Dr Lindsey Fitzharris
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drlindseyfitz.bsky.social
Dr Lindsey Fitzharris
@drlindseyfitz.bsky.social

NYT Bestselling Author. Medical Historian. Breast Cancer Survivor.

Next book: SLEUTH-HOUND, a whirlwind tour of Victorian forensics from the perspective of the man who loaned a voice & razor-sharp logic to Baker St.’s famous resident: Sherlock Holmes. .. more

Samuel Jackson Holmes was an American zoologist and eugenicist. He was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley from 1912 to 1938. He was a genetics researcher who studied animal behavior, heredity, and evolution. Over the course of his career he migrated from studying animals to humans, taking the behaviors and traits learned in the former and looking for them in the latter. .. more

Philosophy 26%
History 22%
Pinned
Another mass Twitter exodus! Welcome, followers - old and new.

If you ever wondered what would happen if you needed a leg amputated in 1832, or if you had a toothache in 1765 - look no further.

From the weird to the wonderful, I'm your gal for all things medical history!
I missed #Caturday but this cat belongs on your timeline regardless of the day!
Research is about discovery. THE FACEMAKER opens with the story of Private Percy Clare, who's shot in the face in WWI. I found his handwritten diary at the Imperial War Museum, which led me to connecting with relatives of his who were able to provide further documents & details about his life.
Not a historian but like to research. The AI might summarize what I'm looking for, but it doesn't find what I'm *not* looking for. The book on the shelf next to the one I wanted. The insight in chapter 6 based on the quote I needed from chapter 4.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

Long ago...I had a YT Channel called Under The Knife. I did silly clips on medical history, like this on Victorian anti-masturbation devices & the real reason Kellogg's Cornflakes exist.

I'm thinking of resurrecting the channel, but it's a lot of work. Thoughts?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3CH...
Victorian Anti-Masturbation Devices - Episode 3 - Under The Knife
YouTube video by Lindsey Fitz
www.youtube.com

Reposted by Smith

During #WWI, medics applied 1.5 million splints, fitted over 20,000 artificial eyes & used 7,250 tons of cotton wool while applying 108 million bandages to injured soldiers. More than 6,000 medics died & over 17,000 were wounded in the British Army alone.

Reposted by Mark Rice

The most helpful phrase of 2025 👇

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

Future medical historians, rejoice! There will be much to say about 2025.

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

A gentleman skeleton at a ball asks a lady skeleton to dance; representing the effect of arsenical dyes and pigments in clothing and accessories. Wood engraving, 1862.

Image: Wellcome Collection, London.
Facial prosthesis, c.1917. THREAD for #RemembranceSunday🧵

From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. /1
#OTD 1867, Marie Curie was born.

During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.

Totally f*cked if all he has is Dr Oz

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

#TheVictorianBookoftheDead 1915 Studebaker hearse, with elaborately carved curtains, tassels, ribbons and pillars, echoing earlier horse-drawn hearses made by Studebaker.
www.bonhams.com/auctions/247...

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

COVID Is Beginning to Surge Globally—What Are the Symptoms, and How Serious Is It? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
COVID-19 is spreading again — how serious is it and what are the symptoms?
Limited COVID-19 surveillance data are hampering vaccination and health strategies, researchers say.
www.nature.com

He loves to stir the pot! 😂 We'll all have to go for drinks soon!

A pewter syringe (1711) recovered from the shipwreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge, famed Pirate Black Beard's stolen flagship. The urethral syringe contained mercury, which most likely treated pirates aboard ailing from syphilis. More info: www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning...

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

Marcella Giulia Pace, Italian astrophotographer who took ten years to capture 48 colours of the moon #WomensArt (via Amazing Physics) #FullMoon

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

My #caricature of Louise Brooks.

Brooks was a movie actress in the '20s and '30s, and was an icon of flapper culture. She helped popularize the bob hairstyle of the era.

#art

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

'Remember, remember the 5th of November!' 🔥

These are thought to be the earliest photographs of a bonfire.

These photographs were taken in 1853 by John Dillwyn Llewelyn at Penllergare in Swansea 📷

museum.wales/articles/972...

#Wales #BonfireNight #History

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione (1837-1899), Italian aristocrat & pioneering figure in the early history of photography #WomensArt
OK, as promised, here's my thread about the links between tear gas/pepper spray and the arms trade and gun industry.

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

Prepare for tenuousity on a scale thus far unmatched...

Guy Fawkes’ second cousins - Henry and Thomas were Merchant Adventurers.

#bonfirenight

One side of this ivory "memento mori" features a human face crawling with worms and insects; the other side shows a skull - the flesh eaten away. Date unknown.

This unusual object is from the Wellcome Collection in London.

Diversity is our strength, not our weakness.

A bad night for the politics of hate.
“The symbolism of the moment is hard to beat. At a time when Trump is not just demonising immigrants, but harassing them and sending masked goons to kidnap them from the street, America’s greatest city – and Trump’s hometown – has elected a Muslim immigrant to run it.”
Mamdani shows a different way is possible
The New York mayor’s resounding victory is a warning to Trump and his own party’s old guard
www.thenewworld.co.uk

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

“The symbolism of the moment is hard to beat. At a time when Trump is not just demonising immigrants, but harassing them and sending masked goons to kidnap them from the street, America’s greatest city – and Trump’s hometown – has elected a Muslim immigrant to run it.”
Mamdani shows a different way is possible
The New York mayor’s resounding victory is a warning to Trump and his own party’s old guard
www.thenewworld.co.uk

Omg you did! I’m literally turning over final edits today! We need to catch up

I have so much election day PTSD that sleep is impossible for long stretches

I woke up so early for this and it did not disappoint 😂

Hope springs eternal, America 🇺🇸
REMINDER: A socialist act by a New Yorker was a major reason why polio was eliminated in the US.

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

The door to the old bridewell at Moxham village. The gaol has remained locked since 1934 due to the high levels of haunting experienced by villagers walking passed it. Many put this down to the witch spirit of Old Mother Twilling, others to the high number of drunks who died in it across the years.

Reposted by S. J. Holmes

Deep sigh. “Mustard gas” is entirely unrelated to mustard or mustard seeds. It’s a nickname. Hell, it’s not even a gas