The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice

Public health history is a part of public health sciences. And the history of public health holds many great stories relevant for blogging. I just came across this blog about “the horrors of pre-anaesthetic surgery”. The blog is called The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice and is written by Lindsey Fitzharris, a medical historian at Queen Mary, University of London.
I have read some of the posts and really like them. For example this post about Grave Matters: The Body-Snatchers Unearthed. Lots of good stuff about the theft of bodies, people mistakenly being buried alive and the training of doctors in the 1700s. Apparently, I’m not the only one to like the blog. At least it was awarded with the Cliopatria Award for ‘Best Individual Blog’ in 2011.
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice is an example of how the reasons to start blogging can be many. For Lindsey Fitzharris it was: “a way of reaching out to friends and family who did not understand what it was I did as a historian of medicine. Since its inception in September 2010, however, the website has taken on a life of its own, far exceeding all my expectations.”