Tag Archives: history of medicine

The World’s First Mail Order Doctor

I have in my collection a book published in 1908 titled The People’s Common Sense Medical Adviser, by “Dr. R. V. Pierce.” It’s a modest little volume that I purchased in a used book store in Madison, Wisconsin some years ago. First published in 1875, the book was tremendously popular in its day, going through […]

The Mysterious Malady of Marulla Greco

Surgery is no art for the squeamish. A simple slice through the skin – the practiced surgeon’s daily experience – may be enough to give an ordinary person nausea.   The history of surgery is replete with instances of daring surgical interventions, harrowing battles against blood-gushing wounds, amputations accomplished at lightning speed and without anesthesia, […]

The Renaissance Nose Job

THE RAVAGES OF WARFARE, PUBLIC VIOLENCE, AND DISFIGURING NEW DISEASES made the Renaissance an age of surgical innovation, and professor of secrets Leonardo Fioravanti was a witness to one of the most amazing innovations of all: Surgical reconstruction of the nose, known in medical terms as rhinoplasty . It’s a pretty amazing story in itself. […]

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