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Medicine

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PTSD and Shell Shock

PTSD Symptoms Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that occurs when someone witnesses or experiences a severely traumatic event. This can include war or combat, serious accidents, natural disasters, terrorism, or violent personal assaults, such as rape. People with the disorder may experience PTSD symptoms such as frequent fear, stress, and anxiety stemming […]

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Vintage anesthesia equipment - stock photo

Ether and Chloroform

Development of Ether Before its development as a surgical anesthetic, ether was used throughout the history of medicine, including as a treatment for ailments such as scurvy or pulmonary inflammation. A pleasant-smelling, colorless and highly flammable liquid, ether can be vaporized into a gas that numbs pain but leaves patients conscious. In 1846, Georgia physician […]

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Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale (1829-1910) was an English social reformer who is considered the founder of modern nursing.

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Dorothea Lynde DixDorothea Lynde Dix, 1868. Artist Samuel Bell Waugh. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Dorothea Lynde Dix

Dorothea Dix’s Early Life Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine, in 1802. Her father Joseph was an itinerant Methodist preacher who was frequently away from home, and her mother suffered from debilitating bouts of depression. The oldest of three children, Dorothea ran her household and cared for her family members from a very young […]

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Stories

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The Elephant Man

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‘Elephant Man’s’ Grave Discovered in Same Cemetery as Jack the Ripper’s Victims

For over a century, the famously deformed 27-year-old’s final resting place was a mystery. One of his biographers believes she’s finally found his burial plot.

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When Cigarette Companies Used Doctors to Push Smoking

Before studies showed that cigarettes caused cancer, tobacco companies recruited the medical community for their ads.

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Baby Incubators: From Boardwalk Sideshow to Medical Marvel

In the late 19th century, thousands of premature babies’ lives were saved—while attracting oglers at amusement parks.

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Public Domain

Innovative Cosmetic Surgery Restored WWI Vets’ Ravaged Faces—And Lives

Now a multibillion-dollar, nip-and-tuck industry, modern plastic surgery arose a century ago to reconstruct the faces of soldiers disfigured on World War I battlefields.

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This Day in History

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1967

First human heart transplant

Inventions & Science
1978

World’s first “test tube” baby born

Inventions & Science
1984

Baby Fae, infant who received baboon heart transplant, dies

Inventions & Science
1953

Dr. Jonas Salk announces polio vaccine

Inventions & Science
1928

Penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming

Inventions & Science
1796

Early smallpox vaccine is tested

Inventions & Science
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