Caroline Rance
@quackdoctor.bsky.social
Writer focusing on the history of medicine, especially patent remedies and fraudsters at thequackdoctor.com and thequackdoctor.substack.com
Also co-host of literature podcast @shewrotetoo.bsky.social
Also co-host of literature podcast @shewrotetoo.bsky.social
In the new episode of @shewrotetoo.bsky.social I had a fascinating conversation with author @janerobinson.bsky.social about the subject of her latest biography - 19th-century educationalist and women’s rights campaigner Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon.
Trailblazer: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
An interview with biographer Jane Robinson about this pioneering 19th-century feminist
shewrotetoo.substack.com
May 11, 2025 at 10:30 AM
In the new episode of @shewrotetoo.bsky.social I had a fascinating conversation with author @janerobinson.bsky.social about the subject of her latest biography - 19th-century educationalist and women’s rights campaigner Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon.
In 1892, Lilian Murray (later Lilian Lindsay) was told she would be sure to give up her ambition to be a dentist because ‘you do not know what you are in for’:
'You cannot prevent me from becoming a dentist!'
Lilian Lindsay (1871-1960) overcame opposition to qualify as the UK's first female Licenciate in Dental Surgery
thequackdoctor.substack.com
May 10, 2025 at 6:18 AM
In 1892, Lilian Murray (later Lilian Lindsay) was told she would be sure to give up her ambition to be a dentist because ‘you do not know what you are in for’:
Dr Thomas' Eclectric Oil, originating in Buffalo, NY, in the 1840s, was a camphor and turpentine preparation for rubbing onto aching joints or taking internally for coughs and colds. Trade cards like this often had cute, funny or interesting pictures to encourage people to hang onto them.
April 7, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Dr Thomas' Eclectric Oil, originating in Buffalo, NY, in the 1840s, was a camphor and turpentine preparation for rubbing onto aching joints or taking internally for coughs and colds. Trade cards like this often had cute, funny or interesting pictures to encourage people to hang onto them.
‘Sagliftology’ was a health system launched in 1926 by Percy and Georgean Poole of San Diego, CA, who called themselves doctors because they had awarded themselves degrees from their own college. Sagliftology used trusses and corsets to prevent the internal organs sagging and getting congested.
April 1, 2025 at 10:20 AM
‘Sagliftology’ was a health system launched in 1926 by Percy and Georgean Poole of San Diego, CA, who called themselves doctors because they had awarded themselves degrees from their own college. Sagliftology used trusses and corsets to prevent the internal organs sagging and getting congested.
The first UK Dentists Register in 1879 included the names of more than 20 women - I'm trying to find out everything I can about them:
#historyofdentistry #WomensHistoryMonth
#historyofdentistry #WomensHistoryMonth
Filling in the stories of women dentists
When the first UK Dentists Register was published in 1879, it didn't exclude women.
thequackdoctor.substack.com
March 26, 2025 at 9:35 AM
The first UK Dentists Register in 1879 included the names of more than 20 women - I'm trying to find out everything I can about them:
#historyofdentistry #WomensHistoryMonth
#historyofdentistry #WomensHistoryMonth
In 1850, a doctor suffered months of pain and all sorts of treatment from London’s top surgeons before a sharp-eyed servant spotted what was wrong …
#historyofmedicine
#historyofmedicine
A thorn in the flesh
A Victorian doctor's own mysterious symptoms puzzled his eminent friends
thequackdoctor.substack.com
February 24, 2025 at 2:46 PM
In 1850, a doctor suffered months of pain and all sorts of treatment from London’s top surgeons before a sharp-eyed servant spotted what was wrong …
#historyofmedicine
#historyofmedicine
A story for Valentine's Day - in 1909, clairvoyant 'Professor Clyde Dupree' conned people out of hundreds of dollars with a love charm fraud.
Tin tube trickery: a clairvoyant’s love scam
‘Professor Clyde Dupree’ used a fortune-telling trick to rob people looking for love.
thequackdoctor.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 2:54 PM
A story for Valentine's Day - in 1909, clairvoyant 'Professor Clyde Dupree' conned people out of hundreds of dollars with a love charm fraud.
Happy Valentine’s Day from this nice 1940s squirrel.
February 14, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Happy Valentine’s Day from this nice 1940s squirrel.
Reposted by Caroline Rance
Gad Moaning #HistPsych folks,
🚨Help!🚨
I'm crowdsourcing examples of British police officers as patients in asylums and mental hospitals - also seeking examples of case histories involving the police. Do you know of one? Answer here, or email: r dot i dot wynter @ uva dot nl.
#HistSTM #HistMed
🚨Help!🚨
I'm crowdsourcing examples of British police officers as patients in asylums and mental hospitals - also seeking examples of case histories involving the police. Do you know of one? Answer here, or email: r dot i dot wynter @ uva dot nl.
#HistSTM #HistMed
a group of men in military uniforms are standing next to each other in a room
Alt: Gif of Allo Allo scene in the cafe involving four people, including the Englishman posing as French police and a woman member of the Resistance disguised as an officer, complete with moustache.
media.tenor.com
February 11, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Gad Moaning #HistPsych folks,
🚨Help!🚨
I'm crowdsourcing examples of British police officers as patients in asylums and mental hospitals - also seeking examples of case histories involving the police. Do you know of one? Answer here, or email: r dot i dot wynter @ uva dot nl.
#HistSTM #HistMed
🚨Help!🚨
I'm crowdsourcing examples of British police officers as patients in asylums and mental hospitals - also seeking examples of case histories involving the police. Do you know of one? Answer here, or email: r dot i dot wynter @ uva dot nl.
#HistSTM #HistMed
‘He did not like to go against his word, neither was he anxious to take the job in hand; but, by having a good supply of grog inwardly, he took his own pocket-knife, and tryed it first, which slipped down his throat with great ease.’
In 1799, sailor John Cummings started a dangerous party trick:
In 1799, sailor John Cummings started a dangerous party trick:
A matter of knife and death
Between 1799 and 1805, sailor John Cummings swallowed dozens of pocket-knives.
thequackdoctor.substack.com
February 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
‘He did not like to go against his word, neither was he anxious to take the job in hand; but, by having a good supply of grog inwardly, he took his own pocket-knife, and tryed it first, which slipped down his throat with great ease.’
In 1799, sailor John Cummings started a dangerous party trick:
In 1799, sailor John Cummings started a dangerous party trick:
At the beginning of the 20th century, weight-loss products like Figuroids were already pressurising people to be thin:
Becoming like the dainty girl
In Edwardian London, a new weight-loss product used marketing messages that remain familiar today.
thequackdoctor.substack.com
February 1, 2025 at 9:16 AM
At the beginning of the 20th century, weight-loss products like Figuroids were already pressurising people to be thin:
Reposted by Caroline Rance
Can't even suck the monkey any more, the world's gone mad.
January 29, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Can't even suck the monkey any more, the world's gone mad.
My substack article this week tells the sad story of Marion and Catherine Stewart, sisters who experienced a shared psychosis in 1860s Glasgow: thequackdoctor.substack.com/p/the-melanc...
The melancholy delusion of the Stewart sisters
In 1860s Glasgow, Marion and Catherine Stewart withdrew from all contact with the outside world.
thequackdoctor.substack.com
January 26, 2025 at 10:46 AM
My substack article this week tells the sad story of Marion and Catherine Stewart, sisters who experienced a shared psychosis in 1860s Glasgow: thequackdoctor.substack.com/p/the-melanc...
Medical fraudster Dr H H Kane sold a fake radium treatment in 1904:
Dr Kane's radium swindle
Harry Hubbell Kane conned $10,000 out of a patient desperate for a radioactive cure.
thequackdoctor.substack.com
January 19, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Medical fraudster Dr H H Kane sold a fake radium treatment in 1904:
Reposted by Caroline Rance
1/3 -🩺 Miseratione Non Mercede—"For Mercy, Not for Gain." This was the motto of the surgeons at Old St Thomas’ Hospital, a reminder that their work in the operating theatre wasn’t about getting rich. (Good thing, too—charitable hospitals didn’t exactly pay luxury wages!) 💰🚫
January 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM
1/3 -🩺 Miseratione Non Mercede—"For Mercy, Not for Gain." This was the motto of the surgeons at Old St Thomas’ Hospital, a reminder that their work in the operating theatre wasn’t about getting rich. (Good thing, too—charitable hospitals didn’t exactly pay luxury wages!) 💰🚫
Here's an inventive marketing message from the H E Bucklen Company of Chicago in the late 19th century. Bucklen was said to spend $100,000 a year on advertising.
This excerpt is from ‘Dr King’s Lucky Book’ (1895), which included content about interpreting dreams, predicting future happiness, etc.
This excerpt is from ‘Dr King’s Lucky Book’ (1895), which included content about interpreting dreams, predicting future happiness, etc.
January 13, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Here's an inventive marketing message from the H E Bucklen Company of Chicago in the late 19th century. Bucklen was said to spend $100,000 a year on advertising.
This excerpt is from ‘Dr King’s Lucky Book’ (1895), which included content about interpreting dreams, predicting future happiness, etc.
This excerpt is from ‘Dr King’s Lucky Book’ (1895), which included content about interpreting dreams, predicting future happiness, etc.
Dr Harry H Kane, author of 'A Hashish House in New York: the Curious Adventures of an Individual who Indulged in a Few Pipefuls of the Narcotic Hemp' launched a cure for drug addiction in 1886 - but his 'Dr Buckland's Scotch Oats Essence' wasn't as wholesome as it sounded.
'A diabolical concoction': Dr Buckland's Scotch Oats Essence
Dr H H Kane claimed he could cure opium addiction with a humble tincture of oats.
open.substack.com
January 10, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Dr Harry H Kane, author of 'A Hashish House in New York: the Curious Adventures of an Individual who Indulged in a Few Pipefuls of the Narcotic Hemp' launched a cure for drug addiction in 1886 - but his 'Dr Buckland's Scotch Oats Essence' wasn't as wholesome as it sounded.
We had a flurry of snow here this morning but not enough to go and play in, unlike the chap on this 1880s trade card promoting Lutted's Cough Drops.
January 7, 2025 at 10:41 AM
We had a flurry of snow here this morning but not enough to go and play in, unlike the chap on this 1880s trade card promoting Lutted's Cough Drops.
Reposted by Caroline Rance
For those of you suffering from New Year tummy - Lady's Monthly Museum, 1808. 👀
January 4, 2025 at 5:14 PM
For those of you suffering from New Year tummy - Lady's Monthly Museum, 1808. 👀
A cynical but still topical take from the December 1925 issue of the California and Western Medicine journal - the purported discovery of a weight loss injection coincides with the Paris dressmakers’ announcement that 100lb is the fashionable weight to be!
January 2, 2025 at 9:07 AM
A cynical but still topical take from the December 1925 issue of the California and Western Medicine journal - the purported discovery of a weight loss injection coincides with the Paris dressmakers’ announcement that 100lb is the fashionable weight to be!
A Happy New Year will be ensured if you take Bile Beans for Biliousness.
These best-selling laxatives contained aloin, cardamom, peppermint oil and wheat flour, with a black gelatine coating.
Ad from the Edinburgh Evening News, 27 Dec 1906.
#histmed
These best-selling laxatives contained aloin, cardamom, peppermint oil and wheat flour, with a black gelatine coating.
Ad from the Edinburgh Evening News, 27 Dec 1906.
#histmed
December 31, 2024 at 6:27 PM
A Happy New Year will be ensured if you take Bile Beans for Biliousness.
These best-selling laxatives contained aloin, cardamom, peppermint oil and wheat flour, with a black gelatine coating.
Ad from the Edinburgh Evening News, 27 Dec 1906.
#histmed
These best-selling laxatives contained aloin, cardamom, peppermint oil and wheat flour, with a black gelatine coating.
Ad from the Edinburgh Evening News, 27 Dec 1906.
#histmed
On this day in 1861, medical student Shephard Thomas Taylor recorded in his diary that the folks back home in Norfolk were unimpressed by London fashions in facial hair.
#histmed #victorianera
#histmed #victorianera
December 26, 2024 at 11:15 AM
On this day in 1861, medical student Shephard Thomas Taylor recorded in his diary that the folks back home in Norfolk were unimpressed by London fashions in facial hair.
#histmed #victorianera
#histmed #victorianera