Category: Vignettes at Large
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The consultation or last hope, by Thomas Rowlandson (1808)
Five doctors have been called in consultation to see an obese patient suffering from gout. An old nurse on the left is deeply asleep. Several other doctors shown on the right are waiting their turn to give their opinion—in this age when consultation by multiple physicians was the custom. Highlighted Vignette Volume 13, Issue 2–…
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Steam powered machine to pull a tooth
This nightmarish sketch of a steam powered dental device is the product of the fantasy of an unknown artist. It mercifully never became a reality, but in a way illustrates the common perception of medicine and dentistry during the late 1800s. Highlighted Vignette Volume 13, Issue 2– Spring 2021 Winter 2020 | |
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Tuttle’s Family Elixir
This advertisement in The Southern Planter is for Tuttle’s Family Elixir, a cure-all from the early 1900s. It was promoted by Tuttle’s Elixir Co. as designed “for ills of men, women and children,” advertised in conjunction with Tuttle’s main product, a leg and body wash for racehorses. Highlighted Vignette Volume 13, Issue 2– Spring 2021…
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The Anatomist
This 1811 caricature shows a red-faced anatomist, knife in hand. Behind him, a young man had fallen asleep, and the anatomist had mistaken him for dead, covering him with a sheet. The young woman in the center of the image attempts to change the anatomist’s mind, but he appears ready to begin his dissection anyway.…
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Spectacle seller
In an often repeated theme, Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685), painter of the Dutch Golden Age, presents a spectacle seller. He offers his wares to an older woman, watched by a child or perhaps an apprentice of the seller. As we can see in his hands, the spectacles are without temples to rest on the ear…
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Practical hydrotherapy
Water in the form of bathing and other techniques has been used since antiquity to relieve pain and promote healing. Also called water cure, it is now regarded as part of alternative medicine, often combined with massage, relaxation, and physiotherapy. It was particularly promoted in the early 1900s by Dr. Curran Pope, who claimed it…
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A white horse painted with purple spots
In London in the 1770s, the “dentist” Martin van Butchell mostly sold artificial teeth and gums, and was famous for advertising his services by travelling on a white horse or pony painted with purple spots. His fame (or infamy) continued at home, as he had his wife embalmed and preserved after her death, and then…
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Medical pseudoscience
Edwin D. Babbitt (1825–1905), a medical graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, IL, developed an interest in arcane subjects early in life, publishing a book on penmanship, then switching to medical pseudoscience. He wrote books on chromotherapy, magnetism, and phrenology, claiming that these techniques combined with massage and lifestyle changes could cure any disease and eliminate…
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James Morrison’s vegetable cure
James Morrison (1770-1840) claimed his vegetable pills could cure any ill, stop any suffering, and even re-grow limbs. But even the most innocuous medicines may have serious side effects. This indeed happened to this dissatisfied patient, who complains that “them hinfernal vegetable pills have taken root in my nose. It was reddish before but now…
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Electrotherapy
Dr. Samuel Howard Monell was a vigorous supporter of electrotherapy, claiming that just about every disease, from acne to serious internal diseases, could be cured by electrotherapy. To support his theory he published an account of a boy who was reportedly frail as an infant but grew up healthy thanks to this device. The device…