Download or read book The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities written by Nicholas Bakalar and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-07-21 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delightful doses of medical miscellany about wacky doctors and their curious patients, from their smallest bones (the stapes) to their heaviest organs (the liver) In this addictive collection of trivia, Nicholas Bakalar, the "Vital Signs" columnist for The New York Times, spoons out the things you never realized you really want to know about your body and your health. Bakalar shares the wonders of medicine, from medical firsts (in 1667, the first survivor of a blood transfusion received sheep's blood) to medical onlys (rabies is the only infectious disease that is 100 percent curable when treated and 100 percent fatal if not). He takes a tour of diseases that belong in horror movies: liquefying organs, flesh-eating bacteria, mushrooms sprouting in the throat. He notes remarkable remedies, such as dark chocolate, which can stand in for blood-pressure pills. And he dissects the chemistry of the human body (including the 0.0000000000000015259 percent that is radium). With a specialist's attention to the funny bone as well as the gray matter, Bakalar's The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities tickles the curiosity of both the healthy and the hypochondriac, following Voltaire's dictum that "the art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
Download or read book A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities written by Jan Bondeson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long ago, curiosities were arranged in cabinets for display: a dried mermaid might be next to a giant's shinbone, the skeletons of conjoined twins beside an Egyptian mummy. In ten essays, Jan Bondeson brings a physician's diagnostic skills to various unexpected, gruesome, and extraordinary aspects of the history of medicine: spontaneous human combustion, colonies of snakes and frogs living in a person's stomach, kings and emperors devoured by lice, vicious tribes of tailed men, and the Two-Headed Boy of Bengal. Bondeson tells the story of Mary Toft, who gained notoriety in 1726 when she allegedly gave birth to seventeen rabbits. King George I, the Prince of Wales, and the court physicians attributed these monstrous births to a "maternal impression" because Mary had longed for a meal of rabbit while pregnant. Bondeson explains that the fallacy of maternal impressions, conspicuous in the novels of Goethe, Sir Walter Scott, and Charles Dickens, has ancient roots in Chinese and Babylonian manuscripts. Bondeson also presents the tragic case of Julia Pastrana, a Mexican Indian woman with thick hair growing over her body and a massive overgrowth of the gums that gave her a simian or ape-like appearance. Called the Ape Woman, she was exhibited all over the world. After her death in 1860, Julia's husband, who had also been her impresario, had her body mummified and continued to exhibit it throughout Europe. Bondeson tracked the mummy down and managed to diagnose Julia Pastrana's condition as the result of a rare genetic syndrome.
Download or read book The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities written by Nick Bakalar and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-07-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delightful doses of medical miscellany about wacky doctors and their curious patients, from their smallest bones (the stapes) to their heaviest organs (the liver) In this addictive collection of trivia, Nicholas Bakalar, the “Vital Signs” columnist forThe New York Times, spoons out the things you never realized you really want to know about your body and your health. Bakalar shares the wonders of medicine, from medical firsts (in 1667, the first survivor of a blood transfusion received sheep’s blood) to medical onlys (rabies is the only infectious disease that is 100 percent curable when treated and 100 percent fatal if not). He takes a tour of diseases that belong in horror movies: liquefying organs, flesh-eating bacteria, mushrooms sprouting in the throat. He notes remarkable remedies, such as dark chocolate, which can stand in for blood-pressure pills. And he dissects the chemistry of the human body (including the 0.0000000000000015259 percent that is radium). With a specialist’s attention to the funny bone as well as the gray matter, Bakalar tickles the curiosity of both the healthy and the hypochondriac, following Voltaire’s dictum that “the art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” DIVNicholas Bakalar,a longtime “Vital Signs” columnist forThe New York Times, is the author or co-author of twelve books, includingWhere the Germs Are: A Scientific Safari. He has also reported on health and science news forDiscovermagazine,Wildlife Conservation, andNational Geographic News. He lives in New York City.
Download or read book The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities written by Nicholas Bakalar and published by Times Books. This book was released on 2009-07-21 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Delightful doses of medical miscellany about wacky doctors and their curious patients, from their smallest bones (the stapes) to their heaviest organs (the liver) In this addictive collection of trivia, Nicholas Bakalar, the "Vital Signs" columnist for The New York Times, spoons out the things you never realized you really want to know about your body and your health. Bakalar shares the wonders of medicine, from medical firsts (in 1667, the first survivor of a blood transfusion received sheep's blood) to medical onlys (rabies is the only infectious disease that is 100 percent curable when treated and 100 percent fatal if not). He takes a tour of diseases that belong in horror movies: liquefying organs, flesh-eating bacteria, mushrooms sprouting in the throat. He notes remarkable remedies, such as dark chocolate, which can stand in for blood-pressure pills. And he dissects the chemistry of the human body (including the 0.0000000000000015259 percent that is radium). With a specialist's attention to the funny bone as well as the gray matter, Bakalar's The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities tickles the curiosity of both the healthy and the hypochondriac, following Voltaire's dictum that "the art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."
Download or read book A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities written by J. C. McKeown and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A light-hearted portrait of the origins of modern medicine in the ancient world
Download or read book Cabinet of Curiosities written by Colleen Josephine Sheehy and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities written by J. C. McKeown and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a whimsical and captivating collection of odd facts, strange beliefs, outlandish opinions, and other highly amusing trivia of the ancient Romans. We tend to think of the Romans as a pragmatic people with a ruthlessly efficient army, an exemplary legal system, and a precise and elegant language. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities shows that the Romans were equally capable of bizarre superstitions, logic-defying customs, and often hilariously derisive views of their fellow Romans and non-Romans. Classicist J. C. McKeown has organized the entries in this entertaining volume around major themes--The Army, Women, Religion and Superstition, Family Life, Medicine, Slaves, Spectacles--allowing for quick browsing or more deliberate consumption. Among the book's many gems are: BL Romans on urban living: The satirist Juvenal lists "fires, falling buildings, and poets reciting in August as hazards to life in Rome." BL On enhanced interrogation: "If we are obliged to take evidence from an arena-fighter or some other such person, his testimony is not to be believed unless given under torture." (Justinian) BL On dreams: Dreaming of eating books "foretells advantage to teachers, lecturers, and anyone who earns his livelihood from books, but for everyone else it means sudden death" BL On food: "When people unwittingly eat human flesh, served by unscrupulous restaurant owners and other such people, the similarity to pork is often noted." (Galen) BL On marriage: In ancient Rome a marriage could be arranged even when the parties were absent, so long as they knew of the arrangement, "or agreed to it subsequently." BL On health care: Pliny caustically described medical bills as a "down payment on death," and Martial quipped that "Diaulus used to be a doctor, now he's a mortician. He does as a mortician what he did as a doctor." For anyone seeking an inglorious glimpse at the underside of the greatest empire in history, A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities offers endless delights.
Download or read book A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities written by Anthony Kaldellis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Weird, decadent, degenerate, racially mixed, superstitious, theocratic, effeminate, and even hyper-literate, Byzantium has long been regarded by many as one big curiosity. According to Voltaire, it represented "a worthless collection of miracles, a disgrace for the human mind"; for Hegel, it was "a disgusting picture of imbecility." A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities will churn up these old prejudices, while also stimulating a deeper interest among readers in one of history's most interesting civilizations. Many of the zanier tales and trivia that are collected here revolve around the political and religious life of Byzantium. Thus, stories of saints, relics, and their miracles-from the hilarious to the revolting-abound. Byzantine bureaucracy (whence the adjective "Byzantine"), court scandals, and elaborate penal code are world famous. And what would Byzantium be without its eunuchs, whose ambiguous gender produced odd and risible outcomes in different contexts? The book also contains sections on daily life that are equally eye-opening, including food (from aphrodisiacs to fermented fish sauce), games such as polo and acrobatics, and obnoxious views of foreigners and others (e.g., Germans, Catholics, Arabs, dwarves). But lest we overlook Byzantium's more honorable contributions to civilization, also included are some of the marvels of Byzantine science and technology, from the military (flamethrowers and hand grenades) to the theatrical ("elevator" thrones, roaring mechanical lions) and medical (catheters and cures, some bizarre). This vast assortment of historical anomaly and absurdity sheds vital light on one of history's most obscure and orthodox empires.
Download or read book New World Objects of Knowledge written by Mark Thurner and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Amazing Dogs written by Jan Bondeson and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amazing Dogs tells the stories of some of the most extraordinary dogs in history.
Download or read book Magruder s Curiosity Cabinet written by H.P. Wood and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It's a rare novel that manages to combine humor, tragedy, powerful friendships, outcasts, insiders, detached satire, and deeply felt emotion all in one..."—Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Daughter A hypnotic novel in turn-of-the-century Coney Island, where an abandoned girl collides with a disgruntled ménage of circus freaks. Kitty Hayward and her mother are ready to experience the spectacles of Coney Island's newest attraction, the Dreamland amusement park. But when Kitty's mother vanishes from their hotel, she finds herself penniless, alone, and far from her native England. The last people she expects to help are the cast of characters at Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet, a museum of oddities. From con men to strongmen, from flea wranglers to lion tamers, Kitty's new friends quickly adopt her and vow to help find the missing Mrs. Hayward. But even these unusual inhabitants may not be a match for the insidious sickness that begins to spread through Coney Island...or the panic that turns Dreamland into a nightmare. With shades of Water For Elephants and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet sweeps readers into a mesmerizing world where nothing is as it seems, and where "normal" is the exception to the rule.
Download or read book Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine written by George Milbry Gould and published by . This book was released on 1901 with total page 1008 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Future Remains written by Gregg Mitman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-04-20 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What can a pesticide pump, a jar full of sand, or an old calico print tell us about the Anthropocene—the age of humans? Just as paleontologists look to fossil remains to infer past conditions of life on earth, so might past and present-day objects offer clues to intertwined human and natural histories that shape our planetary futures. In this era of aggressive hydrocarbon extraction, extreme weather, and severe economic disparity, how might certain objects make visible the uneven interplay of economic, material, and social forces that shape relationships among human and nonhuman beings? Future Remains is a thoughtful and creative meditation on these questions. The fifteen objects gathered in this book resemble more the tarots of a fortuneteller than the archaeological finds of an expedition—they speak of planetary futures. Marco Armiero, Robert S. Emmett, and Gregg Mitman have assembled a cabinet of curiosities for the Anthropocene, bringing together a mix of lively essays, creatively chosen objects, and stunning photographs by acclaimed photographer Tim Flach. The result is a book that interrogates the origins, implications, and potential dangers of the Anthropocene and makes us wonder anew about what exactly human history is made of.
Download or read book Hong Kong Apothecary written by Simon Go and published by Princeton Architectural Press. This book was released on 2003-07 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hong Kong Apothecary transports us to the exotic world of Eastern medicine, a world of oils, powders, pills, and cures for every known ailment from impotency to opium addiction. As peculiar as pink pills for pale people are the packages containing these medicaments. Author Simon Go has combed manufacturers, shops, and home medicine cabinets for years collecting the most compelling examples. the result is a visual cabinet of curiosities, a graphical pharmacopoeia. Divided by type such as ointments, herbal teas, infused oils Hong Kong Apothecary presents the fascinating graphics and tantalizing descriptions of hundreds of medicines and gives us an insight into Chinese customs afforded only by examining the artifacts and customs of everyday life. many of these medicines are no longer produced, making Hong Kong Apothecary a memoir of a quickly disappearing culture. This lavishly illustrated book is of interest as much for designers seeking inspiration in the unknown vernacular of commercial graphics as for anyone interested in Eastern medicine.
Download or read book The Classical Tradition written by Anthony Grafton and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-25 with total page 1188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legacy of ancient Greece and Rome has been imitated, resisted, misunderstood, and reworked by every culture that followed. In this volume, some five hundred articles by a wide range of scholars investigate the afterlife of this rich heritage in the fields of literature, philosophy, art, architecture, history, politics, religion, and science.
Download or read book Still Life with Crows written by Douglas Preston and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2003-07-01 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a series of murders strikes small-town Kansas, FBI Special Agent Pendergast must track down a killer or a curse -- either way, no one is safe. A small Kansas town has turned into a killing ground. Is it a serial killer, a man with the need to destroy? Or is it a darker force, a curse upon the land? Amid golden cornfields, FBI Special Agent Pendergast discovers evil in the blood of America's heartland. No one is safe.
Download or read book Ancient Medicine written by Vivian Nutton and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-17 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third edition of this magisterial account of medicine in the Greek and Roman worlds, written by the foremost expert on the subject, has been updated to incorporate the many new discoveries made in the field over the past decade. This revised volume includes discussions of several new or forgotten works by Galen and his contemporaries, as well as of new archaeological material. RNA analysis has expanded our understanding of disease in the ancient world; the book explores the consequences of this for sufferers, for example in creating disability. Nutton also expands upon the treatment of pre-Galenic medicine in Greece and Rome. In addition, subtitles and a chronology will make for easier student consultation, and the bibliography is substantially revised and updated, providing avenues for future student research. This third edition of Ancient Medicine will remain the definitive textbook on the subject for students of medicine in the classical world, and the history of medicine and science more broadly, with much to interest scholars in the field as well.
