Lancets and Leeches and Cupping! Oh, My! Bloodletting Practices in Early Modern England
Bloodletting practices were ubiquitous in early modern England. Both the healthy and the sick had their blood let for medicinal purposes. For many medical practitioners,
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice in The Guardian
After viewing images of Muammar Gaddafi’s bruised and bloodied corpse in the news this past month, I was moved to write an article for The
From the Dissection Room: Caroline Crachami, the ‘Sicilian Fairy’
[LEFT] The skeletal remains of Caroline Crachami (ca. 1815? – 1824) who is sometimes cited as being the smallest person in recorded history. At the
‘The Deadly Nevergreen’: Public Hangings at Tyburn
They called it ‘the deadly nevergreen’, the tree which bore fruit all year long. The scaffold at Tyburn consisted of three posts—each ten to twelve
The Final Indignity: Dissecting the Criminal Body
On 29 July 1831, John Amy Bird Bell was found guilty of murdering a 13-year-old boy for the sake of 9 shillings (45 pence). Bird,
From the Dissection Room: The Two-Headed Boy of Bengal
The skull of a young boy from Bengal with a second imperfect skull attached to its anterior fontanelle, 1783. From the Royal College of Surgeons,