Bizarre Medicine: Unusual Treatments and Practices through the Ages

From placing leeches on the neck to treat a cough to using crocodile  dung to prevent pregnancy, a number of medical treatments that now seem  unusual were once commonplace. While a few of these remedies may have  been effective, most were either useless or actually counterproductive  to good health. Even today, there are alternative and fringe treatments  considered bizarre by mainstream medicine yet used by hundreds of  thousands of people.

Bizarre Medicine: Unusual Treatments  and Practices through the Ages offers a fascinating look into the  history of medicine. Entries are organized by disease or medical  condition and explore the folk and traditional "cures" used to treat  them. Explanations are provided for why some treatments may have worked  and why others may have done more harm than good. In addition, entries  provide a clear description of the causes, symptoms, and current  treatment options for each condition based on current scientific  understanding. Each entry also discusses the condition's enduring impact  on society and the arts.