In times past, curiosities were often arranged in cabinets for display: a dried mermaid next to a giant's shinbone, the skeletons of conjoined twins beside an Egyptian mummy. In ten essays, the author brings a physician's diagnostic skills to various unexpected and unusual aspects of the history of medicine: spontaneous human combustion, colonies of snakes and frogs living in a person's stomach, kings and emperors devoured by lice, vicious tribes of tailed men and the Two-headed Boy of Bengal. Bondeson tells the story of ...
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In times past, curiosities were often arranged in cabinets for display: a dried mermaid next to a giant's shinbone, the skeletons of conjoined twins beside an Egyptian mummy. In ten essays, the author brings a physician's diagnostic skills to various unexpected and unusual aspects of the history of medicine: spontaneous human combustion, colonies of snakes and frogs living in a person's stomach, kings and emperors devoured by lice, vicious tribes of tailed men and the Two-headed Boy of Bengal. Bondeson tells the story of Mary Toft who gained notoriety in 1726 when she allegedly gave birth to 17 rabbits. King George I, the Prince of Wales and the court physicians attributed these monstrous births to a "maternal impression" because Mary had longed for a meal of rabbit while pregnant. Bondeson explaines that the fallacy of maternal impressions, conspicuous in the novels of Goethe, Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, has ancient roots in Chinese and Babylonian manuscripts. The author also presents the case of Julia Pastrana, a Mexican-Indian woman with thick hair growing over her body and a massive overgrowth of the gums which gave her a simian or ape-like appearance. Called the Ape Woman, she was exhibited all over the world. Following her death in 1860, Julia's husband, who had also been her impresario, had her body mummified and continued to exhibit it throughout Europe. Bondeson tracked the mummy down and managed to diagnose Julia Pastrana's condition as the result of a rare genetic syndrome.
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Add this copy of A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities to cart. $4.99, good condition, Sold by St. Vinnie's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1997 by Cornell University Press.
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Seller's Description:
Good. PLEASE NOTE EX-LIBRARY Former Library book. hardcover This item shows wear from consistent use but remains in good readable condition. It may have marks on or in it, and may show other signs of previous use or shelf wear. May have minor creases or signs of wear on dust jacket. Packed with care, shipped promptly.
Add this copy of A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities to cart. $12.00, very good condition, Sold by Michener & Rutledge Bookseller rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Baldwin City, KS, UNITED STATES, published 1997 by Cornell Univ Pr.
Add this copy of A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities to cart. $23.00, like new condition, Sold by Great Expectations Rare Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Staten Island, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1997 by Cornell University Press.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Book. 8vo-over 7æ-9æ" tall. Hardcover, mustard yellow cloth in publisher's dust-jacket. 250 pages. Illustrated with black and white photographs, drawings and engravings. Second impression. Ten essays, written by a physician, explaining the realities associated with some of histories most bizarre medical anomalies. No previous ownership marks. A clean, fresh, unmarked and like new copy. Dust-jacket protected by a new Brodart cover. Fine in a fine dust-jacket.
Add this copy of A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities to cart. $35.64, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1997 by Cornell Univ Pr.
Add this copy of A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities to cart. $62.88, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1997 by NCROL.
