge.
The Johnson & Johnson First Aid Kit Was Invented For Use On Trains In 1888
Johnson & Johnson has been saving lives for over 100 years. In the 1800s when someone was hurt or got sick the best you could do was run off off to find the nearest doctor, which isn’t a great solution if you’re in a pinch or on a train. In order to combat this Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson dreamt up the Johnson & Johnson First Aid Kit after a discussion with a surgeon while riding a train to Colorado.
It only took a couple of years for these kits to catch on, and soon the company was making kits specifically for trains and mass marketing them for public use. It’s amazing to think that something that we use every day came out of a simple conversation on a road trip.
Born In 1923, Frieda Pushnik Was A-OK Except She Lacked Arms And Legs
Born in 1923 without any arms or legs, Frieda Pushnik came about at just the right time. In any other era she would have been considered a blight on her family, but in the early 20th century she was a marvel of the sideshow and treated like a queen. Pushnik was discovered at the age of 9, and she appeared at the 1933 Chicago’s World Fair.
When she was interviewed in her 70s, Pushnik noted that she’s never been upset about her disability. She said:
I never resented it. Not ever. I never said, `Why me?' That would be a wasted emotion. You could ruin your life like that.
Check Out This Huge Dialysis Machine That Mount Sinai Used In 1947 To Perform The First Kidney Dialysis
Anyone with kidney issues will tell you, having a dialysis machine at their disposal is a literal lifesaver. Like a lot of mid-century medical advancements, this kidney flushing technology was proposed by multiple scientists and doctors. However, the first kidney dialysis was performed at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in 1947.
Today Dialysis machines are so small that they’re actually portable and can be worn on a fanny pack, however in 1947 doctors required a huge monstrosity of a machine to take care of someone’s kidneys. I guess you need the weird technology to get to the good stuff.
Lobotomies Were Performed On Nearly 20,000 Americans Between 1939 And 1951
Ah, lobotomies. Has their truly been a less necessary or more cruel medical application? The lobotomy procedures were first carried out in the 1930s when different neurologists across the world came to the conclusion that if they attacked the frontal lobe they could cure mental illness and curb aggressive behavior. In America, lobotomies caught on like gangbusters, and while they were performed across the rest of the western world, it was really the good ol’ U.S. of A that carried most of them out.
Everyone from people with mental illnesses, to rebellious children, and even veterans and prisoners received lobotomies - turning most if not all of them into mindless zombies. Thankfully the practice fell out of fashion by the early 1970s.
Roy Lee "Rocky" Dennis Was Born With Craniodiaphyseal Dysplasia, Which Warped His Face, He Was The Focus Of The 1985 Film 'Mask'
In 1961 Roy L. Dennis was born in Glendora, California with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, a rare bone disease that leads to extreme calcium build up in the skull which causes disfigurement and leads to neurological disorders. Doctors gave Rocky seven years to live, believing that his skull’s calcium deposits would grow so large that they would distort his hearing, vision, and finally that they would destroy his brain.
Dennis was an inspiring person who managed to learn to read despite the fact that doctors thought he wouldn’t be able to see. He passed away at the age of 16 and donated his body to the UCLA Medical Center. Director Peter Bogdanovich filmed the 1985 movie Mask about the boy’s life.
Men Receiving Hydrotherapy At Walter Reed In The 1920s
Physical therapy has changed a lot throughout the years. While the practice of massage and stretching to take are of sore muscles has been in effect for generations, intense hydrotherapy only came into fashion at the dawn of the 20th century. Named after the US Army doctor who discovered that yellow fever was being transmitted via mosquitoes, thus allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to go forward, Walter Reed Hospital was a place where veterans received the best medical attention.
By the 1920s veterans were being treated with hydrotherapy in order to cure a series of different ailments. At one point people even believed that hydrotherapy could cure everything from aches and pains to alcoholism.
A Young Polio Patient Being Fitted For A Small Respirator, 1955
A polio affliction was no laughing matter. In the 1950s there was no way to snap your fingers and get rid of your sickness. Doctors treating patients in the early stages of polio had to make sure their patients could keep breathing. In early stages of polio the muscles around your chest seize up and paralyze your chest, keeping you from breathing. In order to stay alive patients had to be hooked up to a large tank respirator.
As scary as it had to be for children to deal with the polio virus, it had to be even more terrifying to be hooked up to a giant machine to help them breathe. The worst cases of polio had to live inside a respirator known as an “iron lung.”
Stella Grassman Was A Tattoo Model Before That Was Even A Thing!
Working as a sideshow attraction in the 1920s, Stella Grassman was a model and tattoo artist who worked with her husband Samuel Grassman at their shops in both Philadelphia and New York City. Throughout the 1920s and ‘30s Grassman and her husband traveled the country, tattooing wherever they could in order to bring the art they loved to the people in need.
In the 1930s the Grassman duo moved to Charleston, South Carolina where they owned and operated a restaurant and tattoo shop known as The Ship’s Inn at #119 Market. As you can imagine the business didn’t stay open for that long.
Cringe-worthy photos were shot with family members and the deceased, in lifelike poses, before burial.
Death comes for us all, but how do you want to remember your loved ones? The way they were the last time you saw them? Or in some weird propped up position in a grainy photo? The second one, right? While these Victorian death photos are morbid according to modern tastes, they were actually the preferred way of remembering loved ones after their deaths.
People dropped left and right during the Victorian era, and if family members weren’t taking death photos with their family members they were making lockets and jewelry out of their hair. Death portraiture may be morbid, but at the time it was one of the best ways to remember someone who was special to you.
This English Blood Transfusion Bottle From 1978 Sure Looks Clean
Blood transfusions are never fun. Even in the modern era you’ve got to get hooked up to a blood bag an have that life saving elixir flushed into your body. Even if you’ve got a great nurse who manages to keep the pain to a low threshold, it still feels super weird. However if you were getting a blood transfusion in the 1970s you were definitely going to deal with a fairly low tech piece of technology.
This sterilized bottle held blood that was prepped for transfusions and that “little” nozzle at the end of the tube fit into your arm. Something tells me that it’s not the most comfortable fit. Who wants to try it out and let us know?
Born In 1889 With A Parasitic Twin, Frank Lentini Was Able To Use All Three Of His Legs
Frank Lentini was born in 1889 with a parasitic twin attached to his body at the base of his spine consisting of a pelvis bone and a rudimentary set of male genitalia. As rough as that sounds, Lentini was able to move around fairly gracefully for a guy with three legs. Early in his side show career he kicked a football across the stage with his third leg, but as he got older his legs grew to different lengths, making such feats impossible.
Lentini sold a book about his life during his shows, inside was essentially an autobiography where he attempted to understand his affliction. No one else in his family suffered the same fate and the doctors he saw couldn’t explain what had happened. That being said he lived a long life, and he eventually fathered four children before he passed away at the age of 82 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Does this Egyptian Stele From 1403 BC Depict A Polio Victim?
Researchers believe that this stele from the 18th Dynasty shows a man afflicted with the polio virus. He may not be hooked up to an archaic respirator (where are the ancient aliens when you need them), but he does have the frail look of someone who’s body is falling apart on them. The biggest clue that the person in this stele is suffering from polio comes from their tiny, crooked leg.
If you look closely you’ll notice that one of the man’s legs is large and healthy, while the other is crooked and malnourished. He also needs a stick to keep him aloft. Even if he wasn’t suffering from polio he wasn’t completely healthy.
There Were No Female Dentists Until Lucy Hobbs Taylor Began Practicing In The 1860s
It’s truly crazy to think that it took until 1866 for a woman to earn her DDS. While the field of dentistry had been around for generations, it wasn’t until 1866 when Lucy Hobbs took a giant leap and became the first woman to “profession where she could earn her bread not alone by the sweat of her brow, but by the use of her brains also.” Hobbs’ entry into the world of dentistry inspired women across America to follow in her footsteps.
After opening a practice in Chicago, she ended up teaching her husband the art of dentistry before the two of them packed up for Lawrence, Kansas and started a new practice together. After his death she worked less and campaigned for the women’s suffrage movement until her death in 1910.
An Early Neurological Exam That Makes Use Of An Electronic Device, 1884
As far advanced as we are in the 21st century, one thing that manages to trip up both doctors and scientists is figuring out what’s going on in our brains. Every 20 years or so it becomes clear that everything we thought we knew was wrong, which is what makes neurological tests of yore so fascinating. This doctor is using electricity to test a man’s body, but it’s unclear exactly what his purpose is.
Is the doctor trying to see if he can get a reaction from the man’s skin? Or is he just shoving a small amount of voltage into his body? Whatever the case may be the one thing this test did was help later doctors understand what not to do.
The Electrocardiogram was Created By Willem Einthoven In 1903
An electrocardiogram is a recording of the heart’s electrical activity. This process is a test that tests that checks out a patient’s internal electrical system in order to discern whether or not someone has heart disease. In order to take one of these tests a patient has to wear a set of electrodes that measure a patient’s heartbeat before graphing it.
The process was created by Willem Einthoven, a Dutch doctor who created ECGs to by using a string galvanometer by using tiny currents in a person’s body. This invention won Einthoven the Nobel Peace Prize in medicine in 1924.
Myrtle Corbin Was A Normal Girl, It's Just that She Had Two Separately Functioning Pelvises And Four Legs
Born in 1868 in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Myrtle Corbin was definitely a little different than the rest of her family. She had dipygus - a congenital deformity that splits the body’s axis abnormally down the right left. This means that she had two pelvises, and four lower limbs. The two outer legs were formed like “normal” legs, while the inner two were much smaller and more rudimentary.
At the age of 13 Corbin joined up with Barnum Circus and much of her show was spent surprising the audience with her extra set of legs - what a thing that would have been to see! After working for the circus Corbin married and lived a normal life. She passed away in 1928 in Cleburne, Texas.
This Portrait Shows The Oldest Native American To Have Ever Lived, Or Does It?
Ga-Be-Nah-Gewn-Wonce, or John Smith if you’re unsure about your Chippewa pronunciations, was reported to be the oldest living Native American at the time of his death in 1922. However his age varies wildly depending on who you’re asking. Some people believe that he passed away at the age of 130, while other historians believe that he was barely into his 90s when he passed away.
This age discrepancy comes from the fact that Native American birth records are impossible to track down because they either weren’t kept very well or they were simply destroyed. Whatever the case, the portraits of Ga-Be-Nah-Gewn-Wonce are absolutely breath taking.
This Woman's Body Was Injured In An Explosion, Burning An Imprint Of Her Kimono Into Her Skin, 1945.
An explosion in Japan in 1945 left this woman’s skin burned and discolored, with the kimono she was wearing burning into her flesh until her body featured the pattern in which she adorned herself. The author of this photo is unknown, but it’s clear that this woman was the victim of a terrible explosion that left her scarred for life both mentally and physically.
It’s unclear if this woman’s body ever returned to its original state, but it’s very likely that she had to deal with the pain of the explosion for the rest of her life. It's a terrible truth.
X-Ray Machines In 1942 Weren't As User Friendly As They Are Now
You know that something’s wrong with your technology when your patent - who’s also a baby - is giving you that look. X-Ray machines are all around us in the 21st century. We can move in and out of them with ease and they take on a lot of different shapes and sizes, but the earliest machines were much less malleable. At the time of this photo, X-Ray machines were still inflicting people with radiation poisoning if they weren’t careful, and special steps had to be taken to protect the patients and the practitioners.
These machines were big, loud, and they often broke down and were a pain in the neck for doctors. But if we didn’t have these early machines that were 70/30 at best, we wouldn’t have the great pieces of technology that we have now.
In The 1920s Slit Lamps Became A Must Have For Optometrists
An electric slit lamp is a tool that optometrists use to shine a super intense light into their patient’s eyes so they can get a stereoscopic view of the eye and really figure out what’s going on in their patient’s head. Before this technology came along the best bet optometrists had was to light a candle and hold it as close to their patient’s eye as possible, no thanks.
Slip lamp technology came about in 1911, but it didn’t take off until 1926 when it got a nice little redesign which made it easier to handle for optometrists. Thanks, science!
The Gym On The Titanic Had Everything Passengers Need To Get Ripped
Before the Titanic went down on in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean it was a world class travel vessel. This seafaring baby had everything a Victorian dandy wanted in a weeks long travel package. The gym had exercise bikes rowing machines, and even a swimming pool if you wanted to get in some practice for the upcoming iceberg crash.
While travel by ocean liner could take weeks to get you to your destination, this gym meant that you weren’t going to turn into a slouch on your trip. You could lift weights one day and work the parallel doors the next. It was truly the height of luxury.
During The Civil War Thomas Holmes Embalmed Up To 4,000 Bodies
In the Civil War there was no one as busy as the guy who had to prepare dead bodies for burial. It’s reported that up to 620,000 soldiers perished in the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. This was the perfect time for Thomas Holmes, a mortician from New York City, to put his practice to use. Holmes charged families $100 a body for an embalming and word is he embalmed as many as 4,000 men. That’s a lot of scratch.
In order to get eyes on his trade, Holmes was known to post the bodies of embalmed soldiers in the window of his shop. Ain’t no business like the embalming business.
Maud Stevens Wagner Was A Contortionist And The First Female Tattoo Artist, 1907
It looks like we found the most bad ass woman in the room. In 1877 Maude Wagner Stevens was born in Lyon County, Kansas and she got out of town as quickly as possible. No one’s been able to pinpoint an exact time, but she literally ran away with the circus as a young woman and while she was working as a contortionist she met her soon to be husband Gus Wagner at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and he was covered in tattoos.
After the two were married, Maud got into tattooing big time and started providing stick and poke tattoos while her husband continued to tattoo her body until she was completely covered. She passed away in 1961 in Lawton, Oklahoma.
Female Body Builders Were All The Rage In The Early 1900s
You’ve heard of strong men, those swimsuit strapped and handlebar mustache wearing fellows who lifted giant barbells above their heads, but what about strong women? In the early 20th century strongmen became prevalent at sideshows and in carnivals - people were not only obsessed with their beauty, but their ability to crush a man’s skull between their forearms.
One carnival strongwoman, Katie Brumbach, hailed from Vienna, and she got so buff that one of her main feats was to lift her husband over her head (he reportedly weighed somewhere around 165 lbs), while looking sexy as hell. Now that's a woman.
In 1948 Professional Wrestler Adrienne Nichols Showed Off Some Serious Lower Body Strength
Working out in the early 20th century was absolutely wild and a little bit risky. Seriously, when was the last time you went to the gym and your trainer told you to strap weights to your feet and lift them with your legs? Unless you have a time machine - or you work out with 1920s strong men - never. In 1948 Adrienne Nichols was the toast of the wrestling world.
Not only was Nichols a babe, but she was tough as nails and could handle herself in the ring just as well if not better than her male counterparts. And it’s clear from this photo that she had enough power in her gams to kick you all the way to the moon.
This Kit Kept 19th Century Vampire Hunters Safe
Vampires, you can’t live with them and you can’t kill them. Unless you have this vintage vampire hunting kit on hand. This kit comes with everything you need to dispatch a bloodsucking fiend from beyond the grave, and it looks really cool. Obviously it comes with a stake and a cross, but it’s also got some weapons for close combat like a silver knife, some salts, and even a small hand gyn with silver bullets.
If you’re able to get your hands on one of these we suggest you do it. Not only is it a cool a thing to have on hand, but you never know when you’re going to need to get rid of a Transylvanian ghoul.