In Roman bathhouses, bathers often had their clothing stolen. In the absence of a police force, victims wrote curse tablets, calling on the gods to retrieve the stolen clothing or, barring that, to punish the thief.… Read More
In 1853, Dr. John Snow administered recently-discovered chloroform to Queen Victoria for the birth of her eighth child. From that point on, the use of anesthetics for pain relief in childbirth became widely accepted.