All About History – Issue 128, 2023
English | 84 pages | pdf | 58.27 MB
When we say the words ‘Victorian medicine’ what kinds of things come to mind? Small bottles and vials filled with tinctures and remedies with elaborate scrolled writing on them? A surgeon in a blood-spattered smock, wielding a gruesome hacksaw? Perhaps rows of beds with sickly patients being tended to by nurses working by candlelight? There is some truth to each of these images, but the Victorian era was a long one, encompassing more than 60 years of innovation and experimentation. The ‘butchering art’ of early surgery enjoyed massive advancements, drugs became more sophisticated and hygiene knowledge grew exponentially.
This is the journey we wanted to explore with Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster, who is our guide through the key developments of surgery and health in Queen Victoria’s reign. From the strange medical theories they still believed in to major reforms in education, we take a look at all of the major advancements. This magazine issue we also learn about the lives of the most rebellious thinkers of ancient Greece, discuss the incredible bravery of WWII’s glider pilots, uncover the strange history of micronations and reveal the artist who fooled the Nazis with his forgeries. Quite a lot to be digging into, so I’ll keep you no longer and invite you to enjoy the rest of the issue.
Jonathan Gordon Editor
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