Amazing Medical Stories

Cynthia R. Comacchio is an associate professor of history at Wilfrid
Laurier University. She is the author of Nations Are Built of Babies:
Saving Ontario’s Mothers and Children.

The authors of this book share medical training, a passion for medical
history, and a clear, concise writing style. The title reveals both
their premise and purpose: to recount a selection of stories about
healers, sufferers, inventors, and “quacks” within a broad scope of
Canadian medical history.

Chosen for their “remarkability,” the tales unfold in 20 short and
lively chapters arranged chronologically. The first of these details the
failure of the French Armada’s massive planned naval assault on the
English colonies in North America in 1746. The mission was scuttled when
thousands of the crew fell to the sailors’ scourges of typhus and
scurvy. The 37-year-old admiral, the Duc d’Anville, succumbed to
“apoplexy” within two weeks of the fleet’s arrival in Halifax;
with 2500 men and their commanding officer dead, the discouraged vice
admiral committed suicide, and New England was spared because of the
role that illness played in undermining military strategy. Also included
the book are stories about the Cape Breton “giant,” Angus McAskill,
and the better-known “giantess” Anna Swan; the heroic teams of
doctors, nurses, and volunteers who provided emergency assistance and
comfort to the victims of the Titanic sinking and of the Halifax Harbour
Explosion of 1917; and a contemporary hero, Nova Scotia pathologist Dr.
John Butt, who administered to the families of those who perished in the
Swissair tragedy of 1998.

The title is a bit misleading, as the stories, with one exception,
feature Canadians; more to the point, they are primarily about Nova
Scotians. Since the format is mostly biographical, a little more
attention to women would have been worthwhile. Nonetheless, the stories
are well told and entertaining and will doubtless pique the curiosity of
readers who are interested in Canadian history and the history of
medicine, and who might be inspired to probe more deeply.