Dead Men’s Teeth: A History of Dentures
I remember as a little girl being utterly terrified at my great-grandmother’s dentures. The first time that I ever realized that she had false teeth was when I found them peculiarly suspended in a glass of water on the kitchen counter. The jaw was unhinged, as if it was perpetually locked in a ghastly scream. […]
Announcing the Launch of Grave Matters
I don’t like to brag (okay, I do) but I know an amazing number of talented people. One of them is Chris Skaife, Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) and Ravenmaster at the Tower of London. Together, he and I have launched a new website which will focuses primarily on the history of crime and punishment; and what […]
The Syphilitic Whores of Georgian London
People think I’m obsessed with syphilis, and maybe I am. But it’s only because of my recent indoctrination into 18th-century history by aficionados of the period, such as Lucy Inglis, Adrian Teal and Rob Lucas. I can’t read 10 pages of a medical casebook without coming across a reference to lues venerea. By the end […]
The Battle of the Tooth Worm
I come across a lot of strange objects in my research: books bound in human skin, prosthetic noses made of silver, iron coffins with safety devices to prevent premature burial. But perhaps one of the strangest objects I’ve seen is the one pictured on the left. This is a depiction of the infamous tooth worm […]
Piss Prophets & The Wheel of Urine
I recently watched an episode of Dr Oz in which he pontificated about the colour of some unfortunate woman’s urine in front of millions of viewers. She offered up a cup of what looked like diluted molasses to the good doctor for judgement. ‘Dehydration,’ Dr Oz decreed. ‘More water!’ (As if she didn’t have a […]
The Dangers of [Georgian] Vanity
The other day, I walked through the makeup section of a department store just outside of Chicago. Every step of the way, I was bombarded by sales attendants trying to sell me the latest anti-aging potions. There was Rodial Snake Venom—an anti-wrinkle cream which allegedly simulates the paralysing effects of a viper bite to reduce […]
Death & Childhood in Victorian England
I remember many childhood days spent propped up on my grandmother’s couch with a tower of pillows. I’d watch the day peacefully unfold from her picture window. One month, it was bronchitis. The next, it was pneumonia. My mother—then a nursing student—rushed me in and out of doctors’ offices and emergency rooms, where I was […]
Dying the Good Death: The Kate Granger Story
Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Kate Granger, a 31-year-old physician who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of sarcoma in 2011 and given less than 5 years to live. Kate made headlines in British newspapers when she announced that she was going to tweet from her deathbed, using her own death as a communication […]
Death Salon Cabaret: The Uncommon Corpse
I was 17 years old when I saw my first dissected body at a chiropractic school of medicine just outside of Chicago. Since then, I’ve seen thousands more, some more disturbing than others. There have been disembodied body parts floating in jars; whole bodies splayed open, covered in shellac and nailed to wooden platforms; even […]
DO NOT SIT! A History of the Birthing Chair
I was standing on the second floor of Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh waiting for my film crew to begin rolling for my upcoming documentary, Medicine’s Dark Secrets, when I spied a chair (left) in the corner. At that point in the day, I was exhausted and my attention to detail was diminishing with each passing […]