Archive - The Quack Doctor

There are no Z-rays

The Zerret Applicator promised powerful healing rays from another world.

Jun 30 •

The pin is mightier than the sword

Early 20th-century street harassers met their match in the humble hat pin

Jun 9 •

May 2025

'You cannot prevent me from becoming a dentist!'

Lilian Lindsay (1871-1960) overcame opposition to qualify as the UK's first female Licenciate in Dental Surgery

May 9 •

April 2025

Caught short on a long trip

Discreet india-rubber receptacles helped Victorian rail passengers survive their journey

Apr 17 •

March 2025

Filling in the stories of women dentists

When the first UK Dentists Register was published in 1879, it didn't exclude women.

Mar 25 •

February 2025

'An innocent Welshman, and not an American'

A practitioner in 1860s Wales tried to convince patients that their troubles were down to witchcraft.

Feb 28 •

A thorn in the flesh

A Victorian doctor's own mysterious symptoms puzzled his eminent friends

Feb 21 •

Tin tube trickery: a clairvoyant’s love scam

‘Professor Clyde Dupree’ used a fortune-telling trick to rob people looking for love.

Feb 14 •

A matter of knife and death

Between 1799 and 1805, sailor John Cummings swallowed dozens of pocket-knives.

Feb 7 •

January 2025

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