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Stories

  • Article

The case of the cancerous stomach

Steak and schnitzel were on the menu again after Theodor Billroth successfully excised a woman’s stomach cancer in 1881. Remarkably, today’s surgeons still perform the same procedure, with slight modifications.

  • Article

Cocaine, the Victorian wonder drug

Today, cocaine has a very poor public image as one of the causes of crime and violence. But for the Victorians it was welcomed as the saviour of modern surgery.

  • Article

The search for a cure for endometriosis

Discover how a white American doctor’s experimental operations on black female slaves laid the foundations for modern gynaecological surgery.

  • Book extract

The castration effect

Discover how testosterone – or the lack of it – affects the male body, from eunuch slaves to castrato singers, and on to hormone reduction in modern prostate cancer treatment.

All stories (11)

Images

  • 19th century dental surgery
  • Home of Professor William Dick
  • Portrait of Professor William Dick from postcard
  • Home of Professor William Dick. Back of the White Horse Close, near the Water-Gate.
  • Trephination operation, 1821
  • title page of "Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery", 1820
  • pls viii "Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery", 1820
  • page 2 "Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery", 1820
  • page 1 "Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery", 1820
  • page 3 "Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery", 1820
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Catalogue

All works (5)