As a spin off from the 'likes of which we'll never see again' thread, I came across this past medical treatment whilst searching for images. As we today have never seen the like it didn't really fit with the other thread, but people once submitted to what we now know as insane treatments based on (then) expert opinion. 



Tobacco Smoke Enema (1750s-1810s) The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient's rectum for various medical purposes, primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims. A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke towards the rectum. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration.


What other horrific medical treatments from the past do you know of, that we'll (thanks to scientific advancement) never see the like of again.

A similar device was the "Carbolic Smoke Ball", which became popular in England in the aftermath of the the 1889/90 Russian Flu pandemic in which about a million people died worldwide. This was a rubber ball filled with carbolic acid (phenol), with a tube attached that one stuck up one’s nose and then by squeezing the ball got a hefty dose of carbolic vapour. This, not surprisingly, made the eyes water and the nose run, ostensibly flushing out any viral infection.

 

The product was launched in November 1891 with advertisements in the Pall Mall Gazette, which said that the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company would pay £100 to anyone who got sick with influenza after using the product according to the instructions provided with it.



What is important about the Carbolic Smoke Ball is that in January 1892, a Mrs Louisa Carlill of London also caught the flu despite having for several weeks previously been using the device every day. Since she had correctly followed the instructions and yet still became ill, Mrs Carlill demanded her £100, which was then of course quite a considerable sum of money. But the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company refused to pay up …. and so she took them to court.

The company (incidentally represented by a Mr H Asquith - later to become prime minister) lost the case but immediately appealed. However the Court of Appeal also unanimously rejected the company's arguments and held that there was a fully binding contract for £100. So Mrs Carlill got her money.

More importantly however the case now made it clear that misleading advertising was a criminal offence and so it finally put a stop to the common 19th century practice of making outrageous claims for quack remedies that were often useless or even hazardous. The Pharmaceutical Society in particular had been fighting an ongoing battle against quack remedies for many years, and had wanted specifically to get carbolic acid, then often treated as a universal panacea, onto the Poisons Register. It was thus a landmark case and forms part of the basis for modern contract law.

Following the ruling it was thought that there might be a rush of many thousands of similar claims, which would have certainly bankrupted the company, but in the event there were only two other successful claimants for their £100. The Carbolic Smoke Ball Company quickly turned this to their advantage. In a new advert first published on 25 February 1893 in the Illustrated London News, they publically admitted to their earlier culpable advert and the legal ruling against them … but then cleverly said:

"Many thousand Carbolic Smoke Balls were sold on these advertisements, but only three people claimed the reward of £100, thus proving conclusively that this invaluable remedy will prevent and cure the above mentioned diseases. The CARBOLIC SMOKE BALL COMPANY LTD. now offer £200 REWARD to the person who purchases a Carbolic Smoke Ball and afterwards contracts any of the following diseases..."

…. but this time in small print there followed some very restrictive and carefully-worded conditions to the offer.

However despite such aggressive advertising, carbolic acid was increasingly seen for what it was: a dangerously toxic and irritant poison. Faced with declining sales the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company was wound up in 1896. Carbolic acid was finally put on the Poisons Register in 1900, which effectively ended its previous widespread use in over the counter products.

Mrs Carlill did eventually succumb to influenza …. she died of the disease in 1942 at the ripe old age of 96.

Women ingesting tape worm eggs as a way to lose excess kilos is sometimes cited as an urban legend. However, mail order companies for the product did actually exist and advertise tape worm head and eggs as an appetite suppressant and as an easy weight loss solution.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/womans-ear-reattached-help-leeches-210654467.html  This link is to a recent news story about a lady having an ear re-attached with the aid of leeches.  Sounds revolting but if it works.....

Fascinating article on the use of mummies in medicine and in paint pigments.

http://www.artinsociety.com/the-life-and-death-of-mummy-brown.html

Maggots are making a comeback these days too. Long used in far eastern medicine a specially bred and sanitised version of the critter is now increasingly the method of choice for keeping an open wound from accumulating dead organic material which in turn can lead to gangrene or worse:

Anyone who has seen Mel Gibson's 2006 film Apocalypto might remember the scene in which large ants are used as sutures. The head of the ant is placed on a flesh wound (mandible pincers first) and the bite of the ant closes the stitch. The ant is then decapitated leaving the head in place sealing the skin.



Such procedures have been reported in the Americas and also in Africa although one wonders how historically reliable this is given the track record of the said producer/director.