Caroline Rance

Trailblazer: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon An interview with biographer Jane Robinson about this pioneering 19th-century feminist

In the new episode of @shewrotetoo.bsky.social I had a fascinating conversation with author @janerobinson.bsky.social about the subject of her latest biography - 19th-century educationalist and women’s rights campaigner Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon.

'You cannot prevent me from becoming a dentist!' Lilian Lindsay (1871-1960) overcame opposition to qualify as the UK's first female Licenciate in Dental Surgery

In 1892, Lilian Murray (later Lilian Lindsay) was told she would be sure to give up her ambition to be a dentist because ‘you do not know what you are in for’:

A colour illustration of an adult black-and-white cat with 5 kittens. They are playing on a table with books and a globe. The globe has the words 'Dr Thomas' Eclectric Oil is used all around the world.'

Dr Thomas' Eclectric Oil, originating in Buffalo, NY, in the 1840s, was a camphor and turpentine preparation for rubbing onto aching joints or taking internally for coughs and colds. Trade cards like this often had cute, funny or interesting pictures to encourage people to hang onto them.

The headline of a newspaper advertisement, saying 'Sagliftology Aids Nervousness and Other Ills.'

‘Sagliftology’ was a health system launched in 1926 by Percy and Georgean Poole of San Diego, CA, who called themselves doctors because they had awarded themselves degrees from their own college. Sagliftology used trusses and corsets to prevent the internal organs sagging and getting congested.

Filling in the stories of women dentists When the first UK Dentists Register was published in 1879, it didn't exclude women.

The first UK Dentists Register in 1879 included the names of more than 20 women - I'm trying to find out everything I can about them:

#historyofdentistry #WomensHistoryMonth

'An innocent Welshman, and not an American' A practitioner in 1860s Wales tried to convince patients that their troubles were down to witchcraft.

A tale of medicine and witchcraft in 1860s Wales
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
#historyofmedicine

This was a mere 5% alcohol - you might need something stronger! 😂

A thorn in the flesh A Victorian doctor's own mysterious symptoms puzzled his eminent friends

In 1850, a doctor suffered months of pain and all sorts of treatment from London’s top surgeons before a sharp-eyed servant spotted what was wrong …

#historyofmedicine

Tin tube trickery: a clairvoyant’s love scam ‘Professor Clyde Dupree’ used a fortune-telling trick to rob people looking for love.

A story for Valentine's Day - in 1909, clairvoyant 'Professor Clyde Dupree' conned people out of hundreds of dollars with a love charm fraud.

A cartoon squirrel in a blue dress and yellow hat, against a red background. It holds a heart-shaped sign saying ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m a nice squirrel and nuts to you.’

Happy Valentine’s Day from this nice 1940s squirrel.

a group of men in military uniforms are standing next to each other in a room Alt: Gif of Allo Allo scene in the cafe involving four people, including the Englishman posing as French police and a woman member of the Resistance disguised as an officer, complete with moustache.

Gad Moaning #HistPsych folks,

🚨Help!🚨

I'm crowdsourcing examples of British police officers as patients in asylums and mental hospitals - also seeking examples of case histories involving the police. Do you know of one? Answer here, or email: r dot i dot wynter @ uva dot nl.

#HistSTM #HistMed

A matter of knife and death Between 1799 and 1805, sailor John Cummings swallowed dozens of pocket-knives.

‘He did not like to go against his word, neither was he anxious to take the job in hand; but, by having a good supply of grog inwardly, he took his own pocket-knife, and tryed it first, which slipped down his throat with great ease.’

In 1799, sailor John Cummings started a dangerous party trick:

Thank you very much!

Becoming like the dainty girl In Edwardian London, a new weight-loss product used marketing messages that remain familiar today.

At the beginning of the 20th century, weight-loss products like Figuroids were already pressurising people to be thin:

A clipping of an 1870s newspaper with an explanation of the process of 'Sucking the Monkey' - drinking wine from a tapped barrel. It details a court case of a labourer who was charged with doing it.

Can't even suck the monkey any more, the world's gone mad.

I’m happy to have helped inspire such an illustrious career!

Sorry to hear that. I very much appreciate being included in the starter packs and your shares of my recent posts!

That’s such an interesting and complex case

Yes, it’s hard to know but I think she would have stood a good chance.

Thank you!

The melancholy delusion of the Stewart sisters In 1860s Glasgow, Marion and Catherine Stewart withdrew from all contact with the outside world.

My substack article this week tells the sad story of Marion and Catherine Stewart, sisters who experienced a shared psychosis in 1860s Glasgow: thequackdoctor.substack.com/p/the-melanc...

Trust him, he’s a doctor!

Dr Kane's radium swindle Harry Hubbell Kane conned $10,000 out of a patient desperate for a radioactive cure.

Medical fraudster Dr H H Kane sold a fake radium treatment in 1904:

Wall of the old operating theatre with a door and two signs, the one above is the motto of the surgeons of St Thomas and it reads "For Mercy, Not for Gain."

1/3 -🩺 Miseratione Non Mercede—"For Mercy, Not for Gain." This was the motto of the surgeons at Old St Thomas’ Hospital, a reminder that their work in the operating theatre wasn’t about getting rich. (Good thing, too—charitable hospitals didn’t exactly pay luxury wages!) 💰🚫

Very frequently, I should think.

An advertisement titled 'Wat Rich Wife.' The ad copy says: 'No man is likely to succeed in his search for a rich wife, if he does not keep himself in a state of perfect health by taking Dr King’s New Life Pills when troubled with Constipation and Biliousness. They are safe, gentle and effective.'

Here's an inventive marketing message from the H E Bucklen Company of Chicago in the late 19th century. Bucklen was said to spend $100,000 a year on advertising.

This excerpt is from ‘Dr King’s Lucky Book’ (1895), which included content about interpreting dreams, predicting future happiness, etc.

'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.

Dr Harry H Kane, author of 'A Hashish House in New York: the Curious Adventures of an Individual who Indulged in a Few Pipefuls of the Narcotic Hemp' launched a cure for drug addiction in 1886 - but his 'Dr Buckland's Scotch Oats Essence' wasn't as wholesome as it sounded.

A newspaper advertisement for a lung medicine. It has an image of a huge pile of skulls with a grim reaper figure gesturing towards them. The figure has the word 'Consumption' on its robes.

A macabre advertisement for J Lawrence Hill's consumption cure from Jackson, MI, 1910. The treatment consisted of an oil of wintergreen chest rub, some sugar pills and a laxative.

#histmed #quackery

A moustachioed man in a white outfit trimmed with blue and red is lying on a sledge in motion down a snowy hill. He has a woolly hat with a long tassel and is holding one gloved hand out in front of him.

We had a flurry of snow here this morning but not enough to go and play in, unlike the chap on this 1880s trade card promoting Lutted's Cough Drops.

Recipe for tummy cramps, 1808.

For those of you suffering from New Year tummy - Lady's Monthly Museum, 1808. 👀