The Quack Doctor

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'Set the spirit alight': Victorian festive science
Scientific experiments of a more or less dangerous character provided Christmas entertainment in the Victorian parlour
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Caroline Rance
The tooth, the whole tooth … and the jawbone too
18th-century dentist Thomas Berdmore revealed the agonies his patients endured before, during and after treatment.
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Caroline Rance
2
'Eager to be up and doing': the highs and lows of coca wine
Victorian nervine drinks contained a potent combination of alcohol and cocaine.
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Caroline Rance

November 2024

Josephine Girardelli, the incombustible lady
'The celebrated fire-proof female' entertained Regency audiences with feats of heat resistance
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Caroline Rance
Mr Grimstone's Egyptian mummy pea
A maker of herbal snuff branched out into resurrecting an ancient plant
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Caroline Rance
Rascality in Hot Springs
Quack doctors in a 19th-century spa resort used the devious tactic of 'drumming' to lure in customers
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Caroline Rance
1
Turning heads: the Victorian fashion for mechanical hair-brushing
Hair-brushing by machinery became all the rage in 1860s Britain
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Caroline Rance
Physicians and phantoms
Five medical-themed macabre stories from the 19th century
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Caroline Rance
2

October 2024

An arrow to the skull
The ancient practice of trepanation helped a little girl in 18th-century Edinburgh
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Caroline Rance
The maggotorium cure for tuberculosis
A keen angler stumbled upon a malodorous treatment for consumption in the early 20th century.
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Caroline Rance
From slave to surgeon: the heroic journey of Robert M Johnson
Robert Maxwell Johnson escaped enslavement and travelled to Scotland to become a doctor.
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Caroline Rance
'This comedy of knave and dupe'
A quack doctor in 1870s Hull told some incredible tales about his Indian Remedy.
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Caroline Rance
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© 2024 Caroline Rance
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