Free summaries
Health & Medicine — page 8
489 public-domain health & medicine books, summarised. Page 8 of 11.
What Every Mother Should Know
Margaret Sanger
A mother’s guide to teaching children the biological origins of life, this narrative frames reproduction as a beautiful, natural process to be shared with curiosity rather than shame.
Food for the traveler
Dora C. C. L. (Dora Cathrine Cristine Liebel) Roper
A practical guide to dietary balance, this treatise blends osteopathic theory and custom menus to help readers navigate modern eating without sacrificing health.
Society for Superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys, by Encouraging a New Method of Sweeping Chimneys: Twenty-First Report, May 1, 1837
Anonymous
This report documents the urgent, mid-19th-century campaign to end the brutal practice of using young children to sweep narrow, dangerous chimneys. It serves as a stark, primary record of a society transitioning from institutionalized cruelty toward technological reform.
A Treatise on Acupuncturation
James Morss Churchill
The practice of inserting needles into the human body to alleviate suffering, once dismissed as Eastern fable, receives a rigorous, clinical introduction to the nineteenth-century English medical community in this foundational text.
Vikings of to-day
Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir
These rugged chronicles document the pioneering medical missions of a British surgeon navigating the treacherous, icy coast of Labrador at the close of the nineteenth century. Through harrowing storms and quiet acts of faith, the narrative captures the lives of the fishermen and Inuit families inhabiting the edge…
A monograph on sleep and dream: their physiology and psychology
Edward W. (Edward William) Cox
The brain is not a static organ, but a dual-hemisphere engine that often runs its most complex dramas while the body lies in repose. By examining the mechanics of sleep, we glimpse the hidden structures of our own consciousness.
Technique of Eye Dissections
Frederic A. (Frederic Albert) Woll
The eye—it cannot choose but see. This short, practical manual offers a rigorous, hands-on guide to the anatomical dissection of the eye, transforming a complex biological organ into an accessible, observable marvel of natural engineering.
The Royal Road to Health
Chas. A. (Charles Alfred) Tyrrell
Nature’s way of healing is to cast out impurities, and the primary obstruction to this process is a clogged digestive system. By embracing simple hygienic practices, one can prevent disease and extend life well beyond the century mark.
The wonders of radium
Maynard Shipley
The dawn of the twentieth century brought with it an element so potent and mysterious that it promised to reorder our understanding of physics, geology, and medicine. This exploration captures the sheer awe and scientific fervor surrounding the discovery and early application of radium.
Children well and happy
May Dickinson Kimball
This practical manual offers a bridge between the classroom and the nursery, equipping young women with the essential knowledge required to safeguard their own health and the well-being of the next generation.
"Speaking of Operations--"
Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
A gentleman’s vague, wandering abdominal pain leads him directly into the hands of fashionable specialists, where he discovers that getting carved up yields the greatest conversational currency in human history.
The Girl in Industry
Dorothy Josephine Collier
The industrial landscape of the early twentieth century placed immense, often invisible, physical burdens upon adolescent girls. This examination reveals the quiet struggle of young workers navigating the transition from school to the factory floor.
The Treatment of Hay Fever by rosin-weed, ichthyol and faradic electricity: With a discussion of the old theory of gout and the new theory of anaphylaxis
George Frederick Laidlaw
Relief from the recurring torment of seasonal allergies is the primary pursuit of this 1917 clinical guide, which balances traditional herbal remedies with the emerging medical theories of its day.
![Cover of The Bedbug [1916]](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-bedbug-1916-c-l-marlatt.webp)
The Bedbug [1916]
C. L. Marlatt
This technical bulletin provides a clinical, thorough, and dispassionate look at the biology and eradication of a persistent household pest. It serves as a historical document that illuminates how domestic science approached the management of vermin in the early twentieth century.
Treatment of Cholera in the Royal Hospital, Haslar: during the months of July and August, 1849, with remarks on the name and origin of the disease
John (Inspector of Naval Hospitals) Wilson
HOOK This report offers an unflinching, clinical examination of the 1849 cholera epidemic at Haslar Hospital, arguing against the prevailing fear of contagion in favor of local, environmental reform.
What the Mother of a Deaf Child Ought to Know
John Dutton Wright
A compassionate, practical guide, this manual empowers parents of deaf children to cultivate communication and character at home, bridging the gap between diagnosis and formal education.
Asiatic Cholera: A treatise on its origin, pathology, treatment, and cure
Elijah Whitney
This medical treatise offers a clinical, nineteenth-century perspective on the origins and management of Asiatic cholera, attempting to establish a consistent, scientifically grounded approach to treating a disease that devastated entire populations.
A Collection of Seven and Fifty approved Receipts Good against the Plague: Taken out of the five books of that renowned Dr. Don Alexes secrets, for the benefit of the poorer sort of people of these nations
W. J.
When pestilence stalks the streets, desperation demands practical, accessible remedies for every household, regardless of wealth or status.
Colony Treatment of the Insane and Other Defectives
P. L. (Patrick Livingston) Murphy
Outdoor manual labor in a structured farming community can restore purpose and vitality to individuals abandoned by traditional asylum care.
The Vitamine Manual
Walter Hollis Eddy
HOOK This technical guide captures the urgent, evolving science of nutrition at the dawn of the 1920s, documenting the discovery of "vitamines" as the essential, invisible keys to human health.
Workhouse Nursing: The story of a successful experiment
Florence Nightingale
In the mid-nineteenth century, a groundbreaking initiative transformed public healthcare by introducing trained Nightingale nurses into the neglected, pauper-run wards of a massive Victorian workhouse infirmary.
Poultry diseases: Causes, symptoms and treatment, with notes on post-mortem examinations
E. J. (E. Jocelyn) Wortley
A crisp, utilitarian guide to managing avian health, this 1915 manual transforms the anxiety of farmyard loss into a systematic program of hygiene and observation. It serves as both a preventative handbook and a diagnostic reference for the early twentieth-century poultry keeper.
Sketches from the history of medicine, ancient and modern: An oration delivered before the Hunterian Society
W. Sedgwick (William Sedgwick) Saunders
The history of medicine is a mirror for the human condition, reflecting our deepest fears of mortality and the enduring, often perilous, struggle to preserve life against the tides of ignorance and suffering.
The Archives of Dentistry, Vol. VII, No. 4, April 1890
Various
The nineteenth-century dental office was a place of rapid innovation, where the line between a crude mechanical repair and a refined medical art was being drawn in real time. This technical chronicle captures a profession in transition, grappling with the chemistry of the mouth and the ethics of a burgeoning specialty.
Treatise on the Anatomy and Physiology of the Mucous Membranes: With Illustrative Pathological Observations
Xavier Bichat
The human body is defined not just by its bones and muscles, but by the continuous, delicate linings that mediate between our internal vitality and the outside world. This foundational work maps the geography of the mucous membranes, treating them as the essential defensive interface of our biological existence.
Vivisection
Albert Leffingwell
This collection of essays offers a measured, forceful critique of the practice of performing painful experiments on living animals in medical education and research. It stands as a pivotal document in the history of medical ethics and the movement for animal protection.
A dissertation on the inutility of the amputation of limbs
Johann Ulrich Bilguer
This surgical treatise challenges the historical necessity of removing limbs, offering a bold, evidence-based argument for preserving shattered or mortified body parts through diligent, non-invasive care.
A Discourse on the Plague
Richard Mead
Public health begins with preparation, not panic. This systematic treatise outlines the rational, humane measures required to shield a nation from pestilence, transforming the chaos of contagion into a manageable administrative task.
The Virtue and Use of Coffee With Regard to the Plague and Other Infectious Distempers
Richard Bradley
This treatise serves as a seventeenth-century exploration of coffee, blending botanical observation with the urgent medical anxieties of its time. It documents the plant’s origins, its global trade, and the belief that it acts as a vital prophylactic against the plague.
Making Good on Private Duty: Practical Hints to Graduate Nurses
Harriet Camp Lounsbery
A steady hand guides the newly minted graduate nurse across the daunting threshold of the private home, turning professional training into compassionate, orderly practice.
Practical Points in Anesthesia
Frederick-Emil Neef
The responsibility of the anesthetist is profound, for the line between a successful operation and tragedy often rests on the careful, measured administration of vapor. Precision in observation is the primary safeguard of human life.
The Silence: What It Is and How To Use It
David V. (David Van) Bush
To achieve health, prosperity, and inner peace, one must master the art of mental tuning by entering a state of intentional silence. This disciplined stillness allows the mind to release destructive patterns and reconnect with the Divine.
The Journal-Lancet, Vol. XXXV, No. 5, March 1, 1915: The Journal of the Minnesota State Medical Association and Official Organ of the North Dakota and South Dakota State Medical Associations
Various
HOOK This professional medical dispatch from 1915 captures a pivotal era of transition, where emerging laboratory science began to challenge the traditional intuition of the practicing physician.
Rules and Regulations of the Insane Asylum of California: Prescribed by the Resident Physician, August 1, 1861
Stockton State Hospital (Calif.)
This document serves as a precise administrative manual defining the rigid hierarchy and moral expectations governing a nineteenth-century psychiatric institution. It offers a stark window into the institutional philosophy of the era.
The Seaman's Medical Instructor: In a Course of Lectures on Accidents and Diseases Incident to Seamen
N. D. (Nikolai Detlef) Falck
This guide provides a practical, eighteenth-century medical manual for mariners serving on vessels without a surgeon, emphasizing self-reliance and the fundamental interconnectedness of the human body.
"The Flu": a brief history of influenza in U.S. America, Europe, Hawaii
A. A. St. M. (Arthur Albert St. M.) Mouritz
This physician’s chronicle traces the persistence of influenza through history, arguing that human connection—not weather or climate—is the primary engine of its global spread.
The Æsculapian Labyrinth Explored
William Taplin
This biting satire exposes the performative greed and calculated deception defining the eighteenth-century medical profession, stripping away the professional mask of the era’s physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries.
An Essay on Contagious Diseases: more particularly on the small-pox, measles, putrid, malignant, and pestilential fevers
Clifton Wintringham
Unseen particulate forces in the air can quietly invade the human frame, turning the vital fluids to poison and precipitating a pestilence.
Treatment of hemorrhoids, and other non-malignant rectal diseases
W. P. (William Penn) Agnew
This medical handbook provides a practical, direct guide for general practitioners navigating the treatment of common, non-malignant rectal ailments. It serves as a focused manual for performing office-based procedures with minimal surgical intervention.
Notes on Diseases of the Horse: Cause, Symptoms and Treatment
Charles James Korinek
A practical, no-nonsense manual from 1917, this guide serves as a diagnostic roadmap for identifying and treating the myriad ailments that once threatened the health of working horses.
The Fun of Getting Thin: How to Be Happy and Reduce the Waist Line
Samuel G. (Samuel George) Blythe
A forty-three-year-old newspaperman faces down his forty-seven-pound excess, dumping complicated medical fads to test a brutal truth: the only way to lose fat is to stop putting so much in your mouth.
Life in a tub
Diogenes [pseudonym]
A passionate argument for the return to natural healing, this work champions hydrotherapy and the Turkish bath as superior alternatives to the chemical-heavy medical practices of the mid-nineteenth century.
Prof. E. H. Crane's manual of instructions to undertakers
Elliott H. Crane
This guide serves as a practical, professional handbook for the late-nineteenth-century undertaker, detailing the chemical and mechanical processes required to preserve human remains with scientific reliability.
Down the Scale or Up
Barbara Abel
A guide to achieving and maintaining your ideal weight through balanced nutrition.
Appendicitis: The Etiology, Hygenic and Dietetic Treatment
J. H. (John Henry) Tilden
Appendicitis is a defiant, polemical medical manifesto that argues for the total rejection of surgery and drugs in favor of absolute fasting and physiological rest. It serves as a rigorous, albeit idiosyncratic, challenge to early 20th-century surgical orthodoxy.
The Sweating Sickness: A boke or counseill against the disease commonly called the sweate or sweatyng sicknesse
John Caius
This mid-sixteenth-century medical treatise serves as both a clinical observation of a terrifying, rapid-onset plague and a desperate plea for the English people to embrace temperance and order.
A treatise on foreign teas: Abstracted from an ingenious work, lately published, entitled An essay on the nerves
Hugh Smith
A stern eighteenth-century medical warning gives way to a bold commercial pitch, insisting that daily cups of imported green and bohea tea ruin the human nervous system while offering an herbal domestic brew as the ultimate physiological salvation.
Dissertations on Inflammation, Vol. 2
John Burns
This clinical treatise offers a rigorous, systematic examination of inflammatory conditions as understood by a Scottish surgeon at the turn of the nineteenth century. It serves as both a manual for practice and a survey of the medical knowledge of its era.