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29 Strange, Old Medical Pics That Could Make Even Medical Students Say “Nope”
Medicine has really come a long way from the times in the past where you would, at best, get some herbs and a prayer if you were sufficiently sick or injured. But people still tried their best and even got creative, as medical museums around the world can show us.
We’ve gathered weird, creepy and unusual pictures of medical devices from the past. Be warned, some are a bit off-putting. So get comfortable, thank your lucky stars you were born in a time of modern medicine, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and perhaps even experiences in the comments down below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Lewis Sayre’s Suspension Device
In the 1870s, surgeon Lewis Sayre pioneered the non-surgical treatment of scoliosis via a vertical suspension frame that held patients in an upright position. During treatment, a patient was suspended by the arms to stretch the spine and relieve pressure caused by abnormal curvature. Afterwards, they were fitted with a plaster of Paris “jacket” to hold the spine in place. While only a partial and temporary correction, it laid the foundation for modern orthopedic surgery and bracing in the 20th century.
Ava Shores 6 months ago
Honestly that looks amazing. I’m sure my vertebrae would straighten right out!
cerinamroth 5 months ago
Hang off a door frame a couple of times a day for 30 seconds or so. It feels great as your spine decompresses and it also improves your grip strength (an informal marker used to predict longevity). Just make sure your house is reasonably well built first!
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David Beaulieu 5 months ago
Why does she need to be topless for this? Or is that just what Lewis does after he ties the lady up?
Jrog 5 months ago
Hard to assess the spine condition while wearing a whalebone corset.
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RELATED:
#2
Heliotherapy
Heliotherapy, also known as phototherapy, involves exposure to direct sunlight or artificial light at controlled wavelengths to treat a variety of medical disorders. Danish researcher Niels Finsen pioneered the treatment. At the Institut Finsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Finsen used short-wavelength light to treat lupus vulgaris, a skin infection caused by tuberculosis. For his groundbreaking work, he earned the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1903.
JenC 6 months ago
This is used to treat seasonal depression, and historically used for vitamin D deficiency for places with little sunlight in the winter.
Lee Gilliland 6 months ago
I have SADD and have a lamp in each room. It's not only vitamin D these lamps provide.
Bob Brooce 5 months ago (edited)
You should hear how they treated "hysteria" in the old days.
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Jane Hower 5 months ago
Hospitals now have rooms with banks of UVA lamps for this very reason.
K_Tx 5 months ago
Why no clothing? Even basic undergarments would make this treatment more comfortable I would think. Plus the pull when getting up from the chair. Owwww!
TiNaBoNiNa 5 months ago
The light needs to reach the skin. That's hard to do while wearing clothing.
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Cobalt Therapy
In the early 1950s, Cobalt therapy was a pioneering cancer treatment first administered by the London Health Sciences Centre using Cobalt-60 radiation technology. Also known as the Cobalt B*mb, the machine produced gamma rays that would be directed at tumors within the patient’s body, essentially k**ling the tumor tissue. Although they were highly effective in increasing cancer survival rates, the machines have since been replaced by linear accelerators.
Rick Murray 6 months ago
Being treated by radiation has it's own issues. Nowadays they use concentrated radio waves. Mom had a little lump of platinum pushed up a vein and along until it got to one of the lungs (I don't know how, I don't cope with needles so it was suggested I don't be anywhere near a delicate procedure 😆). From this, the scanner builds a 3D map of the body and the cancerous areas. Then, in a different room, this robotic arm reaches out and zaps concentrated radio waves, including focusing them to minimise damage to good tissue. And the platinum bit? Not only guides the machine, but does it in realtime. Mom said it was freaky watching it bob up and down as she breathed, and jerk when she sneezed, keeping bang on target. While I believe the machine did an okay job, there was just too much cancer everywhere else. Fück cancer, as mom said quite a bit at the end.
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Adrian 5 months ago
Don't waste your keystrokes. Nobody at BP is reading this.
Load More Replies... Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Cobalt bomb: nasty and never-built nuclear bomb designed to produce massive radioactive fallout. This is radiotherapy using a radioisotope - and it's still a thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_bomb and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_medicine. Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_therapy#Medical_uses and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident
AJJ 5 months ago
My mum had radiation for breast cancer using cobalt in 2010 in the US. I was an engineering student at the time and in the same hospital at the same time as my mum recovering from a T5-L1 spinal fusion. When I was able to move around, the staff on her floor would give me tours of the machines when I visited her.
EJN 4 months ago (edited)
They still have those around in bigger, older hospitals, but the side effects of Cobalt therapy were pretty nasty in comparison to what is used today. It is only used today in desperate situations where there has been no improvement using modern therapies for cancers, especially those in difficult locations that cannot be accessed surgically. BTW, a Cobalt Bomb was the military instrument of greatest force theoretically. There is some question of whether or not the USA or Russia ever actually made one or not. The rumor was that a single bomb would destroy a country.
Wim Cossement 5 months ago (edited)
We had a case in Belgium where the software of the radiation machine was buggy or it's calibration was off and would beam radiation 3 cm from where it was supposed to be. Some people even died because they had important tissue that was damaged or destroyed by it. Quality control is important. It took a years or so, if I'm not mistaking before it was discovered.
In the mist of modern life, it's too simple to take for granted the amazing medical advances that lurk in the background, shaping our day-to-day health. We live in an era where life-threatening diseases are now preventable, life-long ailments can be managed, and surgeries that were once riddled with heavy risk can now be performed with minimal scars and speedy recovery.
These achievements don't just represent advancement in science, these are proof of our collective desire to extend life, to reduce pain, and to enhance the human experience. Vaccines are the most powerful and most underrated of these achievements. Vaccines have transformed public health by eradicating or virtually eradicating disease that once claimed millions of lives. Smallpox has been eradicated from the planet.
#4
The Emerson Respirator
Created by John H. Emerson in 1931, the Emerson Respirator, or iron lung, was a large mechanical ventilator that helped polio patients suffering from respiratory paralysis breathe. A patient was placed inside the respirator with their head sticking out while air pressure changes in the inner chamber simulated breathing. More affordable and efficient than similar models of its kind, the Emerson respirator saved countless lives during the polio epidemics of the 1940s and 1950s.
amy lee 6 months ago
It's coming back. They almost managed to completely eradicate it... But then stupidity became vogue.
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John Dilligaf 6 months ago
better start building more of these if our "Health" secretary has his way.
CP 5 months ago
I am sure they have a factory waiting to profit off of hurting people.
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howdylee 6 months ago
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/25/1047691984/decades-after-polio-martha-is-among-the-last-to-still-rely-on-an-iron-lung-to-br She is still alive and still using the iron lung
Emilu 5 months ago
I thought the last person to use an iron lung died last year? Don’t quote me on that though; he may have been the last in a particular country or something.
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Julia H 5 months ago
From what I read, it was a treatment which allowed patients to live normal lives between treatments. I agree. Doesn't sound like much of a life
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Christos Arvanitis 5 months ago
At first I thought that his twin brother's head was sticking out of the top. d'oh!
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
They are still used when needed. My best friend's cousin was in one when in the icu for meningitis in 2004. Despite her prognosis, she was able to come off it within 12 months and fully recovered.
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#5
Thalidomide
Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Thalidomide was marketed as a treatment for anxiety, insomnia, tension, and morning sickness during pregnancy. While initially considered safe, the medication led to thousands of miscarriages and more than 10,000 children being born with malformed limbs. Deemed to be the cause of the largest man‐made medical disaster in history, the medication was taken off the market in 1961.
Boris Long-Johnson 6 months ago
I really wish BP “authors” ie scrapers were able to google. 1st hit shows it’s still used: https://www.mayoclinic.org/d***s-supplements/thalidomide-oral-route/description/drg-20066301
Anthony Elmore 6 months ago
If I recall, it's actually fairly safe, but pregnancy is a strong counterindication for use... obviously.
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Lady Eowyn 6 months ago
When I was in grad school in the 80s, one of my classmates was a thalidomide baby. She had short arms, up to the elbow then a tiny bit to her hands. Funny, I just remembered her name.
Auntriarch 5 months ago
My mother was offered thalidomide. Luckily for me she declined it.
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Tucker Cahooter 5 months ago
In Australia, William McBride (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McBride_(doctor)) was instrumental in alerting people to the issue. I used to work with someone who was a thalidomide baby; he has leg deformities and one stumpy arm. He is around my age too; there but for the grace of God...
Georgia Ireland 6 months ago
I met a thalidomide baby years ago. One thing I thought was rather neat was that she had toenails but no toes. In
KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
My grandmother took thalidomide but only once after giving birth to my Aunt in 1948. She didn’t like the way it made her feel so she stopped it. Good thing since she was breastfeeding!
Wim Cossement 5 months ago
Medication that can have an influence on the foetus is not necessarily the same as unsafe for women breastfeeding their babies. It's also not mentioned on the Wikipedia page, so I guess it doesn't work that way, luckily.
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Rose the Cook 6 months ago
A German girl I once worked with had a Thalidomide baby. It was so badly deformed that it mercifully only lived a few days.
Cybele Spanjaard 5 months ago
I was taking that then for morning sickness. Miscarried many times. Had a successful (one survival emergency C-section birth at 7 months. I was not taking any d***s, just in between the medical suggestions, including prescribed Clomophine, another latent deadly d**g of the 60s. Still prescribed!!! My sudden early placenta previa l born child is now almost 60 years old and a professor.
Alejandra Teran 5 months ago
In Latam is still used, my mom get cancer diagnosis last year and her treatment is around this medication, at least al Chile is still on market
Alexia 5 months ago
it is (along with the derivate lenalidomide, used for Hodgkin lymphoma treatment) but with great precaution and in carefully calculated dosage. Not given to pregnant or breastfeeding women for "headaches" or "nausea".
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The Electro-Retinogram
The electroretinogram (ERG) is a test developed in the late 19th century to measure the retina’s response to light. The first electroretinograph machines from the 1870s required wires and electrodes to be placed directly on a patient’s eyes, giving them a scary cyborg-like appearance. The test became clinically useful in the mid-20th century and made use of improved, less intimidating devices to diagnose retinal diseases.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
I was just reading the autobiography of my favourite scientist, Dr Karl as he is known, and he worked with Dr Fred Hollows as a research student for his Master's degree. He went to the US (from Australia) to learn about ERGs and even because a guinea pig himself, having one eye tested each day, then covered up to heal while the other eye was tested, for about a month. He then came back to Australia and, with the help of an engineering fiend, built a similar machine. This aided Dr Hollows in his work with treating people in remote Australia and developing nations.
Polio is on the edge of extinction. Childhood immunizations have become so routine that people often forget just how recent and revolutionary they are. The rapid development of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated not only how far we’ve come, but how quickly the field can pivot in response to urgent threats. These vaccines represent not just hope during a crisis, but a blueprint for responding to future outbreaks faster than ever before.
#7
The Tobacco Resuscitator Kit
In the late 18th century, this kit was deployed by the Royal Humane Society to help resuscitate drowning victims along the River Thames. The kit contained a pair of bellows, tobacco, and other fixtures. Hot tobacco was meant to be blown into the victim’s r*ctum using the devices, as it was believed to encourage breathing and get the heart working again. By the 19th century, the “smoke enema” was no longer favored by doctors following the discovery of nicotine’s toxicity.
Yrral Spavit 5 months ago
Has Kennedy hear about this revolutionary treatment!?! Sounds like something he would be rushing to get in place asap.
ABC NrTen FCK CENSORISM 5 months ago
RЕCTUM, BP. RЕCTUM. That's a fսcking MEDICAL TERM you knοbs.
ggus44 5 months ago
How did they get to the conclusion that would work? Seriuosly. Just picture the scene happening for the first time: "Oh no, he drowned and is not breathing! I have an idea! Quick, flip him over and lift his a*s so I can blow some smoke in there!"
UKDeek 5 months ago
An interesting article from the Science Museum suggests it was due to a disruption in two of the four humours - https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/saving-lives-with-a-puff-of-smoke/
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Lowrider 56 6 months ago
So they knew in the 18th century that nicotine is bad for you yet they keep selling cigarettes.
Hiram's Friend 6 months ago
Alcohol is bad for you. Weed is bad for you. Too much salt is bad for you.
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Son of Philosoraptor 5 months ago
You know, nicotine is absorbed through mucus membranes and is a central nervous system stimulant. It could have worked, sometimes.
Vicki Perizzolo 5 months ago
so glad medicine has come this far forward... now RFK and Frumpt are taking us right back into the 18th Century.
#8
Early Blood Transfusions
During the 17th century, physicians attempted the first blood transfusions using animal blood. In 1667, French doctor Jean-Baptiste Denis performed the first transfusion of around 12 ounces of lamb’s blood into a teenage boy suffering from a fever. The boy survived and recovered, prompting Denis to try the procedure on three others. However, when the third and fourth patients didn’t survive, French authorities banned blood transfusions.
Anthony Elmore 6 months ago
With how pissed that goat looks, are we sure the cause of death for patients 3 and 4 wasn't goat-related?
Pyla 5 months ago (edited)
sheep. Lamb, actually. Sheep tails flop, goat tails flip up and are very active.
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Bill Swallow 5 months ago (edited)
"In 1904, Carl Landsteiner discovered Blood Typing, making it possible for the first time to administer a blood transfusion with some confidence that the patient would not be k!lled by the transfusion itself. In 1891, the quack Van Helsing dumped the blood of four strangers into the veins of Lucy Westenra and then had the gall to blame *vampirism* when she d!ed! Of COURSE I converted her to a Vampire! It was my only hope of saving her from his ignorant 'treatment'!" -- Vladimir Dracula, 'The Dracula Tape', by Fred Saberhagen
Tucker Cahooter 5 months ago
I thought that was a rolling pin stuck in his arm when I first saw the diagram
Son of Philosoraptor 5 months ago
I'd think injecting a soda can of animal blood would cause a huge immune response. Probably leading to anaphylaxis and death but who am I to say?
Jo Firth 5 months ago
Easy to say now, this was in the 1700s. Hindsight is always 20/20.
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#9
Dr. Clark's Spinal Apparatus
The spinal apparatus created by Dr Clark in the late 19th century was meant to treat scoliosis. It was designed to be a supportive wooden frame that would enable patients with the illness to walk upright. Allegedly, it was so heavy that patients could barely move in it, pretty much rendering it an ineffective treatment.
keyboardtek 6 months ago
Connecting the strap that is attached to the head to a bunch of helium filled balloons would be more practical.
One area where we've made just amazing strides is in diagnostic technology. We have imaging technology that allows doctors to peer inside the body with unparalleled accuracy, CT scans, MRIs, PET scans, all of which allow them to detect diseases early, often even before symptoms occur. Combined with advances in genetic screening, physicians can now screen for inherited disease, tailor treatments to the individual's distinct DNA blueprint, and identify risk factors years in advance. This level of precision medicine would have been science fiction just a few decades past.
#10
Hydrotherapy Tanks
During the 1950s polio epidemic, stainless steel hydrotherapy tanks, known as Hubbard tanks, were used as a form of rehabilitation for children paralyzed by the disease. Touted to improve circulation and build muscle strength, the treatment involved immersing a patient in warm water up to their neck. The combination of the water jets, buoyancy, and heat helped them move weak or paralyzed limbs more easily and with less pain. As polio rates declined and new rehabilitation methods emerged, the use of hydrotherapy tanks gradually tapered off after the 1950s.
Rick Murray 6 months ago
At a nursing home I worked at, there was a shallow pool with long sloped sides. The idea was a nurse would wheel a patient into the pool (in a wheelchair) and the buoyancy of the water would allow for better physio as the other nurse (must be done in pairs) gently moved the problematic limbs. Never saw it in use, home policy was "uniform at all times no exceptions" and everybody was just "uh, no" when it came to that.
Bill Swallow 5 months ago
Back when I was *very* young, some friends of our family had a daughter who had been afflicted with Polio - a mild case, if I recall correctly. I remember them having one of these devices for her.
rorschach-penguin 5 months ago (edited)
70% of polio cases are asymptomatic, and another 25% are cold/flu symptoms. Another 4% are nonparalytic but more severe, and about 1% are paralytic.
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Anne Roberts 5 months ago
My dad had polio in the late 1940's His hospital used the Sister Kenny method and he recovered completely.
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
While they don't use these tanks anymore, hydrotherapy is still very important for physiotherapy, especially for people with low muscle tone. The pool I went to a lot as a kid had a moveable floor, so it could be raised for hydrotherapy sessions. Water temperature was raised too. The special school my brothers went to had a pool for this purpose and they had sessions at least once a week. It was amazing how much movement they could get in the water compared to normal.
J C 5 months ago
Well, they still use these tanks but in my experience more for one limb at a time as a whirlpool debridement. Sports therapy may use them as well for icing muscles after a heavy workout. And the principle of using water for therapy is fantastic but normally in warm water pools now.
Wim Cossement 5 months ago
Stupid anti-vaxxers are responsible for reviving old, once almost eradicated, severe diseases. Fock those stupid selfish conts. See what is happening with measles...
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Co***ne Toothache Drops
These drops were a popular pain reliever and anesthetic in the late 1800s. Before co***ne was made an illegal d**g, many doctors, such as Sigmund Freud, prescribed over-the-counter medicines containing it to all their patients. This was mostly due to its numbing effects and its supposed ability to treat a wide range of illnesses, from depression to toothaches.
BookFanatic 6 months ago
I think you mean s****d c********p ** s***d. Lol
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Ava Shores 6 months ago
You know, I’ve started enjoying DM’s insane censorship. Figuring out the missing words is just a little puzzle, added value entertainment!
ABC NrTen FCK CENSORISM 5 months ago
COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG COCAІNE DRՍG
KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
Medical grade liquid c0caine is still used to by ENT’s (ear, nose and throat doctors) for severe epistaxis (nose bleeds) because of its vasoconstriction properties
J C 5 months ago
Yes, thats what I thought, there is a place for it, as with many d***s. We just tend to abuse things but many things on a small quantity can be therapeutic. Like opiates. I was looking for this comment.
Load More Replies... rorschach-penguin 5 months ago
C*****e is, in fact, still a legal prescription d**g in the US; it's schedule II. It's sometimes used as an anesthetic for ENT procedures.
Sly Schlang 5 months ago
Ent as the slow tree beings in lord of the rings 🤔
Load More Replies... Hiram's Friend 6 months ago
In the ER we used CAT solution as a topical anesthesia for minor procedures. C0caine, adrenaline and tetracaine. 'Course this was 40 years ago.
Julia H 5 months ago
I was surprised to see it listed on a medical bill after nasal surgery...40 years ago
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Pre-PET Headgear
This device was built by scientists at the Brookhaven Lab in 1961. Its main function was to detect brain tumors using positron emission. Initially, the headgear would only show the location of the tumors as raw data, but a decade later, researchers found a way to convert that data into actual images of the brain. By 1980, doctors could now observe brain function utilizing modern PET machines developed through extensive research done on the pre-PET headgear.
Bill Swallow 5 months ago
"Do you know what this means, Future Boy? It means that this d@mn thing DOESN'T WORK!"
KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
Modern PET also uses rhobidiym which is a very strong radioactive tracer.
EJN 4 months ago
PET= positron emision therapy. You receive an injection of a substance that contains a weak radioactive substance that will aggregate in areas where there is a lot of metabolic activity like seen in tumor growth. Then, the film is taken to indicate where those areas are located in the body. PET is still often used as a whole body scan to check for metastatic cancer (cancer that has spread).
Surgical procedures have also revolutionized the way treatment is delivered. Procedures that once required large incisions and extended hospital stays are now being done with small cameras and robotic limbs. Recovery times are faster, pain levels are reduced, and patients are living their lives sooner. Surgical robots, for instance, offer unparalleled precision, often surpassing the human hand. These devices aren't substituting physicians, they're amplifying their skill in ways previously unimaginable.
#13
Vibration Therapy
While vibration therapy was a real treatment from the 1800s, it is alleged that this photo of a man taking a sledgehammer to another man’s head is nothing but a hoax. According to a book on vibration therapy from 1883, the actual treatment involved moving a brush lightly over the scalp in an orderly manner.
Jrog 5 months ago
And, OF COURSE it's fake. "The photo was part of a set of late 19th century magic lantern (slide projector) images depicting staged scenes from "The Unlucky Present," a Scottish tale about a blacksmith rescuing a minister with a cooking pot stuck on his head." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/headache-vibration-remedy-photo/
#14
Circulating Swings
In the early 1800s, William Hallaran invented the circulating swing. It was a chair or bed suspended from a frame that could be spun rapidly using a crank. Patients were strapped in and typically spun around at speeds of up to 100 revolutions per minute, often inducing effects like vomiting, dizziness, or unconsciousness. While some doctors believed them to be therapeutic, the swings fell out of use by the mid-19th century, dismissed as both barbaric and ineffective.
FranSinclair 6 months ago
Ill come with you! Can we get candy apples while we are there?!
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michael reid 5 months ago
100 rpm is seriously fast for a human to spin. I remember a tyre swing when I was young we used to wind it up and spin each other. About 1 rev per second you could barely hold on and could feel yourself getting faint
Dzessa Golden 5 months ago
I followed the links to see what this could possibly be treating - mental illness.
TiNaBoNiNa 5 months ago
Don't they do something similar in astronaut or jet pilot training to simulate G forces?
Diemond Star 6 months ago
This doesn’t sound bad like the other ones I’ve read about here. Kinda sounds like fun
#15
The Tallerman–Sheffield Apparatus
The Tallerman–Sheffield apparatus, also known as the “human bake oven was a 19th-century hot-air medical device used to treat pain. Patients would lie inside the large metal cylinder with only their heads exposed, while the cylinder was heated to incredibly high temperatures. This “baking” treatment resembled a sauna and was mostly used to alleviate symptoms related to gout, arthritis, and other ailments.
ABC NrTen FCK CENSORISM 5 months ago
"You don't mind if I put my stew on your stomach, do you?"
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
I used to play a video game set in a hospital and this was one of the treatments. You knew when they were done because the patient's face was bright red.
Roxy222uk 5 months ago
I’ve read several peer reviewed papers that show that cancer cells die at a slightly lower temperature than healthy cells, so the above could feasibly be used to treat cancer.
Chonky Panda 5 months ago
Huh how?? If this treatment is about high temperaturea??
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Brandi VanSteenwyk 5 months ago
LOL!! Just a scan of the post TITLE, my brain thought it was "The Tallerman-Sheffield APARTMENTS" and the top half of the image. I immediately thought "G0D DAMNIT!! Trump has gone to far now!!" I am very grateful that the weekend is here.
Trisec Tebeakesse 5 months ago
Back when it was a t*****e device, it was called the "Brazen Bull".
The treatment of chronic diseases has also seen a clandestine revolution. Diabetes, HIV, and coronary disease were all too often once commonly fatal or significantly disabling. And now, with the assistance of sophisticated d***s, wearable health monitors, and continuous glucose monitors, the vast majority can live full, active lives.
#16
Whale Blubber
In 1896, an intoxicated sailor with rheumatism jokingly jumped into a partially open whale carcass. Two hours later, he emerged claiming to be cured. Word of the miraculous whale cure spread rapidly, and rheumatism patients descended on the town of Eden in Australia. For lasting effects of up to a year, patients were said to stay inside a whale for up to 30 hours. The practice faded after a decade, largely due to hygiene concerns, the decline in whaling, and medical advances.
#17
Doctors Drinking Patients' Urine
As early as 1500 BC, before modern lab testing was possible, physicians used their taste buds to diagnose illnesses. Reportedly, doctors could determine whether a patient had diabetes or not by how sweet their urine tasted. By the late 19th century, this testing method was replaced with more sophisticated blood glucose tests.
Anthony Elmore 6 months ago
More importantly, if your doctor was not Bear Grylls, they also likely would have opted to leave a Pitri dish of your urine out to see if it attracted ants. A method I suspect many doctors were fond of since it didn't require them to drink the bodily fluids of their patient.
Rick Murray 6 months ago
🤷🏻♀️ Why drink it? If the pee smells like Sugar Puffs, there's a pretty good chance... [granted, Kellogg's didn't exist in 1500BC, but it's a pretty distinctive smell]
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago (edited)
I don't know if humans are all that fantastic at smelling glucose content. Gonna be honest, though, I'm not about start smelling my own pee to determine if I can smell the extra sweetness. On the bright-side though, I've always heard the phrase "pissing on someone's cornflakes" and now if someone tells me I'm pissing on their cornflakes I can just say I'm trying to upgrade them to frosted flakes.
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Philly Bob 5 months ago (edited)
Tastes like plain old pìss to me! (Due to a mixup in urology, no apple juice will be served this morning!)
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KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
This was something commonly done by medical students from what I’ve read.
#18
Lobotomy
Lobotomy was a radical surgical procedure touted as a cure for severe depression and other psychiatric conditions in the 1940s and 1950s. Infamous for its crude tools and methods, it involved severing the nerve pathways in a lobe or lobes of the brain from those in other areas. While many patients initially showed signs of improvement, lobotomy often resulted in severe cognitive deficits and personality changes. By the 1970s, numerous countries and several US states had outlawed the procedure in favor of more humane and effective treatments.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 6 months ago
It was also used to ''treat'' homosexuality, often against the patient's wishes >.<
Chonky Panda 5 months ago
That emoticon doesn't really fit the sentence before 💀
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Rick Murray 6 months ago
Let's shove something up into somebody's brain to intentionally break bits of it, what could possibly go wrong? 🤦🏻♀️
Nimitz 5 months ago
It was touted as a "cure" by men who wanted to control women and queer people. This is what they did to RFK's aunt because she wouldn't act like a good obedient Catholic girl. It effectively m******d the patients and left them a completely different, and highly dependent person, incapable of fending for themselves as their families continued to abuse them.
HIV antiviral therapies have transformed what was once a death sentence into a manageable disease. Pacemakers, stents, and implantable defibrillators extend and stabilize lives that just a couple of decades ago would have been horribly taken.
#19
Breath-Holding Pressure Test
The breath-holding pressure test was used in early 20th-century cardiac diagnostics to assess heart function and blood pressure regulation. For the test, patients were required to blow against a mercury column (essentially performing a Valsalva maneuver) to keep the manometer at a set level. This would raise a patient’s intrathoracic pressure while a doctor listened with a stethoscope to observe changes in their blood circulation.
Bill Swallow 5 months ago
Saw something quite similar to this used for Mercury Astronaut Candidate Evaluation tests in 'The Right Stuff'.
KnightOwl86 5 months ago
Kinda reminds me of some tests done at the asthma clinic. A lot of them involve blowing into tubes/straws for as long as possible to test how long you can hold your breath or breathe out for. I hate doing them, they're so uncomfortable and the testers always act really annoyed that you're not doing well enough, like you're pretending you can't do it.
#20
Electric Cabinets
In the early 20th century, electric cabinets were devices that used either electric bulbs or steam to raise body temperature. As precursors to modern saunas and diathermy, they were used to induce artificial fevers and sweating for conditions like arthritis. While they were common in spas and clinics throughout the 1930s, electric cabinets faded from use as modern medicine advanced.
Bill Swallow 5 months ago
Close. The Excessive Machine was superficially similar, but QUITE different in function!
Load More Replies... Brandi VanSteenwyk 5 months ago
Walmart, Amazon, even TEMU & AliExpress STILL sell these things!
Chonky Panda 5 months ago
I doubt they look and function the same and have the exact same purpose..
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#21
Mummy Powder
Going back hundreds of years, powdered mummies were a popular remedy used to treat various ailments. Many physicians between the 12th and 18th centuries believed the ground-up bones and remains of ancient mummies had healing properties. The mummy powder could be ingested for pain or applied as a topical medicine for wounds and many other ailments. However, from the early 20th century, the use of the powder became a controversial practice, with most deeming it unsavoury.
JenC 6 months ago
Mummies used to be super common, but they are rare now because the British Ate Them All!
Rachel Reynolds 6 months ago
They also ground them up and used them for paint - Mummy Brown
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Lee Gilliland 6 months ago
At which point most of the mummy who hadn't been ground up were sent to paper mills, where they were added to the wood pulp. This gave paper bags made with them extra strong so they were in demand. The paper mills ran out of mummies but the brown bag had become such a signature of toughness the mill owners added dyes to their product, which is why grocery bags and cardboard boxes are brown to this day.
Stephanie Fay 5 months ago
I just learned about this on an Answers with Joe episode on YouTube. He's great for those who haven't seen him before. Informative and funny. His tag line is Laugh Smarter.
Brandi VanSteenwyk 5 months ago
The power that is achieved when combining a placebo with suggestion is immeasurable.
Even mental health care, traditionally stigmatized and underprioritized, is finally being assisted by new technologies. Advances in neuroscience and pharmacology have delivered more effective antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and therapies. Telemedicine has also enabled mental health care to be extended to those with access only to distant or underserved areas, transcending once-insurmountable obstacles that isolated many.
#22
Insulin Shock Therapy
Introduced in 1927 by Dr. Manfred Sakel, insulin shock therapy, also known as insulin coma therapy, was a treatment for schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. It involved injecting patients with large doses of insulin to cause daily comas over several weeks. While some patients experienced improvement in their symptoms, insulin shock therapy was risky, resulting in prolonged comas or even fatalities. By the 1960s, the therapy was abandoned in favor of new antipsychotic medications.
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 5 months ago
My uncle ( mum's brother) has this in the 1940s for schizophrenia. He got stuck in a coma longer than intended and when he finally came out he'd had brain damage and had to learn to walk & talk again. He did recover some normal function, but was never able to work again and still had schizophrenia. I only knew him as an older man, although he was cognitively more like a child. However, it seemed to be effective for some people - the brilliant mathematician John Nash had it with some success (and no reported side effects) as documented in the film A Beautiful Mind.
#23
The Bergonic Chair
This controversial medical device from the early 20th century was used to give electroconvulsive therapy to psychiatric patients. The contraption allowed them to sit in it like they would a reclining chair and then receive shock treatments from the machine. The currents that traveled through the cables and into the body were said to cause seizures, which were supposedly therapeutic to patients.
Forrest Hobbs 6 months ago
Electroconvulsive therapy does cause seizures - which is why those subjected to it these days are heavily sedated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy
KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
ETC is still a very effective treatment for some psychiatric disorders that don’t respond well to medication.
rorschach-penguin 5 months ago
They weren't said to cause seizures, they did cause seizures, and they are demonstrably quite therapeutic.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
rorschach-penguin: funny thing is, the only way to test if any medical intervention provides a benefit is with double-blind trials (triple blind is best - "triple blind" means those studying the results are also kept in the dark about who's been treated) and as far as I can tell, that's never been done with ECT - at least, not with proper long-term study. Whatever the short term effects might be, the long term effects have never been properly studied.
Load More Replies... Huddo's sister 5 months ago (edited)
Seizures can cause memory loss, which is why it was considered 'successful', because patients would forget their trauma/homosexual urges, for a time at least. If they did it enough times it might be permanent, but then it would usually erase everything.
#24
The Electric Bath
Likely a forerunner of the modern sunbed, the electric bath was an early 20th-century light therapy device. Patients were placed inside a cabinet containing ultraviolet lamps that provided doses of artificial sunlight to the skin. Deemed a cutting-edge therapy at the time, the device was believed to promote numerous health benefits, including improving circulation, easing joint pain, treating skin conditions, and more.
Trisec Tebeakesse 5 months ago
"Electric" and "Bath" really don't belong in the same sentence.
Auntriarch 5 months ago
Yeah, I was fully expecting a toaster to be involved
Load More Replies... Rick Murray 6 months ago
I like that you can see out of it. Sunbeds look like plastic coffins to me.
WubiDubi 6 months ago
And bonus skin cancers. People using commercial sun beds in 2025 are crazy.
RomanceRadish 5 months ago
Yes, I'm glad the tanning fad is mostly over and am flabbergasted anyone still does this.
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These medical breakthroughs aren't merely adding years to human life, -they're adding quality. Increasing numbers of children live through infancy. Increasing numbers of old folks aren't tormented by crippling pain. Surgery no longer so often leads to infection, and illnesses that once wiped out entire villages are now curable, treatable, or even preventable altogether.
#25
Snake Oil
Today, the term “snake oil” is used to describe something fake or disingenuous, but in the 19th century, it referred to actual oil from water snakes utilized in Chinese traditional medicine. The oil was seen as a cure-all with excellent anti-inflammatory properties. In the US, from the early 1900s, many brands began marketing placebos and bad substances as snake oil, which is how the oil became a symbol of all things bogus.
Uncle Schmickle 5 months ago
Something WC Fields would sell. One of his lines : " good for man or beast ". Maybe he got that from this advertisement ?
#26
Bloodletting
Bloodletting was an ancient medical treatment involving the intentional drawing of blood by venesection (opening a vein with a lancet or special fleam blade) or applying leeches to treat diseases and health conditions. Physicians believed it could balance the body’s humors (four fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile, responsible for health) and expel disease. Practiced for over two millennia, bloodletting was abandoned in the 19th century after scientific medicine proved it was harmful.
Rick Murray 6 months ago
It took two thousand years before it was understood that poking a hole in somebody to let the important red juice out was actually harmful.
XenoMurph 6 months ago
It's why the mortality rates of the nobility especially children were so high. Poor people couldn't afford a doctor to make them worse. (They just died of malnutrition related disease instead)
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geezeronthehill 6 months ago
Still in use in cases of surgey to reattach body parts to keep blood from collecting in the part during recovery. They use medical leeches, partly because they inject anticoagulants into the wound. Yes, there are medical leeches.
Bored Sailor 5 months ago
Still used for patience's with Hemochromatosis to lower iron levels.
Robert Benson 5 months ago
It's okay to see blood, as long as it isn't red. At least that is how it is when they apply ratings to movies.
Load More Replies... Lene 5 months ago
An ancestor of mine collapsed on a field while working on a hot Summer day. And I guess the people/doctor thought it was a great idea to let his blood. The text where this episode was written down, seemed surprised that he died a few days later. Lol. This was in the late 1700s in the countryside in Denmark.
Julia H 5 months ago
In a way it's still done for some blood issues. Had a friend who needed her blood drawn. All she knew was her blood was too thick. I don't know if that meant she had high iron levels?
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
Blood draws can treat hemochromotosis but hemochromotosis itself doesn't make blood thicker, so could be something else.
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Caiman 94920 5 months ago
My husband has hemochromatosis, too much iron in the blood. One of the treatments is bloodletting, even now
Tucker Cahooter 5 months ago
As viewers of "Blackadder 2" will remember, leeches can be used to cure everything
#27
Mercury Injections
From as early as the 16th century, mercury was used as a treatment for syphilis despite it being extremely toxic to the human body. Many patients experienced severe side effects such as nerve damage, organ failure, and even death after undergoing mercury treatment. The injections remained popular up until the early 20th century when penicillin, a far more effective treatment, was finally discovered.
Hiram's Friend 6 months ago
The cowboy "all wrapped in white linen" in "The Streets of Laredo" is being treated for syphilis
Deborah B 5 months ago
No... he's dying of a gunshot wound. "Got shot in the chest, and I'm dying today." The line "wrapped up in white linen as cold as the clay" is referring to a burial shroud.
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EJN 4 months ago
In other words, k**l yourself to k**l your disease... not an optimal approach. Mercury is still used in many processes, and even in medicine it was used as a preservative for vaccines until the past couple of decades. This is the basis for many antivax opinions, although now vaccines are not preserved with mercury anymore.
Dolly_of TheCowboy 4 months ago
The worst bit about their whole mercury-in-vaccines scare tactic from antivaxxers is the mercury that was used as a preservative in vaccines was not the type to cause the issues in the body that say eating seafood contaminated with the "bad" kind of mercury that stays in the body causes. Totally different substance - https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mercury-and-health
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Silje Olsen 5 months ago
Mercury can actually alter the genes for generations, causing problems in the kids of those affected and even the kids after that. Neurological problems like anxiety, depression and schizophrenia are linked to this, I think.
We still face challenges, healthcare access, cost, and the ethical issues that come with rapid innovation. But acknowledgment of what has already been accomplished provides context for the worth of continuing investment, questioning, and compassion in medicine. Today's devices may appear mundane, but they're built on centuries of toil and exploration. We can appreciate them not just as indulgences, but as human genius achievements, demonstrations that progress is within reach, and sometimes lifesaving.
#28
Schnee Baths
Schnee baths were a type of electrified bath for treating rheumatism and joint pain. Popular in hospitals and spas from the late 1800s into the 1930s, patients would sit with each limb submerged in its own galvanised basin. A mild current was passed through the water, making these baths painless and free of shock or discomfort. However, by the early 20th century, Schnee baths were dismissed as quackery and abandoned by the medical community.
Bored Sailor 5 months ago
Would that be similar to Tense treatment with the difference being location specific pads.
KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
In a way yes, however TENS units can actually help mild muscle pain and isn’t considered quackery.
Load More Replies... #29
Chest Fluoroscopy
Widely used during WWII, chest fluoroscopy allowed doctors to view the lungs and heart of a patient in real-time using a fluorescent screen. This was extremely useful when it came to diagnosing complex injuries and lung infections. However, it exposed both the doctor and patient to high levels of radiation. Today, digital fluoroscopy has significantly decreased the risk of radiation exposure.
Rick Murray 6 months ago
Didn't they use a version of this to show feet in shoes in the shoe shop?
Lee Gilliland 6 months ago
Yup. It was fun to wiggle your toes and watch the bones move.
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keyboardtek 6 months ago
The article should add Wilhelm Reich's Orgone Energizer. It was a box that collected "orgone energy" which Reich thought was sexual energy and the lack of which would cause all sorts of mental disorders.
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 5 months ago
Did it collect excess energy in order to give it to people without enough?
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KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
If you are interested in old medical practices, i recommend watching the show “the Knick” it was based on the knickerbocker hospital which I believe was in NY. Very interesting and entertaining show!
ggus44 5 months ago
Some of these seem really stupid. I wonder if in the future people will look at what we have now and think it's stupid too.
Jayjay 5 months ago
in the future people will f.i. also look upon breast cancers xrays as a horror diagnostic tool..... poking into people and repressing their parts is still done unto this day
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UKDeek 5 months ago
Trepanning is still used to this day, although the term craniotomy is used, but effectively the same thing. It is suspected that trepanning is the oldest surgical procecdure known, as skulls have been found dating to approx. 6000BC where evidence of healing had occurred following this procedure.
Load More Replies... keyboardtek 6 months ago
The article should add Wilhelm Reich's Orgone Energizer. It was a box that collected "orgone energy" which Reich thought was sexual energy and the lack of which would cause all sorts of mental disorders.
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 5 months ago
Did it collect excess energy in order to give it to people without enough?
Load More Replies... KrazyChiMama 5 months ago
If you are interested in old medical practices, i recommend watching the show “the Knick” it was based on the knickerbocker hospital which I believe was in NY. Very interesting and entertaining show!
ggus44 5 months ago
Some of these seem really stupid. I wonder if in the future people will look at what we have now and think it's stupid too.
Jayjay 5 months ago
in the future people will f.i. also look upon breast cancers xrays as a horror diagnostic tool..... poking into people and repressing their parts is still done unto this day
Load More Replies... UKDeek 5 months ago
Trepanning is still used to this day, although the term craniotomy is used, but effectively the same thing. It is suspected that trepanning is the oldest surgical procecdure known, as skulls have been found dating to approx. 6000BC where evidence of healing had occurred following this procedure.
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