Doctor bleeding a patient

Medicine and health

Leper Crusaders: how disease-stricken knights forged an army in the Holy Land. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

'Monster soup commonly called Thames water, being a correct representation of that precious stuff doled out to us!!!', 1828; showing an ugly woman holding a spy glass which touches the circumference of a large circle representing a magnified drop of water filled with grotesque aquatic creatures. A satire on the Metropolitan Water Supply.

From murder bottles to arsenic wallpaper: 5 hidden killers in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Week four quiz: medicine and health in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The opthalmoscope revolutionised ophthalmology, allowing physicians to examine the inside of the human eye. (Image by Getty Images)

Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

An appointment at the house of death: the horror of the early Victorian hospital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

"An enlightened turn": how medicine (and the vaccination) developed in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastCocaine: a Victorian sensation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastFlorence Nightingale: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bust of the Roman Emperor Lucius Verus.

The Antonine Plague: the killer disease that devastated the Roman empire

Video podcastThe plague that brought the Roman empire to its knees. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The plague that brought the Roman empire to its knees. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Gulag doctors: saving lives in Stalin's prison camps. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US founding father Benjamin Franklin

Q&AWhy was Benjamin Franklin rumoured to be a serial killer?

The Decameron: sex, plague, and a medieval Love Island. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastMedieval keep fit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastInside a Jim Crow asylum. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Polish-born chemist Marie Curie

First World War

Marie Curie: a guide to the scientist's life, achievements and legacy

Climbing monks, wrestling kings and marching nuns: what people in the Middle Ages did to exercise. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval keep fit. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastBreastfeeding in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastRenaissance eugenics. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval medicine: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcast'Madness' and the supernatural. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A cloth covered in chloroform is being held over the patient's face and carbolic spray worked by a steam apparatus is creating an antiseptic atmosphere.

General History

Put these events in orderDiscoveries in the history of medicine

Woman sleeping in night mask lying on bed.

Life hacks from historyGet a good night’s sleep. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

'Madness' and the supernatural. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastVictoria's armpit and 'giant' bones: body parts that changed history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

First World War

Q&AWhat caused trench foot in WW1 and how could it be treated?

Disease killers: the black nurses who conquered TB. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.