The Quack Doctor

Home
Notes
Archive
About
Arsenic and old faces
Arsenic was reputed to give a youthful, wrinkle-free complexion, so 1890s entrepreneurs started advertising arsenic pills and soaps.
 • 
Caroline Rance
Eight years in cocaine hell
A Chicago society lady suffered a disastrous change in her fortunes when she tried to cure a cold.
 • 
Caroline Rance
The woman who turned to charcoal
A unique medical condition was not all it seemed in 1860s New York.
 • 
Caroline Rance
Most Popular
View all
Secrets of the mummy factory
 • Caroline Rance
Eight years in cocaine hell
 • Caroline Rance
Plague, peril and reform: John Howard's quarantine journey
 • Caroline Rance
Theriac: ancient miracle or modern mirage?
 • Caroline Rance
Nellie Bly in the mad-house
 • Caroline Rance
1
Hooked on a cure: a tale of tapeworm troubles
 • Caroline Rance
'Give the man his finger!'
An amateur anatomist got into trouble for detaining an amputated finger.
 • 
Caroline Rance
Plague, peril and reform: John Howard's quarantine journey
Eighteenth-century prison reformer John Howard set out to experience the grim reality of Venice’s quarantine laws.
 • 
Caroline Rance
Defeating the death microbe
A story did the rounds in 1895 that a newly discovered bacterium was the only thing standing between humans and immortality.
 • 
Caroline Rance
'The knowledge of things': Jane Sharp's art of midwifery
Jane Sharp's 1671 'The Midwives Book' used humour and common sense to educate women about pregnancy and birth.
 • 
Caroline Rance
Hooked on a cure: a tale of tapeworm troubles
A gentleman in 18th-century France went to horrifying lengths to cure himself of a worm infestation
 • 
Caroline Rance
The teeth stuck out like so many tusks
The case of a terrible set of dentures amused a court hearing in Victorian Wiltshire.
 • 
Caroline Rance
Nellie Bly in the mad-house
Nellie Bly's investigative journalism revealed the shocking truth about the treatment of women deemed insane.
 • 
Caroline Rance
1
The Quack Doctor
The Quack Doctor
Stories from the history of medicine, with an inclination towards the strange.
Recommendations
Sleuthing Adventures with Dr Angela Buckley
Sleuthing Adventures with Dr Angela Buckley
Dr Angela Buckley
The Manchester History Club
The Manchester History Club
Dean Kirby
Londonist: Time Machine
Londonist: Time Machine
Londonist
Secret Sleuths
Secret Sleuths
Dr Nell Darby
She Wrote Too
She Wrote Too
She Wrote Too

The Quack Doctor

AboutArchiveRecommendationsSitemap
© 2024 Caroline Rance
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture