Physician Curiosa

 

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Instructions:

Print this page out and then cut off one curiosa item at a time to give to each team of apprentices when they come to you during the designated week for curiosa items. REMEMBER: Only hand out each curiosa item once.
 
 
 Preventable Ailments
Tycho Brahe, the great astronomer, was a guest along with Kepler at Baron Rosenberg's in Prague on the 13 October 1601. Kepler kept a record of what transpired, "Brahe held back his water beyond the demands of courtesy. When he drank more, he felt the tension in his bladder increase, but he put politeness before his health. When he got home he was scarely able to urinate." Kepler went on to describe Brahe's wakeful nights, extreme dysuria, anuria, delirium, and eventually death.
 
References:
Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.
 
 
 
 Preventable Ailments
As a youthful student, Tycho Brahe had his nose sliced off in a duel with a fellow Danish student. He replaced the missing bridge of his nose with a gold and silver alloy shaped to fit. From then on Brahe carried a small case the size of a snuffbox which contianed an ointment of glutinous composition which he frequently applied to his nose.
 
References:
Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.
 
 
 
 Preventable Ailments
Queen Elizabeth I had such a fear of physicians that once while experiencing the torture of toothache, the Privy Council was convened to convince her to have the offending tooth pulled. When they failed, the bishop of London volunteered to have one of his own teeth pulled so the queen could observe the operation. Once the bishop's tooth was extracted and the queen saw that the procedure was relatively painless, she consented to the operation herself.
 
References:
Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.
 
 
 
 Typhus
In 1577, Rowland Jencks, accused of treason and profanation of the Protestant religion was brought before a Black Assize convened at Oxford. He was condemned to have his ears cut off, and then he proceeded to live for thirty-three more years. However, he was to have the last laugh as he was taken with the gaol fever (Typhus) when he was taken before the Black Assize and subsequently the Chief Baron of the Exchequer, a sergeant-at-law, five justices of the peace, two sheriffs, one knight, and most of the jury later subcumbed to Typhus.
 
References:
Newman, Art (1988). The Illustrated Treasury of Medical Curiosa. McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, New York.