The history of medicine is filled with wild stories of bizarre treatments methods and medical procedures that aimed to make people feel better. Some of the stranger treatments of old-time medicine would turn out to be useful; while cautery—heating an iron stick on hot coals and then pressing it onto a person’s body—didn’t end up curing broken hearts when the rod was pressed against the patient’s chest, the practice was a forerunner to electric surgical instruments. And while doctors were misguided in prescribing the poison arsenic to treat syphilis and skin conditions, a form of the chemical has been used to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia.
It also took a long time to figure out how to use the technology safely. A French physician, Dr. Maxime Menard, had to have his finger amputated when he developed cancer from frequent exposure to radiation while manning an X-ray machine. (In a striking juxtaposition to modern medicine, Menard smoked a cigarette while his offending finger was surgically removed). When Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X-ray in 1895, the New York Times was so skeptical that the paper referred to the medical breakthrough as the “alleged discovery of how to photograph the invisible”.
1 of 2 Next
Daryl Hall and John Oates came together in 1970 as a singing duo named Hall…
Although it's been almost seven months since Matthew Perry passed away, one of his Friends…
For the very first time, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were accompanied by their two…
Bob Saget is being remembered on his 68th heavenly birthday, with his widow, Kelly Rizzo,…
Richard Gere graced the 77th Cannes Film Festival with his wife, Alejandra Silva, and his…
Birthdays are something to look forward to, but not for Cher, who plans to celebrate…