Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · May 11

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

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · May 10

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

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Apr 7

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.

A colour illustration of an adult black-and-white cat with 5 kittens. They are playing on a table with books and a globe. The globe has the words 'Dr Thomas' Eclectric Oil is used all around the world.'

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Apr 1

‘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 headline of a newspaper advertisement, saying 'Sagliftology Aids Nervousness and Other Ills.'

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Mar 26

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

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

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Mar 1

A tale of medicine and witchcraft in 1860s Wales
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
#historyofmedicine

'An innocent Welshman, and not an American'

A practitioner in 1860s Wales tried to convince patients that their troubles were down to witchcraft.

thequackdoctor.substack.com

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 27

This was a mere 5% alcohol - you might need something stronger! 😂

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 24

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

A thorn in the flesh

A Victorian doctor's own mysterious symptoms puzzled his eminent friends

thequackdoctor.substack.com

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 14

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

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 14

Happy Valentine’s Day from this nice 1940s squirrel.

A cartoon squirrel in a blue dress and yellow hat, against a red background. It holds a heart-shaped sign saying ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m a nice squirrel and nuts to you.’

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Reposted by Caroline Rance

The Wynter in Black 🎃🐈‍⬛ @rebeccawynter.bsky.social · Feb 11

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

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

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 10

‘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:

A matter of knife and death

Between 1799 and 1805, sailor John Cummings swallowed dozens of pocket-knives.

thequackdoctor.substack.com

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 4

Thank you very much!

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Feb 1

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

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Reposted by Caroline Rance

Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · Jan 29

Can't even suck the monkey any more, the world's gone mad.

A clipping of an 1870s newspaper with an explanation of the process of 'Sucking the Monkey' - drinking wine from a tapped barrel. It details a court case of a labourer who was charged with doing it.

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 28

I’m happy to have helped inspire such an illustrious career!

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 28

Sorry to hear that. I very much appreciate being included in the starter packs and your shares of my recent posts!

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 26

That’s such an interesting and complex case

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 26

Yes, it’s hard to know but I think she would have stood a good chance.

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 26

Thank you!

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 26

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

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 24

Trust him, he’s a doctor!

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 19

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

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Reposted by Caroline Rance

The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret @oldoptheatre.bsky.social · Jan 15

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!) 💰🚫

Wall of the old operating theatre with a door and two signs, the one above is the motto of the surgeons of St Thomas and it reads "For Mercy, Not for Gain."

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Caroline Rance @quackdoctor.bsky.social · Jan 13

Very frequently, I should think.

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