"For a zitty face. Take urine eight days old and heat it over the fire; wash your face with it morning and night". In late medieval England, ordinary people, apothecaries and physicians gathered up practical medical tips for everyday use. While some...

The "miracle drug" penicillin was first given intravenously to a patient in Oxford on 12 February 1941, leading to a transformation in the way that bacterial infection is understood and treated. What was to become one of the greatest stories in biome...

What common condition can be treated with cow dung? How do crushed oystershells ease heartburn? Can eels cure deafness? And how do you stop a stubborn case of the hiccups? If someone was struck down by illness or injury in the late eighteenth century...