Troubled by toothache? Dogged by dipsomania? Perhaps you have been poisoned or find yourself with a bottle stuck up your bottom? This pocket compendium of tried and tested (and terrifying) historical remedies is your go-to guide for how not to seek medical relief. 

From smearing mouse-dung on your teeth to drinking sulphuric acid, and from mechanical chin-reducing contraptions to super-super-excellent quack medicines, here are to be found the most bizarre and alarming remedies of the last two thousand years.