Share:

Browse by category

Share:

Resources: Medical science and innovation in Ontario

This 19th-century porcelain leech jar – on display at the Niagara Apothecary in Niagara-on-the-Lake – used to hold live medicinal leeches. Leeches were a popular 19th century treatment for skin infections. Still used currently in hospitals for micro surgery to maintain venous circulation. The saliva of the leech contains a useful anticoagulant.

Photo: This 19th-century porcelain leech jar – on display at the Niagara Apothecary in Niagara-on-the-Lake – used to hold live medicinal leeches. Leeches were a popular 19th century treatment for skin infections. Still used currently in hospitals for micro surgery to maintain venous circulation. The saliva of the leech contains a useful anticoagulant.

By

Ontario Heritage Trust

Medical heritage

Published Date: Feb 12, 2016

These web resources listed below provide an introduction to the history of medical science and innovation in Ontario:

Banting House

Canadian Bulletin of Medical History

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

Canadian Museum of History: Making Medicare – The History of Healthcare in Canada, 1914-2007

Canadian Museum of History: Canadian Nursing History Collection

Canadian War Museum: Life at the Front: Medicine

Community Memories. Serving Our Veterans, Serving Our Community (1946-2011) – Sunnybrook Archives, Toronto (Virtual Museum of Canada)

The Discovery of Insulin at the University of Toronto: an exhibition celebrating the 75th anniversary

Getting Better (Virtual Museum of Canada)

The Healing Power of Plants (Virtual Museum of Canada)

Hillary House National Historic Site and the Koffler Museum of Medicine

Medical Records at the Archives of Ontario

Museum of Healthcare at Kingston

Niagara Apothecary Museum

The Promotion of Healthy Living in Ontario (Archives of Ontario)

Veterans Affairs Canada: The Nursing Sisters of Canada

RelatedStories

Elizabeth Bagshaw (Photo courtesy of The Hamilton Spectator)

Elizabeth Bagshaw: Fighting for reproductive rights in Canada

When Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw retired in 1976, she was the oldest physician practising in Canada. In her illustrious 70-year career, Bagshaw treated thousands of patients...

Dr. Peters adjusting a patient for radiotherapy. Collection of Dr. Charles Hayter.

Vera Peters and the fight against breast cancer

Today, women with early breast cancer are usually treated with breast conserving therapy (removal of the cancerous lump followed by radiation). This approach is a...

Photograph of laboratory 221 in the Old Medical Building, University of Toronto. This was the laboratory in which Banting and Best carried out some of their research in 1921-22. Courtesy Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. Banting Collection. P10043.

Realizing the dream: The discovery of insulin

The news was stunning. Suddenly, in early 1922, researchers at the University of Toronto announced that they had discovered an effective treatment for diabetes mellitus...

Drs. Jim Till and Ernest McCulloch (Photo: University of Toronto)

Blood-forming stem cells: An Ontario story

Blood . . . it circulates through our bodies, supplies energy, defends against internal and external danger, and heals injuries. It comprises a miraculous network...

George Klein (Photo: National Research Council)

Doctors, discoveries and developments: Medical achievements and health care in Ontario

1824 Dr. Charles Duncombe opens the first medical school in Ontario, in St Thomas. 1839 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper Canada is...

In addition to representing mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health, the quadrants of the medicine wheel are often used to represent the four seasons, stages of life, directions and elements of nature. The colours and colour placement in medicine wheels vary from nation to nation.

Indigenous traditional medicine

“Traditional medicine” refers to knowledge and practices of Indigenous peoples that promote health and well-being, and that have been passed down from generation to generation...

Wilfred G. Bigelow, A2012-0009/002 (69), University of Toronto Archives (UTA), Robert Lansdale Photography Ltd.

Repairing hearts: Innovations in cardiac surgery

Once considered off-limits to the surgeon’s scalpel, a diseased heart is no longer an immediate death sentence. In 1900, the medical community could treat only...

Lyndhurst Lodge, a community-based rehabilitation centre, was established to assist Canadian veterans who had suffered spinal cord injuries in the Second World War. Photo Courtesy of Spinal Cord Injury Ontario.

Ontario’s medical legacy

In the mid-19th century, a typical doctor ran a solo practice, often making house calls on horseback or by sleigh. Many treatments offered relief for...

Share:
Share: