Medical Curiosities and Mistakes PDF Download

Author: R. M. Youngson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780752535432
Category : Medicine
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Author: J. C. McKeown
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190610433
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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A light-hearted portrait of the origins of modern medicine in the ancient world

Author: George Milbry Gould
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Abnormalities, Human
Languages : en
Pages : 1008

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Author: George M. Gould
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 984

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This is a medical reference book and contains detailed descriptions and illustrations of various medical anomalies and unusual conditions. The book covers topics such as genetic anomalies, prenatal anomalies, obstetric anomalies, surgical anomalies, and anomalous types and instances of diseases. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the history of medical knowledge and serves as a valuable resource for medical professionals and researchers interested in rare and unusual medical conditions.

Author: National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Incunabula
Languages : en
Pages : 962

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Author: Thomas Morris
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1524743704
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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"Delightfully horrifying."--Popular Science This wryly humorous collection of stories about bizarre medical treatments and cases offers a unique portrait of a bygone era in all its jaw-dropping weirdness. A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the nineteenth century is just one of many strange tales that have long lain undiscovered in the pages of old medical journals. Award-winning medical historian Thomas Morris delivers one of the most remarkable, cringe-inducing collections of stories ever assembled. Witness Mysterious Illnesses (such as the Rhode Island woman who peed through her nose), Horrifying Operations (1781: A French soldier in India operates on his own bladder stone), Tall Tales (like the "amphibious infant" of Chicago, a baby that could apparently swim underwater for half an hour), Unfortunate Predicaments (such as that of the boy who honked like a goose after inhaling a bird's larynx), and a plethora of other marvels. Beyond a series of anecdotes, these painfully amusing stories reveal a great deal about the evolution of modern medicine. Some show the medical profession hopeless in the face of ailments that today would be quickly banished by modern drugs; but others are heartening tales of recovery against the odds, patients saved from death by the devotion or ingenuity of a conscientious doctor. However embarrassing the ailment or ludicrous the treatment, every case in The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth tells us something about the knowledge (and ignorance) of an earlier age, along with the sheer resilience of human life.

Author: Jan Bondeson
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501733451
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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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.

Author: Alfred S. Posamentier
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1616147482
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Two veteran math educators demonstrate how some "magnificent mistakes" had profound consequences for our understanding of mathematics' key concepts. In the nineteenth century, English mathematician William Shanks spent fifteen years calculating the value of pi, setting a record for the number of decimal places. Later, his calculation was reproduced using large wooden numerals to decorate the cupola of a hall in the Palais de la Découverte in Paris. However, in 1946, with the aid of a mechanical desk calculator that ran for seventy hours, it was discovered that there was a mistake in the 528th decimal place. Today, supercomputers have determined the value of pi to trillions of decimal places. This is just one of the amusing and intriguing stories about mistakes in mathematics in this layperson's guide to mathematical principles. In another example, the authors show that when we "prove" that every triangle is isosceles, we are violating a concept not even known to Euclid - that of "betweenness." And if we disregard the time-honored Pythagorean theorem, this is a misuse of the concept of infinity. Even using correct procedures can sometimes lead to absurd - but enlightening - results. Requiring no more than high-school-level math competency, this playful excursion through the nuances of math will give you a better grasp of this fundamental, all-important science.

Author: Nick Bakalar
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0805088547
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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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.

Author: Louisiana State Medical Society
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medicine
Languages : en
Pages : 892

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