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Quackery : a brief history of the worst ways to cure everything / Lydia Kang, MD, Nate Pedersen.

By: Contributor(s): Publisher: New York : Workman Publishing, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: viii, 344 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780761189817 (alk. paper)
  • 0761189815 (alk. paper)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 615.856 23
LOC classification:
  • R730 .K36 2017
Contents:
Elements: prescriptions from the periodic table -- Antimony -- Mercury -- Arsenic -- Radium -- Gold -- The women's health hall of shame -- Plants & soil: nature's gifts -- Opiates -- Strychnine -- Tobacco -- Cocaine -- Alcohol -- Earth -- The antidotes hall of shame -- Tools: slicing, dicing, dousing & draining -- Bloodletting -- Lobotomy -- Cautery & blistering -- Enemas -- Hydrotherapy -- Surgery -- Anesthesia -- The men's health hall of shame -- Animals: creepy crawlies, corpses, and the healing power of the human body -- Leeches -- Cannibalism & corpse medicine -- Animal-derived medicines -- Sex -- Fasting -- The weight loss hall of shame -- Mysterious powers: waves, rays, and curious airs -- Electricity -- Animal magnetism -- Light -- Radionics -- The king's touch -- The eye care hall of shame -- The cancer cure hall of shame.
Summary: "What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine--yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison--was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious "treatments"--conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)--that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book - training Training Library Non-fiction 615.856 Kan (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Elements: prescriptions from the periodic table -- Antimony -- Mercury -- Arsenic -- Radium -- Gold -- The women's health hall of shame -- Plants & soil: nature's gifts -- Opiates -- Strychnine -- Tobacco -- Cocaine -- Alcohol -- Earth -- The antidotes hall of shame -- Tools: slicing, dicing, dousing & draining -- Bloodletting -- Lobotomy -- Cautery & blistering -- Enemas -- Hydrotherapy -- Surgery -- Anesthesia -- The men's health hall of shame -- Animals: creepy crawlies, corpses, and the healing power of the human body -- Leeches -- Cannibalism & corpse medicine -- Animal-derived medicines -- Sex -- Fasting -- The weight loss hall of shame -- Mysterious powers: waves, rays, and curious airs -- Electricity -- Animal magnetism -- Light -- Radionics -- The king's touch -- The eye care hall of shame -- The cancer cure hall of shame.

"What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine--yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison--was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are dozens of outlandish, morbidly hilarious "treatments"--conceived by doctors and scientists, by spiritualists and snake oil salesmen (yes, they literally tried to sell snake oil)--that were predicated on a range of cluelessness, trial and error, and straight-up scams. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine"-- Provided by publisher.