Become a ‘Patreon’ of The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice
Since I launched a donate button on my website several weeks ago, I’ve been overwhelmed by your generosity and support. Then, a few days ago, a friend of mine turned me onto a site called Patreon (no, that’s not a typo!) which would allow me to give a little something extra back to each and every […]
The Anaesthetized Queen & the Path to Painless Childbirth
‘Did the epidural hurt?’ I ask Rebecca Rideal—editor of The History Vault—one morning as we sit outside the British Library. ‘Not really.’ She hesitates, clearly wanting to say more without divulging too much information. ‘I mean, it’s nothing compared to the labour pains. The hardest part was lying still while the anaesthesiologist administered the needle.’ […]
Disturbing Disorders: A Brief History of Harlequin Ichthyosis
Last Saturday, I was lounging around on the couch watching 5 straight episodes of Forensic Detectives (don’t judge) when I heard my computer ping. Being the internet junkie that I am, I immediately checked my inbox and saw a message from my old school friend, Andy, who is currently studying medicine at Case Western. He […]
Being a Medical History Blogger
The year was 2010. I had just completed 9 years of university education which culminated in a PhD from the University of Oxford in the History of Science, Medicine & Technology; and I was about to start a 3-year postdoctoral research fellowship with the Wellcome Trust. I was on top of the world, academically-speaking. Yet, for me, there […]
The Horrors of Pre-Anaesthetic Surgery
I often joke that The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice is all about ‘the horrors of pre-anaesthetic surgery’ and yet, I’ve never written an article which focuses primarily on the patient’s experience before the widespread use of ether beginning in the 1840s. Suffice-to-say, it was not a pleasant affair. In 1750, the anatomist, John Hunter, colourfully described surgery […]
Public Health & Victorian Cemetery Reform
In 1843, the Scottish cemetery designer, John Claudius Loudon, explained that the purpose of a burial ground was to dispose of the dead ‘in such a manner as that their decomposition, and return to the earth from which they sprung, shall not prove injurious to the living.’ [1] A decade earlier, London cemeteries had reached critical […]
The Hung & Drawn Quarterly
I’m very excited to announce the launch of The Hung & Drawn Quarterly on Grave Matters! Illustrated by Adrian Teal, this comic follows Chris Skaife, Ravenmaster at the Tower of London, and myself on grisly adventures through history, documenting four terrible tales from each century. Beginning in the fifteenth with the execution of the Duke of Clarence, […]
The Double Casket of Thomas & Mary Souder
I remember rummaging through an old trunk in my grandmother’s house when I was a child and coming across what seemed to me at the time a very unusual photograph. It was a monochromatic image of a beautiful, young woman lying in a white casket (not dissimilar to the photo on the left). Curious, I […]
Death’s Doll: The World’s Most Beautiful Mummy
They call her ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ the world’s most beautiful mummy. Rosalia Lombardo died from pneumonia in 1920 at the tender age of 2. Her body was embalmed by Alfredo Salafia (below), put into a glass coffin, and placed inside the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy. If it were not for the oxidizing amulet of the Virgin […]
Medicine’s Dark Secrets – Update
My Dear Donors, It is with a heavy heart that I report to you that I have given notice of termination of my contract with Big Baby Productions Ltd, and will no longer be involved in Medicine’s Dark Secrets. Over 7 months after filming finished, the production was significantly behind schedule and, in my view, was […]