Grisly History of Medicine
3 total works
Invisible microbes cause sickness by setting up home in our bodies and multiplying - fast Follow the hunt for these tiny killers over thousands of years and the fight to outwit and eliminate them.
Smallpox and tuberculosis came from cattle
Cholera made the skin shrivel and turn blue
Hospitals caused fatal diseases
Find out how the French scientist Louis Pasteur unmasked germs living in the air the German doctor Robert Koch proved that they caused disease and the British surgeon Joseph Lister pioneered surgery in super-clean conditions - some of the greatest victories in the battle against disease.
People have always got sick so have always needed doctors. But while most doctors tried to help their patients sometimes their methods were weird disgusting or even dangerous. Yet this was how modern practices began.
Noses were rebuilt by attaching the skin from an arm
The first blood transfusion was between two dogs
The ancient Chinese immunized against smallpox with powered pus
If you're not too squeamish you'll see barbers doubling up as surgeons leeches drawing out blood and corpses being dug up so doctors could study anatomy - along with the first anaesthetics to remove pain one of medicine's great miracles.
Lots of us take a pill when we have a headache - or worse. But did you know that the art of mixing medicines goes back thousands of years See inside for the story of daring remedies yucky cures and truly brilliant ideas for making people better - whatever the problem
A venomous snake dissolved in wine 'cured' fatigue and hair loss
Snail slime was used for burns and roast kittens for jaundice
Chewing willow bark eased pain and malaria - now that one really worked
Discover how herbal medicine was practised centuries ago deadly syphilis was cured with Paul Ehrlich's 'magic bullet' and cockroaches catfish and frogs make their own antibiotics. There are many natural and other remedies out there and scientists never stop looking