Defunct medical cures and other medical curiosa.

[soylent]

I thought it'd be fun to see what you could dredge up. If you find it amusing there's a good chance the rest of us do, so post away.

To get things started off:

Radioactive quack cures were popular early in the 20th century before the dangers of radioactivity were well understood.

There seems to have been two basic ideas behind these devices. One is that since spring-water was believed to be healthy and spring water often contains disolved radon gas, radon gas must be healthy. The other is that since radioactivity seems energetic it might restore your energy(in the sense of feeling awake, alert or horny).

Oak Ridge Associated Universities has a great collection of pictures, descriptions and adverts/instructions for these devices at http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/quackcures.htm and some more background info if you press the info button. (My favorite is radioactive suppositories for restoring sex power (http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/radsup.htm).)

Commercials from the 80's for the ayds dieting aid(Phenylpropanolamine). This is from before aids was discovered. Included for unintentional comedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr-jtbpUtdU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUdpNbESqVI

[skeptigirl]

Other medical curiosa:

Maybe this isn't exactly what you had in mind, and maybe only of interest to a small circle of friends...

I'll have to hunt up the source but I was struck by the oddity when I found out TB was only recognized as an occupational hazard as recently as the 1950s. Until it was discovered what role latent TB infection played (delaying some active disease until decades after the initial infection) the mainstream medical community didn't believe health care workers who developed TB while taking care of patients infected with TB had gotten it from their patients.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Vibrators were originally invented to cure "hysteria" and a woman would need to go to the doctor for a "treatment." Now, thankfully, she can fix what ails her in the privacy of her own bedroom.

[skeptigirl]

You do know the origin of the word, hysterectomy I take it?

[skeptigirl]

The prescription for "scolding wives" (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/images/laughing-gas.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/images/laughing-gas.html&h=520&w=772&sz=89&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=-w6R2p0TLWLbpM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlaughing%2Bgas%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1% 26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN)

[UnrepentantSinner]

You do know the origin of the word, hysterectomy I take it?

Ayup. Interesting how midievel medical concepts would last into the 20th cent... oh, wait a minute, people still align chakras and take magic herbs...