biomedicalephemera reblogged
Internal organs of the Chicken
"I have known for twenty years that vital force, which is the life of the nerves and organs of the body, was Electricity."
Humans: Now part mechanical!
Daily Mail and Empire. Toronto, Canada. Nov. 3, 1900.
biomedicalephemera reblogged
Now, I understand the right two items and how they help with deformity and paralysis. Not so sure how the straightjacket would help…
biomedicalephemera reblogged
biomedicalephemera:
Hand-cranked centrifuges! Given how much I remember centrifuging during Anatomy/Physiology, I can’t imagine hand-cranking all of it. :o
From “Illustrated Catalogue of Standard Surgical Instruments and Allied Lines”
I recall someone looking for 1800s medical equipment.
Development of the bones of the hand, infancy to eight years of age
Click through for detail and age information.
Skiagraphic Atlas Showing the Development of the Bones of the Wrist and Hand, for the use of students and others. John Poland, 1898.
Gangrene of the Scrotum
Note the swelling of the scrotum occurring with the gangrene. The most common type of gangrene in the male perineal/genital region is called "Fournier Gangrene", which is caused by a combination of both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria (meaning that it's a form of gas gangrene). These give off gasses as they feed on the tissue, which can cause scrotal inflation. Complete irreversible necrosis of tissue, toxemia, and shock, are all very common with gas gangrenes. Death is also common.
The other reason that scrotal gangrene can occur is due to ischemia - the restriction or thinning of blood supply to an area, generally due to arterial occlusion. This is known as a dry gangrene. When this occurs, amputation of the affected area can generally halt the progression and prevent death.
An American Text-Book of Genito-Urinary Diseases, Syphilis, and Diseases of the Skin. L. Bolton Bangs, 1898.
"I've seen people say "if you want to believe in god, witness the miracle of childbirth." I've done that! When I was on obstetrics rotation downtown, I once delivered 10 babies in 2 hours. Anyone who says childbirth is any sort of miracle hasn't had to deal with the afterbirth! You never forget the stench of afterbirth..." - Chuck Morrison
A Text-Book on Practical Obstetrics Comprising Pregnancy, Labor, and the Puerperal State, and Obstetric Surgery. Egbert H. Grandin & George W. Jarman, 1897.
Things I did not know could become dislocated: Eyeballs.
From the Ball Ophthalmology Collection at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. 1898.
Non-pathological eyeball anatomy.
Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat: A Manual for Students and Practitioners. A.G. Wippern, 1900.
Major Frederick F. Russell is one of the most unknown significant figures in medicine. He was the curator of the Army Medical Museum, but also a significant bacteriologist.
In the early 1900s, he had a room in the museum converted into his personal laboratory, and after hearing about the questionable results of a typhoid vaccine used during the Boer War, he decided to develop his own, starting from scratch.
Over the course of about 5 years, his research using rabbits and bacterial cultures resulted in a promising new vaccine against typhoid fever. Animal tests went very well. In an interesting optimism about the vaccine, the workers at the Army Medical Museum (almost all of them; there were exhibit workers down to janitors) volunteered to have it tested on themselves. Luckily, it was a success, without any of the problems that the British vaccine had.
In 1910 (or 1908, depending on the source), the vaccine was available for anyone joining the military on a voluntary basis. In 1911 (or 1913, again depending on source), it was made compulsory.
In the US Civil War, over 80,000 Union soldiers died from typhoid fever or dysentery (which had very similar symptoms and were hard to differentiate before bacteriology; more soldiers are believed to have succumbed to typhoid fever than dysentery). In 1891, typhoid fever deaths were all the way up to 174 per 100,000 people. That resulted in over 130,000 civilian deaths in one year.
Within two years of the introduction of the vaccine (the second year implementing drastic sanitation regulation changes), both branches of the military were free of typhoid fever. United States deaths from typhoid fever in WWI were 80% lower than in non-vaccinated countries (France, Germany, etc...most British soldiers were vaccinated).
Major F.F. Russell eventually went on to do significant work on the Yellow Fever problem, and to win the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, in 1935.
Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
biomedicalephemera reblogged
After you cure your cold with cigarettes, cure your addiction to cigarettes with narcotics!
biomedicalephemera reblogged
Image of Rhoda Derry a patient in Bartonville Asylum
Rhoda Derry was born in Adams County. She was the daughter of a wealthy farmer and she was a strikingly handsome girl. While still in her teens, she was wooed by the son of a neighboring farmer. The young man’s family were apposed to the match. In order to prevent the young couple from marrying, the young man’s mother visited the girl and threatened to bewitch the girl if she didn’t release him from the engagement. The girl was so terrified by the mother’s threat that she started to display all the signs of a person possesed by an evil spirit. One night shortly after the threat, Rhoda came home, jumped on the bed and stood on her head spinning around like a top and declared that the “Old Scratch” was after her. For a short time she was cared for by her relatives but was eventually sent to the Adams County Poor House. She remained there for 40 years. The inhumane treatment of the poor girl at the Adams County Poor House is unparalleled. For many years she lived in a basket lined with straw and cared for by other feeble minded patients. During this time her legs drew up until her knee nearly touched her chin. Her muscles became so atrophied it was impossible for her to move her legs or her hips. After years passed the basket was replaced with wooden box with holes for wastes to pass through in to a pan beneath the box. Mice and other vermin crawled into the box, made nests and raise their families next to the poor woman. With her long fingernails she would scratch at her eyes until she went blind. With her fists she would beat her face until her front teeth were knocked out. She had also lost her ability to speak. When placed on the floor she would hop along like a toad. In 1904 she was taken from these surrounding and placed in the Bartonville Asylum. She was taken to the hospital for woman where she was bathed regularly and slept between clean white sheets.
A very interesting historic case, but sadly not all that extreme for the time. Worse than most, of course, but not nearly as much worse as you'd think. Why do you think the Utica cage existed?
You want penis? Here. :| Here's how to amputate one.
Atlas and Epitome of Operative Surgery. Dr. Otto Zukerkandi, 1902.
I think I quite agree with the caption "The best kind of bird on a hat."
Fashions of the time had largely moved past the curious style of having practically an entire bird on the hat that was so popular at the beginning of the 20th century, but some smaller toques and day hats still featured long feathers.
A fashionable turn-of-the-century hat for the high-society lady of the East Coast of the United States:
Photograph from Book of Birds: Common Birds in North America. Produced by National Geographic, 1918.
Who was it that was asking for horses?
...this is not at all what you were asking for, but I found it in my folder, so here it is.
Horse Laughs. Charles Hunt Marshall, 1891.
Fucus-like sea-horse. "Fucus" is a genus of brown algae...it's not like a slimy algae you'd find in a pool, but what most people call a "seaweed". Many seahorses that live in cooler environs are shaped and colored similarly to endemic plant life. More tropical seahorses tend to be the more brightly colored ones, just like other bony fishes.
The Royal Natural History. Richard Lydekker, 1897.