Mental Floss

WEIRD









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The human body is full of weird, gross and awe-inspiring stuff as we know it—but for people who lived when ideas were unbound by strict anatomical correctness, it was even more so. Here are 10 things people thought, and in some cases still think, were inh

Livius Drusus
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The Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain celebrated the quiet glory of incompetence.

Kate Horowitz
















A painting by an unknown artist from 1786, appropriately titled The Dying Patient.

Could you imagine rubbing poisonous lead on someone to cure their rectal cancer? Welcome to just one of the remedies in 'The Book of Phisick,' a remarkably legible, handwritten recipe book of natural remedies.

Therese Oneill, Scott Beggs