The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities

The Lion Boy and Other Medical Curiosities PDF

Author: Jan Bondeson

Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited

Published: 2018-03-15

Total Pages: 471

ISBN-13: 144567629X

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A historian’s research skills combined with a physician’s diagnostic flair, exploring our timeless fascination with the unusual and downright bizarre people, events and theories in the colourful history of medicine.

The Two-headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels

The Two-headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels PDF

Author: Jan Bondeson

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2004-09

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9780801489587

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A successor to his popular book A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, this new collection of essays by Jan Bondeson illustrates various anomalies of human development, the lives of the remarkable individuals concerned, and social reactions to their extraordinary bodies.Bondeson examines historical cases of dwarfism, extreme corpulence, giantism, conjoined twins, dicephaly, and extreme hairiness; his broader theme, however, is the infinite range of human experience. The dicephalous Tocci brothers and Lazarus Colloredo (from whose belly grew his malformed conjoined twin), the Swedish giant, and the king of Poland's dwarf--Bondeson considers these individuals not as "freaks" but as human beings born with sometimes appalling congenital deformities.He makes full use of original French, German, Dutch, Polish, and Scandinavian sources and explores elements of ethnology, literature, and cultural history in his diagnoses. Heavily illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, oil paintings, and photographs, The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels combines a scientist's scrutiny with a humanist's wonder at the endurance of the human spirit. Contents: The Two Inseparable Brothers, and a PrefaceThe Hairy Maid at the HarpsichordThe Stone-childThe Woman Who Laid an EggThe Strangest Miracle in the WorldSome Words about Hog-faced GentlewomenHorned HumansThe Biddenden MaidsThe Tocci Brothers, and Other DicephaliThe King of Poland's CourtDwarf Daniel Cajanus, the Swedish GiantDaniel Lambert, the Human ColossusCat-eating Englishmen and French Frog-swallowers

The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends

The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends PDF

Author: Simon Young

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2022-07-15

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1496839447

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In the last fifty years, folklorists have amassed an extraordinary corpus of contemporary legends including the “Choking Doberman,” the “Eaten Ticket,” and the “Vanishing Hitchhiker.” But what about the urban legends of the past? These legends and tales have rarely been collected, and when they occasionally appear, they do so as ancestors or precursors of the urban legends of today, rather than as stories in their own right. In The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends, Simon Young fills this gap for British folklore (and for the wider English-speaking world) of the 1800s. Young introduces seventy Victorian urban legends ranging from “Beetle Eyes” to the “Shoplifter’s Dilemma” and from “Hands in the Muff” to the “Suicide Club.” While a handful of these stories are already known, the vast majority have never been identified, and they have certainly never received scholarly treatment. Young begins the volume with a lengthy introduction assessing nineteenth-century media, emphasizing the importance of the written word to the perpetuation and preservation of these myths. He draws on numerous nineteenth-century books, periodicals, and ephemera, including digitized newspaper archives—particularly the British Newspaper Archive, an exciting new hunting ground for folklorists. The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends will appeal to an academic audience as well as to anyone who is interested in urban legends.

The Land of the Hunger Artists

The Land of the Hunger Artists PDF

Author: Agustí Nieto-Galan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-11-23

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1009379593

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From the 1880s to the 1920s, hunger artists - professional fasters - lived on the fringes of public spectacle and academic experiment. Agustí Nieto-Galan presents the history of this phenomenon as popular urban spectacle and subject of scientific study, showing how hunger artists acted as mediators between the human and the social body. Doctors, journalists, impresarios , artists, and others used them to reinforce their different philosophical views, scientific schools, political ideologies, cultural values, and professional interests. The hunger artists generated heated debates on objectivity and medical pluralism, and fierce struggles over authority, recognition, and prestige. Set on the fringes of the freak show culture of the nineteenth century and the scientific study of physiology laboratories, Nieto-Galan explores the story of the public exhibition of hunger, emaciated bodies, and their enormous impact on the public sphere of their time.

Fur

Fur PDF

Author: Jonathan Faiers

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0300227205

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A groundbreaking, informative, and thought-provoking exploration of fur's fashionable and controversial history The first and only book of its kind, Fur: A Sensitive History looks at the impact of fur on society, politics, and, of course, fashion. This material has a long, complex, and rich history, culminating in recent and ongoing anti-fur debates. Jonathan Faiers discusses how fur--long praised for its warmth, softness, and connotation of status--became so controversial, at the center of campaigns against animal cruelty and the movement toward ethical fashion. At the same time, fake fur now faces a backlash of its own, given the environmental impact of its manufacture and its links to fast fashion. Divided into five sections--dedicated to hair, pelt, coat, skin, and fleece--the book surveys not only the politics of fur but also its centrality to western fashion, the tactile pleasure it gives, and its use in literature, art, and film. This thoughtfully reasoned, eloquently written, and spectacularly illustrated examination of fur is both timely and essential, filling a gap in fashion scholarship and appealing to a broad audience.

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine PDF

Author: George M. Gould

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2019-11-19

Total Pages: 984

ISBN-13:

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This is a medical reference book and contains detailed descriptions and illustrations of various medical anomalies and unusual conditions. The book covers topics such as genetic anomalies, prenatal anomalies, obstetric anomalies, surgical anomalies, and anomalous types and instances of diseases. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the history of medical knowledge and serves as a valuable resource for medical professionals and researchers interested in rare and unusual medical conditions.