A plethora of historical horrors lurk in Jan Bondeson’s A Cabinet of
Medical Curiosities. There’s a description of a woman giving birth to 17 rabbits
and documented incidents of “human spontaneous combustion”. This well-researched
book gives medical explanations for some of the phenomena and exposes others as
fraud. It will appeal to those with a sense of the macabre. Published by
I.B.Tauris, £10.95, ISBN 1860642284.
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