There’s a reason that doctor and medical professionals call it “practicing medicine”. They continue practicing different ways to treat different illness, diseases, disorder, etc. Sometimes they work out well and other times, not so much.
Here are 18 medical equipment and procedures that have been invented and used over time. Luckily, none (that I know of) is still being used today.
1. Tanning babies at the Chicago Orphan Asylum, 1925, to offset winter rickets.
2. Walter Reed physiotherapy store 1920′s.
3. Obstetric phantom designed to teach medical students about childbirth Italy 1700-1800.
4. An embarrassed women with an artificial leg c. 1890 – 1900
5. US Civil War surgeon’s kit
6. Dr. Clark’s Spinal Apparatus advertisement, 1878
7. Lewis Sayre’s scoliosis treatment
8. Antique birthing chair used until the 1800s
9. Amongst of 1st surgical procedures using ether as an anesthetic, 1855 – 1860.
10. Radioactive Water
11. Radiology nurse technician, WWI France 1918
12. Brain hemorrhage, post-mortem
13. A neurological exam with electrical device, c. 1884
14. Wooden prosthetic hand, c. 1800
15. A collection of items to disguise facial injuries.
16. Antique prosthetic leg
17. Traditional blood transfusion bottle, England 1978
18. Plague masks worn by doctors. The beaks held scented substances.
It’s hard to believe some of these procedures weren’t even that long ago. The medical industry has surely evolved over the years.