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“Dr. Rush made patients ingest the solution until they drooled, and often people’s teeth and hair fell out after weeks or months of continuous treatment. His “cure” no doubt poisoned or outright killed swaths of people whom yellow fever might have spared. Even so, having perfected his treatment in Philadelphia, ten years later he sent Meriwether and William off with some prepackaged samples. As a handy side effect, Dr. Rush’s pills have enabled modern archaeologists to track down campsites used by the explorers. With the weird food and questionable water they encountered in the wild, someone in their party was always queasy, and to this day, mercury deposits dot the soil many places where the gang dug a latrine, perhaps after one of Dr. Rush’s “Thunderclappers” had worked a little too well.”
― The Disappearing Spoon...and other true tales from the Periodic Table
― The Disappearing Spoon...and other true tales from the Periodic Table
“What is odd, perhaps, is how the primacy of patient autonomy and informed consent over efficacy—which is what we’re talking about here—was presumed, but not actively discussed within the medical profession. Although the authoritative and paternalistic reassurance of the Victorian doctor who ‘blinds with science’ is a thing of the past in medicine, the success of the alternative therapy movement—whose practitioners mislead, mystify and blind their patients with sciencey-sounding ‘authoritative’ explanations, like the most patronising Victorian doctor imaginable—suggests that there may still be a market for that kind of approach.”
― Bad Science
― Bad Science
Agnese’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Agnese’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
176 books
|
76 friends
16 books
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82 friends
658 books
|
56 friends
1,041 books
|
103 friends
47 books
|
47 friends
0 books
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111 friends
2 books
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58 friends
1 book
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34 friends
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