Doctor bleeding a patient

Medicine and health

Toilets through time, from sponges on sticks to medieval privies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ancient Greek sculpture showing a seated healer examining a youth, with another figure holding a staff wrapped by a snake.

General ancient history

The ancient Greeks had six essential tips for health. How many do you do?

A man in a black long sleeved top, beige trousers and brown shoes sitting on a low wooden bench. He is leant on his knees, with his hands held together. Behind him, there is a river covered in lily pads and a bank of large trees

The overlooked history of Muslims in Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How did people understand pregnancy BEFORE modern medicine?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Health and medicine | Alice Loxton on the world of the Georgians. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Paint a pot like an ancient Etruscan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Don’t worry, be Babylonian. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Get personal with your poo, like a samurai. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A British government poster highlighting the dangers of Aids, 1987

Aids: the epidemic that changed Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Habsburg royals displaying the distinctive jaw that became a hallmark of their intermarrying to stay in power. (Images by Getty)

What was the Habsburg jaw?

A depiction of Roman communal toilets

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A selection of illustrations of medical procedures, including childbirth and someone vomiting, around a circular chart that depicts flasks of different coloured urine

Marvellous medieval medicine: why their curious cures were better than you think. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

After Hiroshima: the atomic plague. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

St. Pancras Smallpox Hospital.

QuizHow much do you know about the history of disease?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A cartoon depicting an ancient Assyrian king sitting upright in bed. His eyes are wide open and he has an anxious expression on his face. An open window to the right of the scene shows the moon and stars

Give away your worries, like an ancient Mesopotamian. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Adolf Hitler perfroming the Nazi salute with one testicle on the floor

Second World War

Did Adolf Hitler really only have one testicle?

The Victorians’ cocaine habit: why 19th-century Britain couldn't get enough of the 'miracle' drug. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A history of happiness: 5 life lessons from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The 'Blue People' of Kentucky

Blue Fugates: the rare blood disorder that turned the ‘Blue People of Kentucky’ blue

How medicine became a moneymaker. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Women's bodies: an unreliable history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Secret forceps & pig bladders: medical objects through time. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Leper Crusaders: how disease-stricken knights forged an army in the Holy Land. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

'Monster soup commonly called Thames water, being a correct representation of that precious stuff doled out to us!!!', 1828; showing an ugly woman holding a spy glass which touches the circumference of a large circle representing a magnified drop of water filled with grotesque aquatic creatures. A satire on the Metropolitan Water Supply.

From murder bottles to arsenic wallpaper: 5 hidden killers in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Week four quiz: medicine and health in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The opthalmoscope revolutionised ophthalmology, allowing physicians to examine the inside of the human eye. (Image by Getty Images)

Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

An appointment at the house of death: the horror of the early Victorian hospital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The surgeon Robert Liston prepares to cut open a patient in the first half of the 19th century. Known as the “fastest knife in the west end”, Liston could remove a leg in less than 30 seconds. For most patients, however, the agony was more prolonged. (Wellcome Library, London)

"An enlightened turn": how medicine (and the vaccination) developed in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Video podcastCocaine: a Victorian sensation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.