The Quack Doctor

The Quack Doctor

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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
The melancholy delusion of the Stewart sisters
In 1860s Glasgow, Marion and Catherine Stewart withdrew from all contact with the outside world.
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Caroline Rance
6
The human x-ray scientists
The Grant brothers of Maidstone claimed they could see into people's lungs.
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Caroline Rance
4
A thorn in the flesh
A Victorian doctor's own mysterious symptoms puzzled his eminent friends
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Caroline Rance
1
Caught short on a long trip
Discreet india-rubber receptacles helped Victorian rail passengers survive their journey
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Caroline Rance
'A diabolical concoction': Dr Buckland's Scotch Oats Essence
Dr H H Kane claimed he could cure opium addiction with a humble tincture of oats.
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Caroline Rance
Josephine Girardelli, the incombustible lady
'The celebrated fire-proof female' entertained Regency audiences with feats of heat resistance
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Caroline Rance
Tin tube trickery: a clairvoyant’s love scam
‘Professor Clyde Dupree’ used a fortune-telling trick to rob people looking for love.
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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
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
Tragedy in Victorian Wessex
The brutal murder of a doctor shook a Dorset community in 1862.
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Caroline Rance
'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
© 2025 Caroline Rance
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