History: How this sailor’s party trick landed him in deep water
He completely missed the point of sword-swallowing.
Tag: Medical History
History: What men used to do to treat erectile dysfunction is kind of a downer
It was like an ab-toning belt, but for your genitals.
History: Forget CPR. Blowing smoke up the butts of drowned patients used to be the in thing
These emergency enemas were even hung at various points along the River Thames.
History: He performed the first ever lithotripsy – on himself … with a knitting needle
Romancing the stone: It took him six months to coax out the calculi.
History: 5 facts from phrenology’s heady heyday
Its crowning glory? Almost getting Darwin kicked off his famous voyage for not being attractive enough.
History: How this man and a wayward crowbar changed the face of neuroscience forever
The curious case of Phineas Gage, who took an iron rod to the brain and lived to tell the tale.
History: Why some people used to randomly burst into flames
Elderly drinkers were highly flammable in Dickens' day.
History: Be thankful you’ve never had to play the urine wheel of fortune
Doctors used to swill patients' pee samples like a fine wine.
History: Why most Nazis were high on crystal meth
With side effects including aggression, paranoia and delusions of power, suddenly WWII makes a lot more sense.
History: In search of the wandering womb
Where the wild wombs are: the ancient Greeks called it 'an animal within an animal'.
