Before hospitals were prevalent (and even after they were), doctors typically attended to patients in their homes.

Topics discussed include: enhanced doctor – patient relationships; hardships and limitations on doctors making house calls; benefits to patients; typical contents in a doctor’s bag; and the economics of house calls.

Mercury. Not the planet. Not the car. This episode is about the element!

Topics discussed include: use of mercury in medicine; effects of exposure to mercury; Mad Hatter’s disease; monkey blood; and syphilis.

Join Christi and Brian as they sit down for a chat about the evolution of barbers and barber shops across history since ancient times.

Topics discussed include: how barbers turned into barber surgeons; how and why grooming services and medical services united; how barber surgeons rose to become the most common European medical practitioner of the Middle Ages; and how the creation of hospitals affected the demand for barber surgeons.

They also describe some of the procedures commonly performed and the symbolism of barber poles.